The Battleship Island

In terms of the scale of this movie, the extras, the production values (very high!), the excellent plot, the quality acting, cinematography, you name it, this movie has it all. This is the kind of larger than life movie Steven Spielberg might have made, if he was Korean, quite extraordinary. I would say though that the CGI, while very good, isn't "quite" as good as the best that Hollywood can do, but it's still extremely well done. It's not a family movie though, there is some extreme violence in this movie, but war is war and war is very violent. The movie does take some liberties with the story, I'm not sure all of it is 100% historically accurate, a lot of it "is" true though, like the fact the island was mined for it's coal, but a lot is included for the sake of making an interesting story. It does cover some aspects of the Japanese army's behavior which is an enduring national shame for that country, such as the use of "comfort women", i.e. Forcing Korean (and other nationalities) female prisoners to be the sex slaves of the Japanese army. I can honestly say, some of the best movies I have ever seen in the past few years have come from South Korea. The quality of the movies coming out of the South Korean film industry are every bit as good as Hollywood makes, and in many cases better. Terrifically entertaining movie. Well worth your time to watch.

Emotionally gripping for me to watch this because I tend to be overwhelmed by what happened to the characters in war-plot movie. The casts were all great and wonderful in their roles, each bringing out one another's best aspects and molded their chemistry throughout the journey in this movie. There were various themes on humanity being touched and carried on as the key to this movie while you are brought into an existential reflection of what if you are part of it in that war-era period, what would you have done to stay alive and what would you have chose to do. Watch this movie without getting too hung up on the political facts but more on being in the shoes of those who had to plough their way for survival. I also like the cinematography of the scenes when everyone trying to escape and working together towards it although I must say the ways certain gun shots shown just a bit hard to comprehend how certain people so easily died while certain just survived.

While having seen many Hollywood True Historic event based movies, this was the first Korean movie that I have seen ever. So Ji-Sub from "Oh My Venus" fame and Song Joong-ki from "Descendents of the Sun" fame, are the two actors who brought me to this point, leading to "The Battleship Island". And their performance has been really great. The direction is quite good, leaving very few logical loopholes and the movie captures your constant attention. While within Korea and Japan most of the people would be aware of such an incident, people like us truly have no idea about such events even happening. And while it is a hair-raisingly tragic affair, I am thankful for making this movie available worldwide and enjoyed the narration and acting overall. P.S. The child artist is amazing as well ! Kim Su-An. A must watch for fans of either Korean Movies or the above mentioned actors!

From all the Asian countries Korea has the best movies. I don't know why that is, but it's just a fact. I saw enough Asian movies by now to come to that conclusion. Gun-Ham-Do is certainly not the best Korean movie I ever watched but it's well made and worth a watch. As usual it's very loud verbally, like almost all Asian movies. I don't know why but they seem angry all the time when they talk. In this movie they could be though as it is a war movie about Hashima Island, more a concentration camp than a work environment if you ask me. There are some really good battle scenes, especially at the end. It clearly shows they put some effort in this movie. I wouldn't say all the actors are great actors, because for that some extras looked too fake in their expressions, and that's the case for most Asian movies. It seems they like to exaggerate a bit. And for that I score this movie lower. The story is interesting though, with good visual effects. If you like Korean movies give this one a shot.

A very harrowing tale based on true story of what took place during world war II on that island. It is heartbreaking and, at times gut wrenching, to watch. Although this movie has a lot of blockbuster appeal for on screen dramatics, it does capture the horrors of war and remembering what happened on that island. This is only a small part of the atrocities that occurred during world war II, but it is one that should be remembered.

For those wanting to continue with other films, here are some recommendations: Flowers of War, City of Life and Death, Unbroken...to name a few.