Ashfall

Ashfall works where most other disaster film's do not because it mixes the basic premise is a way that's novel and exciting.

This might best be described as a disaster film that's also a military thriller, with a great human interest back story. In terms of pacing, it starts off slowly but quickly gains momentum, adding in layers of excitement and varied action, as it moves to its very emotional climax.

Acting is excellent with characters who have real depth and a story to tell. Its worth mentioning that some of the humour might seem a bit odd and a little slapstick, to European audiences. Its moderately reminiscent of the kind of humour that you find in Hong Kong action flicks, Its not to my taste but then this is a Korean film, pitched at Korean viewers.

My only real complaint with Ashfall is the story is a little too complex at times and deviates in different directions, a little too much. It can be hard to keep up with who's doing what to who and why.

That said, Ashfall is still a hell of a lot better than the basic disaster movies, that lazily reply on exposition and special effects, to carry them.

A well deserved 7/10 from me.

There are kots of highlights for the near apocalyptic action genre lovers, but the story and plot are mostly undeveloped and pretty unhinged most of the time. the cataclysmic phases made on vfx and cgi are merely fine, but the way the human story is told its extremely mediocre and a very big nuclear wasted anti climax of a volcanic meltdown.

good production, average acting, terrible story and geopolitical disaster, thinks the grumpy old man, but its still a recommend

If this movie was solely made for destruction and action escape sequences like most of Hollywood movies does with no logic this movie did it bad. i watched this movie solely for the story line and expected a lot but all ended with a whimper.

While the movie is pretty typical for a volcano disaster movie goes, there's a lot of things going on in it. The whole is mostly a group of solider trying to get uranium bomb to prevent another disaster. I don't know if it's possible to get it from North Korea and if it going to work at all. They try to cramp in a lot of things into it like the disaster scenes, the military action, and minor side plot that goes nowhere interesting. The disaster scenes are done pretty good with how much tension it goes to it and the CGI looks pretty decent for it. The characters aren't really that bad, but aren't that memorable. This is a decent watch.

So, after the Korean take on the zombie genre, we now get the big disaster popcorn movie. The basic plot is what you'd expect: Big Bad Thing happens, but Even Worse Thing will happen if the heroes and scientists can't save the day by a dangerous mission. Luckily, the movie still provides many of the factors that make Korean cinema so entertaining. There is almost effortlessly good character chemistry(an art big Hollywood flicks seems to have lost somewhere along the way). There are the big sentimental brush strokes. There is a brisk pace and some twists and turns, and the added factors of the US military, North Korea, and some marvelously sleazy Chinese add some complexity and real world problems apart from the volcano itself. The heroes are ragtag and humorously flawed(another fun factor Hollywood has done away with in the age of Dwayne Johnson chiseled supermen), and hurtle along as best they can without ever really being in control of the situation.

Now, being a popcorn flick it obviously won't reach the amazing heights that Korean arthouse cinema spoils us with. Most notably, there are some bits where the editing is a bit rough, and some transitions are so abrupt it's chuckle-worthy. And plot, as mentioned, does not stray too far from your usual disaster movie formula.

But those small flaws doesn't stop Ashfall from remaining entertaining throughout, and isn't that what a good action movie should do? Definitely worth a watch.