Silmido

In the 1960s a Korea controlled by its intelligence KCIA (guess where it came from ..) after a North Korean attempt to assassinate the South Korean president Park Chung-hee. South Korea responds by making a special force to kill Kim Il-sung, commander of North Korea. This force is made up of criminals judged to death sentence who get the choice of playing hangman or be in the force.

What we see from now on is people not treated as people, but are trained as machines of war for one mission which will take their lives in the end. The fact that this is based on a true story is very depressing and even more sadly, not so surprising.

This film was far superior to the more heroism focused 'Taegukgi' but received far less acclaim in South Korea, understandably so since 'Silmido' is very critical about recent happenings and has a much smaller budget. You on the other hand if given the choice, know what to pick. ;)

They gang rape nurse and there are several "GAUNTLET" style shoot-outs. All of that would make for an exciting movie you'd think. This movie tells the story of North Korean shock troops that launched a botched mission to kill the South Korean President. It starts off with the soldiers being recruited from death row (a la Dirty Dozen). They then run them through a series of obstacles, but the real obstacles are the ones in their hearts and minds. Now I tried to power through one of these films before "JSA", it gets all muddled down in political and societal dialog. Now "OLDBOY, I COME WITH THE RAIN" I my favorite movies (behind "THE PRINCESS BRIDE" of course). But I don't understand Korean society or politics, all I know there is no witty repertoire or a since of comedy. Nor is there any on my sign unleash hell, or _You NEED me on that WALL, you WANT me on that WALL!" Just reading the subtitles my eyes roll to the back of my head and the next thing I know the soldiers is in a running gun-battle with the trainers.

I start to watch this movie two days after I watched Brotherhood of War. I believe that Korean movies can be very good. Silmido was a disappointment for me. My rating probably should be lower but movie defend itself by one thing. It is based on true story... Korean history even. What is interested in this movie ? Relations between soldiers and group of bandits. The way they became soldiers and patriots. And here is the weak point of the movie for me... The reason they want to realize the plan created by authorities. They don't want to free themselves they want to free all SouthKorean. So if You asked if watch or not to watch I say watch if You have enough time and did not watch Brotherhood of War :). OK,OK... There was tear in my eye during the final scene. But I m human after all.

Firstly I must say that nearly there is no woman in the movie. Thats make this movie more strict and harsh. As you know the story, this is a hard movie also. You must have nerves like steel to watch this movie without getting upset. I get some stress while watching the movie and after watching it. Because everybody shouting each other and beating each other realistically and periodically.

This is a good movie. A good story. You cannot guess the end of the movie that has a surprising ending. Most of the emotions in the movie is at the tops. Acting is very very good. Effects are also okey,not the best but very good for a foreign movie.

Finally I think,war movie lovers must see this movie.Others with strong nerves also will like this movie. Better to watch before "call of duty".

From the very beginning until the very end, in this totally "male" film (women are visible for about 5 minutes) we see people of different background making choices - often neither right nor wrong, but what is necessary at the moment. However, political and military choices are often different, the latter is usually linear, without so-called second thoughts. Even if the mission is questionable, "politically incorrect". On the other hand, Korea could have been united if the Unit 684 succeeded...

Anyway, the film is evenly strong, based on true events, characters are elaborated and their developments and deeds are logical and reasoned. The cast is interesting as well, even those depicting protagonists can easily merge into team-play and joint decisions, not being stubbornly single heroes as we often see in e.g. US or Soviet war films.

Silmido is undoubtedly for you if you like powerful military dramas.