Ashfall

This disaster plus action movie is exciting from big disaster scene near the beginning to the very end. The effects are as good as any Western blockbuster and the battle sequences are exciting and well choreographed. The characters are funny and quite endearing. The story is more complex than expected with a good amount of humour and some political subplot involving nukes North South China and US. Good use of some big name Korean stars. Worth a watch.

It not only is a disaster movie, it is also part comedy. The CGI, and there is a lot of it, it decent and the movie is not sloppy. But it seems Korean movies have to throw in a lot of subplots, and this is no exception. A major volcano erupts, followed by a major earthquake. In the country is an American scientist who is studying the mountain, and he points out below the magma chamber that erupted, there are two smaller ones, but below those is a huge magma chamber, and it is erupts, it will be devastating for the entire peninsula. His plan is to detonate a powerful bomb placed in one of the mining shafts in the mountain which will divert the pressure that is building. Of course, since he cannot guarantee success, it is rejected. Also, it would require nuclear bombs, and it so happens there are six nuclear warheads in North Korea that are about to be surrendered to the US making the peninsula nuclear free. But someone believes in him, and an off the books operation is mounted. Two planes, one with commandos and one with the scientists. En route, one plane crashed, leaving the scientists to do the mission. Naturally, the person who knows where the warheads is Ri, a North Korean held in prison. So he has to be liberated, taken to where the warheads are. And the US gets wind of the operation, and is determined to stop it. And the subplots only are getting started. Still, it is entertaining enough.

While the movie is pretty typical for a volcano disaster movie goes, there's a lot of things going on in it. The whole is mostly a group of solider trying to get uranium bomb to prevent another disaster. I don't know if it's possible to get it from North Korea and if it going to work at all. They try to cramp in a lot of things into it like the disaster scenes, the military action, and minor side plot that goes nowhere interesting. The disaster scenes are done pretty good with how much tension it goes to it and the CGI looks pretty decent for it. The characters aren't really that bad, but aren't that memorable. This is a decent watch.

Ashfall works where most other disaster film's do not because it mixes the basic premise is a way that's novel and exciting.

This might best be described as a disaster film that's also a military thriller, with a great human interest back story. In terms of pacing, it starts off slowly but quickly gains momentum, adding in layers of excitement and varied action, as it moves to its very emotional climax.

Acting is excellent with characters who have real depth and a story to tell. Its worth mentioning that some of the humour might seem a bit odd and a little slapstick, to European audiences. Its moderately reminiscent of the kind of humour that you find in Hong Kong action flicks, Its not to my taste but then this is a Korean film, pitched at Korean viewers.

My only real complaint with Ashfall is the story is a little too complex at times and deviates in different directions, a little too much. It can be hard to keep up with who's doing what to who and why.

That said, Ashfall is still a hell of a lot better than the basic disaster movies, that lazily reply on exposition and special effects, to carry them.

A well deserved 7/10 from me.

The goods: -CGI is decent most of the time. -Byung-Hun Lee is amazing as usual. -Destruction scene is great overall. -Character speaks better Mandarin than Hollywood movies. -Funny scenes are generally funny.

The bads: -Cramming in too many genres in one movie. -Trying to do too much at the same time, ended up doing nothing particularly good. -Editing is atrocious, there are at least 4 instances where it feels like it skipped 30 seconds or more of the movie for no reason. -Character makes illogical decisions. -Inconsistent tone. -STOP JOKING WHEN THE SCENE IS SUPPOSED TO BE SERIOUS. -Dong-seok Ma is criminally underused. -Physics makes little sense most of the time. -Inconsistent and forced character development. -Although given an urgency of time, but the pressure is not felt. Character has time to joke around. -Side characters are insignificant and can be discarded at any time. -Movie falls apart somewhere in act 2, and gets worse the longer it goes on.

Verdict: If you are not particularly critical about movies and love some korean blockbusters, go for it. Or else skip this and save some money. Not recommended overall.