Shiri [DVD]

My only exposure to this movie is from other amazondotcommers' reviews, which was very favourable. Nevertheless, I still didn't know what to expect. Some reviewers made allusion to "Le Femme Nikita," which is rightly so, but hardly the same movie. This is a guy movie and the lead actress didn't have as much screen time as the two OP agents which I think is okay because the movie was still able to give a profound impression about the what and why's of the Femme Assassin. Concerning the other reviewers, I have to agree with most, "Shiri" is quite impressive in the way that it tried and succeeded in making a Hollywodd style action movie but uniquely Korean. The melodramatic parts of the movie gives one time to pause from the sheer, dizzing action sequence, yet it didn't feel awkward although at times bordering towards soap opera. The plot, surprisingly was the movie's weak point, a bit too gimicky and had the potential to sag, where for not the actor's believable performances. Yun-jin Kim who plays the reincarnated Hyun had a bit more of a challenge having to play the vunerable pretty girl next door, to a deadly spy with a big gun. Kim had to convey varying degrees of emotions in a limited screen time convincingly, which gives her performance more notice. I also like the actor who played the nemesis, Min sik Choi. He has the same intensity that could be compared to a younger Clint Eastwood. And yes, I also like the ending, don't forget the tissue paper.The DVD has a nice, extra long documentary on the making of "Shiri," which really shows you that these guys mean bussiness when it comes to action movies. They employ the same meticulousness of Hollywood movie makers, with a bigger challenge: a very, very small budget, relatively speaking ofcourse, 5 million dollars is nothing to a big action Hollywood movie, but to North Koreans movie makers, it's enough money to but their other half of the country, which makes you appreciate this movie even more. I know a reviewer pointed out the awkwardness of having to follow a plot in subtittles, but I didn't find it a problem, I thought it added to its uniqueness. I am really glad I followed the advice and reviews of fellow dot commers. This movie is worth having. I plan to watch it several more times just to catch some missed nuances and probably pass it around for others to appreciate it.

When I Dream, I Dream of You......This sleek and elegant action thriller from South Korea transcends genres as its visually stunning and highly stylized violence is balanced with an emotionally rich story that makes it one of the finest action films ever. This film was a bigger blockbuster in Asia than Titanic, and after viewing it for the first time you will know why.Unlike most action films, director Je-gyu Kang retains a very human element within the often spectacular physical sequences, giving this picture a heart. It deals with politics and the anguish of a country divided. In the end, it turns out also to be a very intimate story of two people in love.Shiri is a viciously trained female assassin who has gone underground after leaving a goodbye message in blood at her last kill. Ryu and Lee are South Korean agents who have dealt with the beautiful and deadly Shiri once before. When she unexpectedly returns and takes out a black market arms dealer, they must discover why she has resurfaced. Their search will cause each to subtly question their friendship and cast suspicion on each other in a story line more complex than most action films.A new weapon developed by South Korea called CTX has been stolen. It is a liquid, like water, that when exposed to light is deadly enough to destroy an entire city with one gallon. Korea is close to taking its first steps toward unification with a soccer game attended by the leaders of both sides. But if the deadly Shiri is working for North Korea, why would she kill both leaders? The only conclusion is that not everyone in Korea wants the same kind of unification.This film has some incredibly stylized action sequences but never sacrifices the more human elements which drive it. Ryu's relationship with his sweet fiancee is tender and real. She is a recovering alcoholic who runs a fish shop. Their scenes together are truly touching. She does not know Ryu is an agent and as his pursuit of Shiri begins to intrude on their lives she may not be able to stay away from the bottle.There are revelations exposed near the end which are full of anguish and heartbreak. I cannot reveal more but can say that not everyone will survive. There is some fine Korean music in the background to this visually stunning and terrific film. The final scene of two people sitting together on a bench overlooking the ocean and listening to "When I Dream, I Dream of You" is heartrending, and what separates this great film from others of its genre. A real winner.

