Shiri

When I first saw that movie I didn't know anything about the korean movie industry and I was in for a big surprise! "Wow, they can make big budget action movies in other countries besides the US!" Was one of the first thoughts that came to my mind. The beginning with training the north korean spies was very "fascinating" to watch. I have seldomly seen such gory scenes that left the impression of "hell, they are mean" despite the usual: "cool, that blood spilling is really funny". I admit that I only understand very little korean and I saw that one without subtitles and the whole story was translated to me while watching. Still I thought it was a superb action movie with great actors. I can only recommend it to anyone who would like to see a non comic and also Asian action film for a change. It's really worth it!

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.

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.

Awesome, but violent film. I've only got it in the original Korean with Chinese subtitles, so I didn't get much of the plot, but it surpasses typical Hong Kong Action Flick genre stuff. Special effects are more than realistic, and it keeps interest going even if you don't understand it. The intro is one of the most violent I've ever seen, more action and death in the first 30 seconds than most other movies combined.

In summation, if you're a fan of Hong Kong action genre, this takes it to a whole new level.

As for the Shiri, there are plenty of them in the film. Fishtank's are featured heavily in the early part of the movie.