Défense d'atterrir

A great movie with great actors and a pure thrill.

In a word, it was a beautiful film

This movie should be sent to the Oscars .. not the movie Escape from Mogadishu..

So locally, the movie was pretty good. I think (almost) every scene was well shot, well acted, and even every plot point was a good choice and moved the movie forward. My only issue with this movie was that if failed to create tension properly. Once the 'problem' begins you kinda feel the same level of stress. There aren't many local periods of anxiety or triumph. Even when some story critical sub plots work out, it just doesn't feel like anything was gain because at the same time nothing was risked. A good movie, just needs to vary tension, and pacing to achieve that goal.

A typical stab at a disaster movie from Korea, fairly good and watchable but instantly forgettable at the same time. My favourite Korean movies are their thrillers with harder bloody edges while this one lapses into shameless melodrama towards the climax. The first half, a tight thriller set on an aeroplane with a documentary feel, is certainly the best and keeps you watching thanks to strong direction and assured performances from Lee Byung-hun and Song Kang-ho among others. The second half is totally different, a wider-scale traditional disaster flick like one of those old AIRPORT movies of the 1970s. Not bad, but I wanted more.

This movie is slightly above standard. As a fans, I complain that the story behind Lee has not been portrayed more. His part in the movie is less than expected. His image and outlook is not also in par with a pilot. I look for a more handsome and smart Lee, rather than an average middle age father.

Overall the plot of the movie is logical and sensible, though the story line is not very intricating. The story development and the ending is all expected without surprise. The transport secretary chuen is good at acting. But she is not given any chance to show her super acting skill. So does Lee.

All in all, it is not a bad movie but not a super one.

In 1968 a Canadian writer named Arthur Haley wrote AIRPORT, a bestseller which is generally acknowledged to be the spark, the trigger, for the dozens of similar stories and films that followed. (That book itself spawned two feature movies, in 1970 and 1975). As I have explained in my other reviews, South Korea prides itself on picking up themes from the west and raising the stakes. So it is with Emergency Declaration, the definitive Korean take on the airplane disaster movie. Boasting a 2hr20min runtime, it follows the typical story arc -- well known to K-drama fans -- of setting up the factual circumstances and then taking extensive detours into the personalities of the various characters in the story. Which is why South Korean zombie films also shine so well -- character development. Recommended. I have two Korean films on my IMDb list of the best films of all time. ((Designated "IMDb Top Reviewer." Please check out my list "167+ Nearly-Perfect Movies (with the occasional Anime or TV miniseries) you can/should see again and again (1932 to the present))