Talchul: Project Silence

In this tense film, a father and daughter are heading to Incheon Airport (South Korea). But weather conditions suddenly become so bad one can't distinguish anything right in front of them. Then a thick fog causes a massive pile-up, but there is a far more concerning threat. The situation worsens when mutant military dogs accidentally break out of their cages, leaving the people trapped in a life-or-death situation. So, people stranded on a bridge being relentlessly chased by a pack of dogs. The savage creatures were born from a military experiment, and being transferred in the utmost secrecy, are let loose. The bloody dogs go after them, causing wreak havoc and massacre.

Premiered at Cannes 2023, this is a fast-paced science fiction survival horror thriller, set on a bridge on the verge of collapse and a pack of mutant animals -lousily made in G. G. I- attacking here and there. So-so but passable film that represents a crossover of genres: ¨Horror¨, ¨Thriller¨, ¨Survival drama¨, ¨Sci-Fi¨ with Echoes, creatures born from a military experiment called Project Silence, and ¨Disaster¨ with several spectacular scenes invoving the bridge catastrophe including a spectacular and risked rescue that will have you on the edge of your seat. There are creepy mutated dogs with military purports that attack victims, which is a combination of terror and Sci-Fi, and following the tradition of assassin dogs in films like Dracula's Dog (1977) by Albert Band, A Dog Called... Vengeance (1977) by Antonio Isasi, Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell (1978) by Curtis Harrington and Rottweiler by (2004) by Brian Yuzna.

It was one of the last projects worked on by the late Lee Sun-kyun, star of the Oscar-winning ¨Parasite¨. Despite his burgeoning fame, Lee turned to low-budget arthouse films to polish his acting caliber. Night and Day, Lost in the Mountains, Oki's Movie, Nobody's Daughter Haewon and Our Sunhi were all directed by Hong Sang-soo, an auteur renowned for his realistic portrayal of ordinary lives. Lee was best known for his roles in the thriller Helpless (2012), romantic comedy All About My Wife (2012), and crime/black comedy A Hard Day (2014). In October 2023, it was revealed that Lee was booked for internal investigation over suspected drug use. As a result, he voluntarily dropped out of No Way Out, an upcoming thriller drama serial which just started its production days before the revelation of his alleged drug use. On December 27, 2023, Lee was found dead at the age of 48 inside his car at a park in central Seoul. Police responded to the scene after receiving a 112 report In the passenger seat was a charcoal briquette, commonly used in suicides in South Korea. The motion picture was uneven but professionally directed by Kim Tae-gon (Familyhood, The Sunshine Boys, Short! Short! Short!, The Pot). Rating: 5.5/10. Mediocre but acceptable and passable.

I know that every survival horror needs to has the dumbest people alive to make it work. They don't use automatic weapon, instead they make imrpovised torches which stop burning after a minute - for example...

S. W. A. T. team were a buch of most lazy, stupid, dumb, morons in history. And pacifist - seriously - they didn't shot, don't use knives, nothing. I am guessing their combat training was conducted by Mahatma Ghandi.

This could be something of value - do you remember the fight with dogs from first Resident Evil movie? Mila was simply amazing, dogs was scary but beatable, everything looks cool and awesome.

But this time we get something so stupid it is painful to watch.

The South Koreans are masters at making riveting and vicious crime dramas and action thrillers. I have been binge watching them for months now, BUT this is not one of those great Korean movies, this is actually below average...

The bad: the special effects look silly. The attacking dogs are meant to be frightening looking, but they actually look laughable, because of cheap CGI. The WHOLE plot of this movie, the WHOLE core of this movies' existence goes down the drain, because these wild dogs look so incredibly SILLY and fake.

NO thrill. NO riveting action. NO good drama or acting. NO jokes. This is quite bad for Korean movie standards. Not a total flop for sure, but way below what they are capable of producing in South Korea. Such a pity!

How much you enjoy the movie will depend on how willingly you believe and accept the CGI dog pack. I was slightly put off by it. And Jodie's dad. And that one girl's dad - the main actor in the film. They were very one note in their characterization. But I was willing to suspend my disbelief for the entirety of the movie running time.

Although $64.40 is the new $2. For all you Savage Steve Holland fans out there.

Anyway. There is lots of tension on the bridge with some fairly minimal backstories that play into nifty plot points. Like the golfer thing. That was a nice callback.

I would watch this again.

The concept underneath was fine, and it had potential too, but it did not transition into an effective finish by the climax, and I believe the writing is to be blamed!

Neither the characters nor the conversations they participate in have substantial impacts, primarily because the screenplay wandered cluelessly most of the time, failing to achieve the necessary tone and decorum!

The CGI too had its probelms, now generally I do not mind slight to moderate imperfections in visual effects, especially if the narrative is keeping me engaged, in this case however, frailties became quite apparent, to a point where they start acting as obstacles in the path of my enjoyment.