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.

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!

As an Indian guy, I never really knew about the Japanese invasion of Korean peninsula and their atrocities towards Korean people. This movie gives an insight into it. I think Germany and Japan became allies because both think they're the most purest and superior bloods among their neighbours. The Japanese red light district is something that I think no other colonial power has implemented in their colonies. If I'm wrong please forgive me. After watching this movie the one thing I did wish was, if that THUG GUY and STRONG LADY could live together. Everyone who worked in front of the camera and behind it did a really good job. Thanks very much for this movie.

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.

A Japanese island, 9 miles from Nagasaki, enlarged & used from 1897 to 1974 to mine coal w/shafts going down 2/3 of a mile beneath the sea. Oddly, given the Pacific rim geologic history of subduction, that there's massive sedimentary (typically surface heavily vegetated wetlands) deposits of coal forming there. It's common name is Gunkanjima, meaning battle ship. The actual name is Hashima Island. From the '30s to the end of WWII Chinese & Korean conscripts/prisoners numbering in the thousands worked those mine shafts w/80+ temps & 95% humidity & some might say brutal treatment. During that time period an estimated 1300 miners died.

The movie mixes factual & fictionalized events. Kudos goes to the production of one of the best movie sets/props I've ever seen (actually built in Chuncheon, Korea) - Game of Thrones level. Also to the costuming & makeup personnel for the grimy authenticity & cinematography for the great camera work. Acting was spot-on although as is typical in these types of films the baddies (the Japanese in this case) are made to be really bad dudes. Forewarned - lots of violence, especially towards the end.