a5c7b9f00b During the Japanese colonial era, roughly 400 Korean people, who were forced onto Battleship Island (&quot;Hashima Island&quot;) to mine for coal, attempt to a dramatic escape. ***Minor Spoilers Ahead***<br/><br/>I&#39;ve read four &quot;professional&quot; critics&#39; reviews on Metacritics so far, and I do not believe that they are doing justice to the movie. So I write mine own here. <br/><br/>The movie, although inspired by the harsh conditions of Japanese occupation of Korea, is highly fictional, and the last action piece never happened.<br/><br/>That said, the movie is a re-visioned piece, much like Tarantino&#39;s &quot;Inglorious Basterds.&quot; The movie borrows many elements from Tarantino. 1) Inhumane treatment by historically superior entity, 2) re- visioned telling of the story, and 3) interim comedy. <br/><br/>The third element is one this movie executes well. The comedic relationship between the two main characters, along with the horrific conditions they are placed in, make you feel invested in their future. <br/><br/>As it is with Korean cinematic custom, the actions sequence was brutally violent. However, it was magnificently done. Every minute of it I was clutching the sides of my seat, hoping that the protagonists would prevail. <br/><br/>The movie also has layers of hidden messages that perhaps foreigners might not get. The movie&#39;s ending action piece is accompanied by &quot;Ecstasy of Gold.&quot; The music feels out of place yet it oddly fits into the narrative of the entire movie. There, the filmmaker&#39;s alluding to the same message &quot;The Good and the Bad and the Ugly&quot; presents in its scene. The scene from &quot;the Good&quot; shows a man* running in a mass graveyard but ecstatic due to his satisfaction of greed. What should be a solemn and mournful place is turned to a fest of greed. <br/><br/>The message is toward current Korean culture. Likewise, the filmmaker is criticizing Koreans who live blissfully in unparalleled amount of wealth, almost forgetting the holocaust their ancestors suffered merely two generations ago.<br/><br/>The downside is that there is a lack of development for other characters. By consequence, the side-plot feels out of place and too sudden. There is a twist in the middle, but that twist is likewise affected by the underdevelopment of characters. A good twist needs breadcrumbs leading up to the twist so that it gives the audience the feeling of &quot;aha!&quot; after combining all the clues. This movie had none. <br/><br/>In sum, this movie is a great piece that reminds Koreans of the horrors of their ancestors. And, for us foreigners, the movie is informative of the actions of the other side of the AXIS during World War II. It is a historical fact that this island is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Though the Japanese came to an agreement with Koreans that the site used forced labor, they are not providing this information on their tour program and their tour website. I can&#39;t decide whether this was intended to be a drama or comedy,it has equal parts of both (in the beginning), although the drama is more dramatic than the humor is funny. I also can&#39;t understand why a girl was casta boy who dresses like a girl (the role of Lee So-hee), unless she was just passed offa boy in the film, but still looked more like a girl than a boy. Confusing! The characters&#39; intentions are also somewhat unclear at times. Having said this, it was still a good, enjoyable film though.<br/><br/>Some great photography and action scenes. The final battle scene during the escape is awesome!! The heroes of this film are, in other words, selfish, but never in a venal, or ugly way. They're human, and they do what they must to face each successive challenge they're confronted with.
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295 weeks ago