Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

Marketic It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

PimpinAinttEasy Dear Chan-wook Park, it was a really nice idea to make a film about male homo-social desire set near the Korean border. And it was damn provocative to set a woman right at the center of the investigation concerning the incident at the border. Alas, you cast the Korean equivalent of Anushka Sharma or something in that important role. That actress ruined this film a little bit. Even though the plot was far fetched (or do soldiers from enemy nations at borders actually get together? I don't know), it was a riveting film. The interactions between the soldiers from the two Koreas was electrifying. There was always a hint of danger and violence beneath their camaraderie. I was amazed by the almost effortless brilliance of the actors. Some of the best Indian actors could not pull off these roles effectively. It is an extremely depressing film at the end of the day. A lot of us take borders and our border patrols for granted. But your film shows how petty, ugly and violent it all is. I am sure some fools in Hollywood and Bollywood would remake this and ruin it completely. Especially Bollywood. I can imagine Farhan Akhtar and Hritik Roshan lining up already. Hope you can sue them if they ever try to remake your film. Best Regards, Pimpin. (8/10)

mformoviesandmore I watched this because it was made by the old boy from Old Boy. I had also recently seen Memories of Murder and thought I was on a winning streak of enjoyable Korean movies.Strike three - I'm out.I can see what they were trying to do, and the story is familiar of people from opposite sides making bonds that break.My main problem is that I found that I couldn't care less about any of the characters. The acting ranged from fair to appalling. The female non-Korean Korean inspector was probably the worst.The story was nothing magical and there are no surprises for anyone over the age of 21 as all of the elements have been done before.I suppose I was also disappointed after hearing so many good reviews - my expectations were set so high they had further to fall.My advice is that if you enjoyed the other movies I mentioned, and Olboy more so than memories, then save yourself and move on to another choice.

kosta-vidali A noteworthy movie that keeps viewer's interest till the end, "Joint Security Area" is abstaining the glaring calumnies and propagandistic political innuendos against the DPR of Korea. And the movie sticks till the end on this "political sobriety" with the exception of some divergences. And just on account of the absence of a structured anticommunism, the movie gets quite convincing, while the development of the main characters and the script itself are remarkable.However, the film appears to suffer from historical imprecision and ideological disorientation, since: 1. The division of Korea with all the tragic consequences for the Korean people is somehow presented as result of the political struggle between capitalism and communism. But this is only the half "truth".The truth is that after the end of WWII, the allies (USA, Soviet Union and Britain) committed themselves that "the two zones of military responsibility (in Korea) should be unified as fast as possible in order to form a united and independent state. However, the intentions of the United States and the reactionary circles of Korea were different. Their objective was the socio-political control of the whole country, something that wasn't an easy task for them, since the Korean People's Movement was powerful, and so were the revolutionary forces themselves. Under these conditions, it was obvious that a unified Korean state could not satisfy the interests of the domestic reactionary circles and American imperialism. Thus, despite the international agreements and the will of the Korean people, in August 1948 they established a puppet regime in the southern part of the country with head Lee Seung-Man (Syngman Rhee) that was named "Republic of Korea". These developments compelled the progressive forces of the Korean people to respond with the founding of a proportionate type of formation in the north. One month later, in September 1948, Democratic People's Republic of Korea was founded."2. The viewer is emotionally loaded as the movie underlines the necessity of reunification, but it never puts the question: "what kind of reunification shall it be". And this constitutes a pitfall for the unsuspected viewer. What shall be the political direction of the resulting new state? Because any reunification process has to lead to a definite economic, social and political status. It cannot be neither apolitical, nor neutral, nor completely independent from any ideology. Today there is a lot of experience on the issue of "reunification", and an excellent example is the reunification of Germany and its consequences. What do the Germans who were living in the Socialist East Germany, the German Democratic Republic (DDR), what do they say today about the capitalistic reunification of the two Germanies that took place on 1990? What happened afterwards? What is happening the last years to the social and labour rights of the workers of the former DDR and West Germany? The answer is given in a relatively recent poll of the German political magazine "Der Spiegel". (Majority of Eastern Germans Feel Life Better under Communism).Consequently, it is undoubtedly sure that a reunification in a capitalistic social-economic direction will lead, on one hand to the constant deterioration of workers' life in North and South Korea, and on the other hand on the rise of the profitability and the possibilities of exploitation for the south Korean and foreign bourgeoisie. That's why it is not adequate to talk about reunification without determining the political direction of the reunification. Concluding, the struggle for reunification of the Korean Working people of South and North is inevitably coincided with their common anti-imperialist struggle and the struggle for a Socialist Korea.3. The movie is covering up the huge and dominating military presence of the USA in the DMZ, obscuring the "bonds of blood" between the South Korean bourgeoisie and American imperialism.

RainDogJr Major Sophie (Lee Young Ae), from Switzerland, is in charge of the investigation about a shooting in a North Korean border house. Lee Soo-hyeok (Lee Byung-Hun) is the main suspect of the dead of two North Korean soldiers after he escape from the soldiers according to his confession but Major Sophie will find some contradictions in Lee's confession, specially because of the number of bullets in the dead bodies. Soon the truth will be know.The plot of this film, directed by Chan-wook Park before his great and famous "Vengeance trilogy", involve one of the most difficult themes for the two Koreas and a tragic and touching story about friendship set in an absurd thing called war. The storyline is perfect and very touching, first it seems to be a story about mystery involving a murderer but later with the flashbacks it turns into a story full of humanity in which the protagonists are afraid to tell the truth thanks to the assured reaction of their governments that will place them as treacherous. So the film is very antiwar and always have a great message that every person in the world must practice.The cast is great and i think is not very easy to make a film about this difficult theme and all the actors and actresses are just perfect. And the cinematography is just amazing with some of the most memorable scenes that i have seen on a film, specially every time we can see how close is the border between this two countries. Also i think the very last photography is very beautiful showing the four "brothers" before the tragic story. And i read that it is impossible to film in the Joint Security Area so they create a perfect replica for the film so is also a very valuable thing.Conclusion: watch this excellent film, it was the biggest success in the history of Korean cinema and is another great film by the great Chan-wook Park. 9.5 out of 10DVD: the last year the company Quality Films released in Mexico the collection "Cinema Xtreme: Asian Series", with a lot of excellent films including this one. I own like 4 films of this collection and are just great, with few but good bonus material. The only bad thing is the package of this DVD that is not as good as the rest of the collection and i don't know why. Anyway is excellent that we can enjoy this films in Mexico.