Steel Rain

I was expecting an "okay" action movie with an excuse plot and a lot of unrealistic, flashy stunts from the lead character. Gangcheolbi (Steel Rain) is not that. This is a movie that gets it right.

It doesn't rely on flashy action scenes to provide entertainment and fake tension, but on a good story to provide actual tension. It doesn't force in character development or beg for some audience empathy, but simply lets the characters do what they do in a believable and organic way. Actions feel consequential. The dramatic scenes (unlike most movies) succeed because they are set up carefully and aren't milked for everything they can.

It's got plenty of action scenes and those were very enjoyable: fast, but well-shot (no super-short cuts), gritty, and with very little nonsense. Some of the shots in general were absolutely stunning. But the plot is also very solid (if somewhat difficult to follow for a Western person...) and stays interesting for the entire movie. It uses credible dynamics between countries and powers and masterfully displays the concerns over the existence of two entire nations, as well as the concerns over an entire people.

My only gripes with the movie are the sub-par acting of the CIA woman, and the parts where Asian actors suddenly tried to speak English (for no reason whatsoever) and didn't do so well, which is a bit of a shame since they acted phenomenally otherwise.

I found "Steel Rain" (aka "Gangcheolbi") on Netflix and decided to sit down and watch it without having heard about it prior to finding it. I needed little persuasion to do so, as it is a South Korean movie, after all.

"Steel Rain" turned out to be a rather interesting movie, both in terms of story and also in sheer thrilling entertainment. It was a great story that really had some rather realistic elements to it. And the storyline started out quite nicely and in great pace, and it never really lost its momentum along the way.

The characters in the movie were also quite nicely detailed and brought to life on the screen. Again, lots of realism here and it was characters that you quickly could relate to and bond with. And of course it helped quite a lot that they had gotten together a rather good assembly of actors and actresses to portray the various roles.

The movie offers equal amounts of action, drama and character growth, which turned out to be a great combination. Everything in the movie just turned out great and came together quite nicely as the movie ended.

If you enjoy the South Korean cinema, then "Steel Rain" is definitely a movie well worth spending time and money on.

Great film great story..great characters...well written...I got a little confused at the beginning

Clearly, and successfully, made for western consumption, this South Korean "The Sum of All Fears" style doomsday action/thriller/buddy film is one of the best I've seen. All the requisite action and intrigue parts are there and done very well. The actors are very good; the relationships and developments have weight; the meticulous script is excellent and the 'thriller tension' is ratcheted nicely. 'Timely' would be the cliché, but what isn't is that this not a one sided propaganda piece at all.

The hc subtitles do come quick, but they're good clear translations.

Do yourself a favor and watch this entire film. Great acting, story, special effects, etc. So glad I watched all of it.