I am new to the foreign type films, so if you are like me and had some friends show you one or two of these things that were so jaw dropping with action you couldn't wait to see more, then this movie is a bit of a letdown for action and storyline. Pretty much everyone else has given their ideas of what the movies about and all, but I'm just going to say that you wait an entire movie just for an awesome gun fight at the end. It's dubbed Chinese by default, so us Americans will have to switch it over to English which doesn't go along with the subtitles at all. Unless you happened to pick up some Chinese or any of the other 6 languages I think it has in high school or college. Anyhow the sound is very good, and the gunfights make you want to go buy some 9mm's and practice with your friends.

The primary plot was well thought out and enough of a mystery to keep you engrossed. There were a few technical flaws with regard to weapon handling and scenarios that were a bit over the top but nothing that made the film unwatchable. Overall, I liked the acting, the storyline, and the production quality. I'd recommend this for fans of intrigue with a bit of action drama thrown in for good measure.

One of the finest movies I've seen, though a bit hard to watch due to the powerfully tragic, star-crossed lovers story. If you don't mind getting choked up in the midst of highest octane action, then this one is a must watch.

This 1999 South Korean action film is a quite watchable thing, although ultimately not as good as I hoped for. Below, more of my impressions, with some limited SPOILERS.In October 1992, an elite group of North Korean soldiers are put through a brutal training regime. Under the auspices of their commander, Park Mu-young (Choi Min-sik), they will be sent into South Korea as sleeper agents, to be reactivated at some later date. The most promising of the group is "Lee Bang-hee" (this is the code name she uses), an extremely gifted female sniper - once infiltrated to south she assassinates several key South Korean figures over the next six years. And then she suddenly stops all activity and vanishes. This all figures in the introduction.The film begins in fact with two South Korean counter-intelligence officers, Yu Jong-won (Han Suk-kyu) and Lee Jang-gil (Song Kang-ho), making a point about their fruitless investigation and their failure to find any concrete, hard data about "Lee Bang-hee" - including how she looks and what is her real name... Yu and Lee, as well as their superiors, strongly suspect that this interruption in "Lee Bang-hee" activity simply indicates that North Koreans are up to something REALLY big... I will say no more about the story.This film is actually inspired by real events, namely the little known in the West but absolutely merciless secret war North Korean nightmarish regime waged and still wages today against its Southern democratic neighbour. Some of the most notorious incidents are worth mentioning:- on 21 January 1968 North Korean commando infiltrators attacked the Blue House, the residence of South Korean presidents trying to assassinate the president Park Chung-hee; the 31 members of the commando trained for this mission during two years! They didn't succeed and 28 were killed in fighting - one more committed suicide, one was captured alive and one managed most probably to escape back to North Korea. In successive firefights South Korean army and police lost 26 men killed - US Army lost further 4.- on 9 October 1983 three North Korean secret agents planted a bomb at a mausoleum in Rangun (Burma) where South Korean president Chun Doo-hwan was expected to depose flowers during an official visit; because he was delayed in the traffic, he was not hurt - but the explosion killed 21 other people including South Korea deputy Prime Minister Suh Suk Jun, minister of foreign affairs Lee Beom-seok, minister for commerce and industry Kim Dong Whie, minister for power resources Suh Sang-chul, presidential chief of staff Ham Byeong-chun, as well as South Korean ambassador to Burma and three vice-ministers- on 29 November 1987 Korean Air Boeing 707 (Flight 858 from Baghdad to Seoul) was destroyed by the explosion of a bomb smuggled on board by two North Korean agents, including a highly trained female operative, Kim Hyon Hui; all 115 people on board died.- 18 September-5 November 1996. After a group of 25 heavily armed North Korean commando infiltrators were landed in the south by a submarine a manhunt was launched by South Korean army, which lasted 49 days. 13 infiltrators were killed in fighting, 11 died in a mass murder-suicide once cornered and one was taken alive. South Korean army lost 8 soldiers in fighting (and 4 more in an accident). During the manhunt the infiltrators also murdered four southern civilians.- possibly as retaliation for the interception of this group of infiltrators, on 1 October 1996 Choe Deok-geun, a South Korean consular agent to Vladivostok (Russia) was ambushed and murdered by North Korean agents- 17 December 1998 - a North Korean midget submarine was intercepted by South Korean navy when landing a group of commando infiltrators in the south; in the ensuing battle the ship was sunk and all infiltrators killedComing back to the film, well, it is not bad. The plot is honest, characters are rather well developed, there are some interesting twists and surprises, most action scenes are OK and especially there is NO idiotic kung fu (or in this case taekwondo) which so horribly hurts many Asiatic films.The training of North Korean commandos and their quite impressive performance in fight are quite impressive – as is also the presentation of how ruthless and sadistically brutal is North Korean war machine (the training includes the use of political prisoners as living targets and it is very probably a TRUE STORY!).On another hand this film is quite predictable – we guess quickly who is the main opponent of two heroes and it is quite possible to guess then what will ultimately happen to the whole film.I also absolutely hated the idea that the whole great evil plot is supposedly not the work of North Korean government but of some "extremists" inside North Korean armed forces, who try to prevent northern regime to make peace with the south(!). Considering the murderous record of North Korean government both against its southern neighbours and its own population this kind of precautions always infuriated me!This is definitely not a masterpiece but a watchable action film, refreshingly different from Hollywoodian action movies, which even if sometimes honest, are also annoyingly always the same. This exotic treat is therefore worth seeing – but in principle once.

