Cathardincu Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Lightdeossk Captivating movie !

Megamind To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

Myron Clemons A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

dwpollar 1st watched 3/26/2009 – 7 out of 10 (Dir=Si-Myung Lee): Well done political fantasy thriller from Korea that creates a scenario where Korea in the year 2009 is part of Japan. This happened because a Japanese ambassador wasn't killed in 1909 and the U.S. dropped an atom bomb on Germany instead of Japan, who in this film they were allies with in World War II. This made-up history is presented just as the movie begins and then we are introduced to two friends in the Japanse Bureau of Investigations(JBI for short) who are hunting down a terrorist group who basically want Korea to be it's own nation. Initially, we think this group is "all" bad --- but the main star played by Toru Nakamura starts uncovering things that bother the JBI. A group that they work closely with houses an artifact that looks kind of like what's on the Korean flag that appears to be the focus of the terrorist group instead of just the "terror." He is taken off the assignment because of what he's uncovering and he also starts realizing some things about his own past that link him to this group. The story gets more complicated and bizarre when we find out the artifact has the ability to allow people to time travel. Now, I'm not going to tell a lot more because it will ruin the story for those who want to watch it. Despite the movie's length of almost 3 hours it keeps your interest even if you can't speak Korean(as long as you can read the subtitles). The end does take awhile and this is really the only downfall of this otherwise well-done and well-played action thriller that also is played out very well. For those interested in good foreign films don't miss this one!!

liberalgems Science Fiction is my favorite genre! I view each, and every, film with an open mind. There's a lot going on here about Korean hatred of Japan, which is based on historical events. The story's premise is interesting: Japan sides with us in World War 2 and The Bomb is dropped on Germany, instead. As a result, Korea then permanently becomes a part of Japan. This is similar to what the American government once did to Hawaii.Yes, we Americans really did overthrow the legitmate government of the Hawaiian nation, in 1898, at the point of a gun, for both economic and military reasons. (A literal example of Gunboat Diplomacy!) Too bad some filmmaker doesn't do a "time machine" movie about freeing Hawaii! But I digress - this could have been a great movie with such an original premise! Alas, it was not to be! Instead, the constant, and graphic showing of heads being blown off makes this a terrorist war-porn movie under the guise of Science Fiction! Slaughtering people, with cameras carefully lingering over the corpses, is not my idea of a good time. If it's yours, perhaps you should consider seeing a psychiatrist!This is absolutely the very worst "time machine" movie ever done. It gives Science Fiction a really bad name, and the filmmakers should truly be ashamed of themselves. I will certainly stay clear of any Korean filmmakers in the future!

AwesomeWolf Version: Korean / Japanese audio, English subtitles.Its funny how things work out. I submitted a review for 'The Big Swindle' - a 2 hour long Korean heist move - and mentioned that I always seem to find winners while watching random Korean movies. I must have jinxed myself, as I ended up coming across this dud at a friends house. A bad Korean movie? I don't know what to believe in anymore."What if?" time! In '2009: Lost Memories', the assassination of Ito Hirobumi (a Japanese official in occupied Korea) was foiled, and the course of history takes a very alternate route. World War Two was never fought in the Pacific and Korea has remained as a Japanese territory until 2009. Masayuki Sakamoto (Dong-Kun Jang) and Shojiro Saigo (Tôru Nakamura) are JBI (Japanese Bureau of Investigation) agents investigating an apparent terrorist attack on a Japanese museum in Seoul. The objective of the attack was the Lunar Soul - or as I like to call it: "The Boomerang of Death", that way it doesn't sound like something stolen from a 'Final Fantasy' game - and it is up to Sakamoto and his plucky little sidekick to find out why the Haruseijin are desperate to steal the Boomerang of Death.Like a few other Korean films floating around, '2009: Lost Memories' plays heavily to Korean nationalism: Seoul is presented as a very Japanese city, the Japanese characters appear good but are really evil, and vice-versa for the Korean characters. I'm sure '2009' would strike a chord with Korean viewers, but I was left stranded and constantly checking the time. 'Shiri', 'JSA, and 'Phantom: The Submarine' are all based in Korean nationalism. What makes them better than '2009'? Well, for one, they are not totally boring.'2009: Lost Memories' seem to be lost in between drama and action. The first action sequence is heavy on melodrama. It tries to be powerful, but why should I care when I still don't know the names of the characters, let alone their motivations. The action scenes only get worse from then on. They're all very clunky and shot in slow-motion, and some of them display camera-work so poor that you can only be impressed. Like the rest of the movie, the action is over-powered by the strong orchestral score. Apparently when being shot at from all directions, you will be magically protected by violin music. If you have not fallen asleep by the 90 minute mark, you will be screaming "Yes, the main character cannot be killed by conventional weapons! I GET IT!". I know I was.What links the drama with the action? Why, it must be the incessant tear-jerking! In dramatical scenes and gun-play scenes alike, '2009' is constantly trying to jerk tears. When people aren't dying, the film is trying hard to present a story that is lacking in logic and fairly predictable. If you're familiar with the history, you may find it hard to suspend disbelief about the whole what-if thing. It is predictable, so you don't need to pay too much attention to figure out what happens next. Most of time the only thing happening next is a cliché or a scene in which the film tries to make the viewer cry. I was so bored that I was crying.I've seen another Korean movie about time-travel. It was a drama movie called 'Il Mare'. Strangely enough, I liked that, but '2009: Lost Memories' is incredibly boring. 'Nuff said - 1/10

MovieRat-2 No, we are not talking about another Matrix-esque film where the world is really a virtual reality dream/nightmare...this is a film that takes a serious look at one of the many great "what if's" in history and shows how the world would have been. One of my favorite things about this film is that it shows the extremes of what people will do to either keep that history or change it. Its race against race; father against son; and friend against friend in a race for a nation's identity. Who will win, who will lose, and who will ultimately decide the fate of the world? Fantastic action sequences that seem almost too real. The bloodshed abounds in this film as we see repeated scenes of terrorists face off against police forces in shoot-outs that can only end with the annihilation of one group or the other. The battle scenes are realistic in that you don't see your standard "good guys never miss while bad guys can't hit the broad side of a barn" routine, these are truly horrific battles with a large casualty count from both sides.The film, however, isn't all about action. The story itself stands on its own as you try to piece together the jigsaw of clues and dead-ends to find out what in the world is the truth. Even when you arrive at the climax of the whole story you are left on one cliff-hanger after another, wondering if this will be the final bullet to decide it all...and at the ending there is no cliff hanging, the writers have thrown you off the cliff and you wonder what awaits you at the bottom.Despite this nail biting ending, the film had is draw backs: 1) a plot that progresses like a starting train, VERY slow at first before gaining tremendous steam at the end; 2)lots and lots of blood, not for the squeamish; 3)the ending had a loose end that was never explained; and 4)you will want more character background and insight from the two main characters.A very good film that had plenty of room for improvement.