Ta-weo

THE TOWER is nothing more than a modern-day remake of the Irwin Allen disaster classic THE TOWERING INFERNO, updating the storyline with modern technology and modern effects but dealing with exactly the same type of logistical intrigue and scared survivors drama. It's slightly melodramatic, as is the case with a lot of Asian cinema, but it's also highly efficient with it. It may not be up there with the best of the genre, but it's better than the comparable likes of AFTERSHOCK and THE SINKING OF JAPAN.

The narrative takes on a familiar construction with the first half hour building the characters before letting rip with a major accident, then working its way through a series of alternative disaster scenarios. Survivors are fried, dropped, blown up and put into various perilous situations, and it's all handled with more than a modicum of efficiency by director Kim Ji-hoon. It's also well paced and technically efficient, with decent CGI adding to the peril and some well-placed comic relief offsetting the more dramatic moments.

Is THE TOWER original? Not a jot. Is it as good as the original? Not by a long shot. Is it entertaining? Oh yes. It may be no classic, but as modern disaster cinema goes this is one of the better ones you'll find out there.

The Tower: A 2012 Korean disaster movie.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

Story Summary: It's a Korean movie about a high rise tower going up in flames. What more do you really need to know?

This movie hearkens back to the days when Hollywood made self contained disaster flicks on a regular basis; i.e. "Poseidon Adventure", the "Airport" (not "Airplane") movies, and the like, and, of course, the obvious comparison being "Towering Inferno". There's not a whole lot of variances afforded when you make a film like this. After all, it's a disaster film in a ship, building, plane, or what have you, so, it's basically just try to mitigate the damage, save as many people as you can, and see who (if anybody) makes it out alive. What you can do though, is try to have the viewers invest in some of the characters, provide an engrossing film with a decent enough story, some nice pacing & action, and, not make your stunts & effects look like crap. Does this film succeed on those fronts?...Yeah, pretty much.

Everything centers around the buildup to the Christmas celebration at the fabulous Sky Towers buildings. The first 30 minutes of the film or so are devoted to introducing the people who'll be the integral players in the disaster to come, they include; various hotel & building employees, some guests and love interests, the firemen who show up on the scene, some side groups, and the kid (gotta have a kid involved; this is a mandatory disaster movie rule). There's some ominous foreshadowing about high winds and a busted sprinkler system along the way, but screw it; let's send in the helicopters to drop fake snow on the buildings to appease our VIP guests as planned. What could possibly go wrong here?

OK, it's holiday party time! Where are those snow dropping helicopters?...Oh, here comes one now! Uh-oh!...What was that about the strong winds and a bad sprinkler system again?...From there, this is Disaster Movie 101, and, it's pretty entertaining for the most part.

This movie is what it is, meaning it's basically a popcorn action flick with little room for much else. The entire cast does a fine enough job, but there's not much for them to do past the ¼ mark other than run for their lives. There are some decent action set pieces where the characters have to escape the flames while traversing various floors & elevator shafts, navigate sky walks & scaffolding before they collapse, etc...This is all done with a fairly solid mix of live action, stunt work, and CGI. You also get your standard dose of Korean melodrama along the way (of course), but, it's not really any more melodramatic than those old American disaster flicks mentioned above; this movie really does play just like those films, except it's more modern and from a different country.

Bottom Line: It works well enough overall!...If you're looking for a fantastic story & dialogue driven Korean film, then, this ain't for you!...But, if you want to just chill and watch a decent action/disaster flick from Korea, then, this will probably fit the bill!

I think it's in the 6-7 out of a 10 star range!...Ehhhh! I'll give it 7 stars!

I went in to this expecting a fun and cheesy disaster flick, and I got that. I just wish it had been done a little better. The first 30 minutes is all character development, which I didn't mind that much. My only issue would be the cheesy comedic relief characters, which continue to attempt to be funny in a film containing lots of drama and disaster, which I felt is not good for a film like this. I appreciate black comedy, but this just felt like it was trying to make us laugh for the sake of laughing, and it didn't mix well with the rest of the serious events in the film. There was some melodrama for sure, as there is with a lot of Korean movies, but it felt like it had it's place in this movie. I must mention the CGI, because generally with Asian films I think the CGI is lacking, but this one actually did quite a good job. I think the film could have been shortened, because I found myself losing interest at some points even though there was action occurring, and that is due to the length. I think if these little flaws were fixed, it could have been a really fun and enjoyable flick, but I just felt that the flaws weighed it down and made me enjoy it less than I would like to have.

Is this a copy of Tower Inferno, most definitely.

Is worse?. Actually no, it is better.

The Tower Inferno was one of my favorites disaster movies and not because of the movie itself but for the topic at hand. I always had an eerie feeling of big tower buildings as much as planes. Human made things in such an impressive scale can fail and knowing technology all to well, this is a disaster scenery i'm usually more scared of.

The Tower inferno was fun but tedious, The Tower is fun and exciting.

IT is actually quite a shock, because the movie was incredible well directed, the first act was all too happy and did a good job in presenting the characters, the incident take its time to happen and this is a very good thing because it built suspense.

But...

By the time it happens, this movie is a thrill ride, it will not stop and it will keep you guessing what else is gonna fail, the scenery was breathtaking, the effects are incredible good, this is a big production and Koreans now show they can manage to do big movies like Hollywood, and as much fun as them.

What I most like about this one is the emphasis on the fireman, I always found that profession to be the most honorable of all and this is very well displayed through the movie, they are respected, honored and put into a incredible good light through the movie.

In contrast to American movies, the hero is not saving the day to be a hero, he does not wave flags like Americans, they just do their jobs, it is amazing how good this was captured on screen.

The main leads all do their job very well and although there are some sentimental parts like in the majority of Korean movies, they are handled all too well and they just work.

This movie is amazing, it has all the ingredients of the disaster movies, the director really did a superb job and I am sure you will have lots of fun with it.

It is a copy of The Tower Inferno?, well, yes ! for the most part... SO WHAT?

Americans do tons of re-re-remakes over and over again and nobody complains, it's not fair to do this to the Koreans, they managed to do a better Tower Inferno, by a long margin.

Keep up the good work! Now I am incredible excited about the next production coming out of Korean Soil !

Love it!

If your looking for a good action pack, dramatic movies that keeps you on the edge of your seat, then this the right movie for you. Once you get past the character building, setting the mood, at the beginning the movie is magic.