Not a film of overwhelming subtlety, the shooting starts right at the beginning and caries on pretty much continuously to the end. Styled after the Holywood and Hong Kong blockbusters of the day Shiri was extremely popular at the time and does raise what remains a somewhat taboo subject of the possible reunification of the two Koreas.One criticism of the film is the apparent disparity between the special forces elements of this divided country, North Korean troops are all dead eye dicks that require a hail of bullets to take down, South Koreans on the other hand apparently couldn't hit a barn door on a good day, spraying tons of lead in the direction of their opponents, rarely if ever hitting anything. They also appear comparatively fragile and drop dead if a bullet gets within a hundred yardsI know there is a long tradition of guys as cannon fodder in all movie industries, but Shiri just looks a bit unbalanced.

05 November 2012When special agent Ryu of South Korea's secret service fails to prevent the death of an arms smuggler turned infotmant, he instinctively suspects the involvemment of Hee, an enigmatic sniper from a North Korean terrorist group.A skilled master of disguise, Hee previously assassinated many goverment offcials but since managed to disappar, escaping the unrelenting pursuit of South Korean agents. Now it appears that has returned.....Featuring some truly breath-taking set pieces and ulta-kinetic shoot-out, this adrenalin-charged ride into the dangerous world of renegade snipers and secret intelligence officers was the highest grossing was the highest grossing box office success of all time in Korean history.If you like any thing like this "Nikita and Die Hard" [It a good film to see]

As a fan of Korean cinema (especially Kim Ki-duk's films know how to get my attention) I bought the 2003 ... well ... let's say almost 'action film' "Shiri" - sad but true:It is not as beautiful as the cover, not as brilliant as the other films of the "tartan Asia Extreme" collection (well, yes and no, "Princess Blade" is not any better) that I know and not as thoughtful as a movie of this category should be as well.Of course I adore the wonderful neon set pieces that are quite impressive and I also prefere the fact that it takes place in the past and brings us back into the world of the 20th century, but all these little advantages do not let me forget about the problem that the main drama of the film is, let's face it, very thin and almost tired...The film is boring and way too hectic at the same time, that's part of the irony and even if the visual art is not bad at all, it is still an average film not to remember for a long time...

The basic storyline is that two of South Korea's top agents get wind of a plot involving an arms dealer and a known North Korean assassin. The investigate and quickly find out that a top secret explosive is involved. From then on it's a race against the clock to stop whatever plans the North Koreans have hatched.There's romance in the form of the story of one of the agent's up coming marriage to a fish shop owner. The end is extremely touching and I was close to tears myself (quite an admission coming from a man).The film mixes action, drama and romance. As a fusion between 3 genres, the film cannot, really, be compared to other films. The extra features are well worth looking at. One thing to bear in mind if you decide to watch the "Making of" documentary -- only key portions are subtitled in English. :(I whole-heartedly recommend this film to people who like the above genres. It may be two hours long but, believe me, it feels a lot shorter.