Shiri

It's a cool movie . From the beginning until the end the action is unstoppable .

The flick talks upon a counter-terrorism outfit that has to fight against a murderous terrorist group who creates terror by means of an explosive liquid with the aim to blow up a soccer stadium and getting the unification Korea .

The movie has a John Woo style , there are amount of shoot-outs, frenetic action and running men while they are shooting .

The film blends action-packed , rip-roaring , a love story , betrayal , drama , violence and is quite entertaining .

The movie will appeal to action lovers and Hong Kong films buffs , it's very spectacular , it's an exciting film for adrenaline lovers .

Rating : 7/10 , good .

I found this movie at Blockbusters in the DVD section. Although I am of Korean background, I have not heard of this movie prior to finding it at Blockbusters. I rented it out of curiosity... the short description on the jacket seemed interesting enough. I only found out after watching the movie that it was such a big hit in Korea a few years ago. Watching the movie, it reminded me of "The Rock", "La Femme Nikita/Point of No Return", and "Heat".. All these were previously mentioned in other comments, and I agree that some of the scenes in Swiri (or Shiri) weren't very original in that regard. Still, the quality of the movie was surprisingly excellent. I also agree a lot of the action sequences in this movie weren't perfect, but then again, so are some of Hollywood's action movies. Some of the special effects were below par as well (the scene where a building blows up wasn't too convincing). Still, I've seen other Korean movies and I must say that Korean films have come a long way.. cinematography, plot, characterization were all done really well. I watched it twice.. once in Korean audio without subtitles, and again with English subtitles. The subtitles, although done very well, does leave out some of the subtleties. I'd say it is a difficult thing, translating dialog without losing something somewhere. Still the acting does fill in the blanks quite well I thought. I thought the acting was excellent.. Knowing a bit about the North/South Korean history would help understand the movie. Also knowing a bit about South Korean perception of the North Korea would also help understand the movie better as well. I thought that the love story in the movie, although it is a type that is very very often used (the tragic type) especially in Korean films, worked well. I thought it was far more convincing than the love between Anakin and Amidala in SW2 AOTC.

Overall, Swiri/Shiri isn't perfect. It isn't without holes. It doesn't compare to Heat (an excellent film). But unlike some of other "Hollywood" movies, that Blockbusters had many more copies of (Black Knight, Joy Ride, Thirteen Ghosts), I was glad to have paid $4.09 to rent it for 5 days. That reminds me. I'd better return my copy since they only had copy. If you can find a copy at your local Blockbusters or a DVD/Video rental place, rent it.

Security agent Ryu stumbles upon a plot by North Korean fanatics (led by terrorist Park and assassin Hee) to disrupt peace and re-unification efforts by North and South politicians using high tech explosives and the hunt is on to stop them. Much gun play follows, as well as much talk about the politics and sociology of possible Korean re-unification. Given North Korea's history of selling weaponry to anyone with hard currency and South Korea's position as an important diplomatic and military ally of the U.S., such discussions are actually of worldwide interest. Since emerging in the mid-90s as a distinct cinematic power, South Korea has become filmdom's leading edge for cult actioners and this movie shows why. It is fast paced, uberviolent, with a polished look, tightly crafted plot line and strong performances by its ensemble cast.

Against the background of political tensions between north and south Korea, an elite group of soldiers (the 8th Special Forces) infiltrate the South with the aim of carrying out terrorist attacks. Most worrying of all is the reappearance of deadly assassin Hee in South Korea. Special agents Ryu and Lee are assigned to bring down Hee, however when the group get hold of a hi-tech new explosive they hold Seoul to ransom for $10million. Meanwhile Ryu and Lee realise that there is a mole inside their agency that keeps Hee one step ahead of them.

Other reviewers have said that this film is a good addition to the `heroic bloodshed' genre of Hong Kong cinema, with it's gory bloodshed and bullet ballets. However I personally feel that this is to do the film a disservice – the film doesn't just lift that style but rather delivers a solid thriller story line with plenty of well directed action. The plot is a detective story with the added boost of the terrorist attacks. It has a couple of nice twists along the way that work pretty well. The downside is that the plot occasionally makes minor jumps that are hard to follow, for example an action scene is immediately followed by a scene where the same characters are in a different situation, this happens twice and threw me a little. But these are minor problems. The political arguments are not too complex – one reviewed said to go and read up on Korean history before seeing Shiri, this is far from necessary. It is quite simple but doesn't get in the way of the bigger thriller story line.

The action is not of the slow-mo OTT type seen in The Killer or Hard Boiled but is more like the extended gun battles seen in Heat. Yes, they are a bit OTT but they aren't as heavily stylised as in many HK movies. Instead the tension comes from the excellent direction. Using a handheld camera really makes the gun battles feel intense and very close to where you're sitting. The action does have some HK clichés but these are still well delivered.

The cast are all well Han Suk-Kyu (Ryu) does well with the action as well as the romance subplot with Kim Yoon-jin. The rest of the cast are good – even the comedy odd-ball is good value, compared to the occasional Hollywood comedy character that can be grating.

I haven't seen too many Korean films but this was a particularly good thriller with intense action. Overall I enjoyed this film and fully expect America to pick up on the fact that it has action AND a workable story and commission a remake pretty soon. Wouldn't you rather see the original first?

This is certainly an okay action movie. But after reading all the reviews using every hyperbole in the dictionary to call this movie "great" and "genius," I just have to put in my 2 cents.

"Shiri" is a good action movie, but some of the action scenes are just too long and seems to go on and on forever without ending. The movie itself is covered end to end in cliches. There's nothing here that hasn't been done before, and been done better. The love story was probably the only decent thing in the entire movie. After all, how many times do you have to see guys in commando uniforms storming buildings or pursuing criminals? I counted at least 6 separate SWAT-like incidents in this movie.

In interviews, the director claimed "Shiri" was supposed to overthrow Hollywood's dominance in the South Korean market. If by "overthrowing" he means to copy and be just like them, then he's achieved his purpose.

So, in summation: good movie, but definitely not as ground-breaking as everyone seems to think. How can you possibly call this movie "better" than a standard Hollywood summer event film when it's an exact duplicate of those same summer event films? It doesn't make sense, and I question if those who gives this movie such a glowing review isn't doing it because of some bias towards all things Hollywood. For those of you who fits in this category, just remember that "Citizen Kane" and "the Godfather" came out of Hollywood, too, so get off your high horse.