Maura Loyde (maural-07525)
The most surprising thing I noticed in the film was how the South Korean police were portrayed. Just about all of them are totally corrupt in the film--even more so than Geon-soo (who has been taking bribes as well as his involvement in the hit and run and disposing of the body)! I have no idea how accurate this portrayal is, but it sure makes you think twice about going to visit the country! Another thing that surprised me was that I liked the film. This is a surprise because I generally don't like action films. Normally, such a movie wouldn't interest me...but this one managed to. But, as I mentioned above, it is a bit derivative...though it certainly is not exactly like I Know What You Did Last Summer. The only real deficit I otherwise noticed was the big finale. While it was super-tense and exciting, it completely lacked realism. No one can take that much punishment and STILL be alive...yet one of the characters seems almost immune to anything Geon-soo can throw at him (literally). The bottom line is that the film is super-entertaining provided you don't think too much near this crazy ending.
forlornnesssickness
Fortunately, "71: Into the Fire", officially released on last Thursday in South Korea, is not the bottom of the barrel. But still, it's near the bottom of the barrel. The movie is not as ideologically repulsive as I feared, but this is awfully hollow without any clear direction, let alone clear emotions. The result is one of the worst war movies since "Pearl Harbor" and one of few saving graces of "71: Into the Fire" is that it's one-hour shorter than that. The war is hell, the war is a mess, but the war movie must not be a mess at any chance.After crossing the 38 parallels on June 25th in 1950, North Korean military relentlessly advanced toward the south while capturing Seoul and several major cities except Pusan within a month. They seemed to be near the victory, and South Korean military fought at all cost at the last front line of the Nakdong River to protect Pusan with nowhere else to step behind while desperately waiting for UN troops(As one commander points out in the movie, they would have had no option except jumping into the sea if the line had been broken down). The Battle of Pusan Perimeter was one of the most turbulent moments of Korean war, and many of South Korean soldiers sacrificed their lives. It's inarguable that our generation owed them a lot for our freedom and prosperity and more.The movie is based on the one of the combats that actually happened during that time. Because other soldiers must go to Pusan Perimeter, the bunch of boy soldiers, freshly drafted by South Korean military, are left to defend the front line near the city named Pohang at the small school building of countryside. Soon, North Korean soldiers led by their ruthless, charismatic leader(Seung-won Cha) is approaching to their place for the strategic advantage. These young students, little experience and little resource, must secure their front line no matter how.Before leaving them, The commanding officer(Seung-woo Kim) appoints one of boy soldiers, Jang-Bum(Korean pop star T.O.P), to be the leader of these young soldiers only because he has recently gotten the first taste of battle. Jang-Bum is not so confident about his new role, and so do other soldiers, including some antagonizing bully and his gangs. They cannot accept Jang-bum as the leader at first, but, with massive menace coming toward them minute by minute, they really have to stick together to protect their country and, maybe, to save themselves.A good setting for war movie, but the movie ruins this in every possible way despite having lots of good things to utilize. Sometimes it reaches to the level of the amusement, mixed with lots of annoyance. I don't mind about simple black & white situation depicted in the movie, but the characters in the movie are the battalion of cardboards. They are mainly the pawns manipulated by the terrible script with awful dialogues, and no depth is given to any of them. Only Jang-bum is given some space, but that is usually decorated with cringe-inducing, yellow light-coated flashbacks about his mother. There is no convincing character development, and we don't care about the characters at all. In fact, I was glad to see some characters dispatched during the movie. Above all, the movie is repulsive with its alarming shallowness. The director Ja-Han Lee seems to only care about making the movie look nice without any consideration to the story itself – if it ever exists. For example, there is the scene where the commander blows up the bridge while desperate refugees wanting to cross over it. My god, the movie cares far more about the big explosion than the desperation of common people. How spectacularly good it looks!The massive budget behind the production is clearly shown on the screen, but, oh boy, how clumsy these action sequences are. It seems like to have been made with the thought that only explosions and shaky camera works are everything. I'm sure I can make a better experience at my mother's kitchen.In the end, so-called big payoff comes as the entertainment, and we see two main characters(I don't have to tell you who they are) valiantly do Rambo things at the top of the building while North Korean soldiers become more like zombies. It won't be a serious matter if it tries to be like "Inglourious Basterds". However, when the movie sets out to be as serious as "Saving Private Ryan", that is just like the kiss of death.Last week, I watched another Korean War movie "Tae Guk Gi" for the comparison, and I think I should have been more generous to that. There still are several things I do not like, but "Tae Guk Gi" is technically and emotionally engaging overall and, above all, has the sincerity behind it. "71: Into the Fire" has none of these virtues, although it has a miraculously(considering the bad script) competent performance by T.O.P., a scenery-chewing presence of Seung-won Cha, and lots of, lots of noises and explosions.Right or Left, you can't deny that "71: Into the Fire" is insultingly paper-thin war movie made by hands as inexperienced as these young noble soldiers. You'll probably think that they will be rolling around in their graves for this. Believe me, if some of boys in the movie had shouted "Wolverine!", it would have been much more entertaining. What the hell, the movie will make money – that's a depressing thing.
loopedd
This movie overall was really well made. The acting was great, the special effects were good, and the movie was easy to follow. Since this was based on a true event, the ending was not going to be a huge surprise. Compared to most American films in the past two decades, this film had a low budget (about $10 Million USD). Most of the critics comment TOP from Big Bang being casted just for pure publicity, but he is a good actor as proved from a past Korean drama he did called IRIS. The sadness of the Korean War and the desperation of the people at that time were wonderfully portrayed. We should take this movie as a harsh reminder of the Korean War and wars around the world in general. You may think that this might never happen… especially to you of all people but the harsh reality is that is can… There is no one to blame for the Korean War; not the soviets, North Koreans, South Koreans, Chinese or the anti communist nations. We only have over selves to blame for war, and no one truly wins one.
KineticSeoul
I first read about this movie on a Korean site looking up Korean entertainment, it was probably up pretty quick since it has the Korean rapper TOP in it who is in a popular K-pop group Big Bang. Anyways I also managed to watch the trailers on YouTube and it looked promising, and I must say the trailer was better than the actual movie itself after viewing. I felt a lot of the characters went to waste, like the nurse for instance who just treats Seung-hyeon Choi wounds and doesn't appear for the rest of the movie. The movie would have been so much better if it was more engaging and you actually care for the character and you do care a bit but not enough to really worry if they die or live. The film also seems to rely to much on the cinematography since the camera changes constantly but not really effectively. It just constantly switches to TOP's facial expressions a LOT, but I guess it's to please the fan girls while the guys enjoy the action scenes. TOP's acting got better but it's just passable and Kwon Sang-Woo really overdoes it in order to stand out but just comes off as obnoxious, but he did have his moments. Cha Seung-Won did a fine job of playing the charismatic North Korean commander although his scenes are very few, he did a fine job, just not very memorable. I wished it found a way to get more in depth with the characters cause most of them didn't really stand out to me. Another annoying aspect of the film is how the North Korean soldiers fights like retarded drones that is just asking to get shot by running straight into bullets, yeah it's a movie but it got irritating to watch cause of the stupidity. I know they tried to make the final scene all epic, but I couldn't help but roll my eyes. I didn't feel cheated while walking out of the theaters, but was a bit let down. I also noticed there were more girls in the theater seats than guys, I guess TOP makes up for his lack of acting skills in order to get the female viewers to go watch his movie. Like Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner in the "Twilight" movies. Anyways good movie with a average plot and pretty cardboard characters and a lot of stuff blowing up.7.1/10
