The Battleship Island

THE BATTLESHIP ISLAND is another exemplary slice of filmmaking from South Korea, with the kind of perfect direction that rival Hollywood directors can only dream about. The setting is the grubby tail-end of 1945, where miners work in a Japanese-controlled prison camp and the Koreans must contend with corruption, betrayal, rivalry and resistance fighters spurring escapes and break-outs. It's epic film-making with fine production values throughout and intelligent scripting which weaves together various sub-plots and characters into a satisfying mix. There's action, emotion, tragedy and careful character work, all of it handled deftly by an experienced cast and a director who knows exactly what works. Things build to the kind of rousing climax that delivers everything you want, and more.

Emotionally gripping for me to watch this because I tend to be overwhelmed by what happened to the characters in war-plot movie. The casts were all great and wonderful in their roles, each bringing out one another's best aspects and molded their chemistry throughout the journey in this movie. There were various themes on humanity being touched and carried on as the key to this movie while you are brought into an existential reflection of what if you are part of it in that war-era period, what would you have done to stay alive and what would you have chose to do. Watch this movie without getting too hung up on the political facts but more on being in the shoes of those who had to plough their way for survival. I also like the cinematography of the scenes when everyone trying to escape and working together towards it although I must say the ways certain gun shots shown just a bit hard to comprehend how certain people so easily died while certain just survived.

The performances are very good, but unfortunately, what does the director really want to say? A lot of space depicts traitors and running dogs, and the father of his daughter turns an anti-Japanese film into a prison break film. The whole film can not see the resistance of the workers, the persecution of the Japanese is only through various aspects to show, the front may only be a rolling nail plate, right? This is also the director who was bought up by Japanese money.

While having seen many Hollywood True Historic event based movies, this was the first Korean movie that I have seen ever. So Ji-Sub from "Oh My Venus" fame and Song Joong-ki from "Descendents of the Sun" fame, are the two actors who brought me to this point, leading to "The Battleship Island". And their performance has been really great. The direction is quite good, leaving very few logical loopholes and the movie captures your constant attention. While within Korea and Japan most of the people would be aware of such an incident, people like us truly have no idea about such events even happening. And while it is a hair-raisingly tragic affair, I am thankful for making this movie available worldwide and enjoyed the narration and acting overall. P.S. The child artist is amazing as well ! Kim Su-An. A must watch for fans of either Korean Movies or the above mentioned actors!

The three lead actors are among South Korea's most talented and loved, and the story of what Japan did to Korea is true (enslavement, rape, and mass murder, just as they inflicted on Nanking, China), a story that many Americans don't know about our ally. Though there are some plot gaps and sequencing gaffes creating a cut and paste effect in a few scenes, the film is well worth watching because of its themes, both historic and dramatic, and because of the twists, intrigues, betrayals, and heroism of this Korean story set in the face of the horrors of war and occupation. The film opens and closes in black and white, except at the end a spectral bit of horrifying color followed by the anguished face of the child. It follows a thrilling yet heartbreaking action sequence and closes with an elegiac triumph soaked in grief. This is, after all, a war story. There is a reason why Asians, especially the Koreans, have captured the world's attention while Hollywood continues to slide. They have tremendous talent, imagination, brilliance, and expertise along with a thousand-year history of culture, ideas, and experience. And because they are that good.

Profound for the simple reason that this film breathes life into history by presenting this extraordinarily gripping true story. Absolutely stunning. One amazingly kinetic experience, splendid production values and some of the most intense staging and action you'll see within the korean film industry.