Typhoon

A secret cargo of nuclear detonators is pilfered in a daring, bloody attack by ruthless, nation-less pirate Sin. Naturally, this potentially damaging and frightening attack is covered up by the American 'Defence Intelligence Agency', but not before the South Koreans set their own man on trying to uncover the identity of the thieves and their intentions. South Korea is wary in the politically fractious 21st-century Asia-Pacific region of being caught in nuclear crossfire, especially when Japan, China, America, Russia are all vying for supremacy… Thus begins an international game of cat-and-mouse as the volatile Sin (heart-throb and superstar Dong-Kun Jang) is tracked by crack, noble Navy officer Kang Sejong (Jung-Jae Lee) over hill and dale and Kang discovers Sin's plot to unleash a nuclear Armageddon on South Korea, using a super-typhoon to transport his payload. Why is Sin set on this terrifying course? As two heart-breaking flashbacks show, he and his North Korean family attempted to flee to the South in the 1980s, but were turned away and thrown to the unforgiving Chinese and North Koreans; victims in the capricious, unsympathetic diplomacy-game. Sin pledges revenge, but not before he's grown into a wiry, hugely capable soldier with a stern group of paramilitary types around him. Kang is (at first glance) the polar opposite to the tattooed and straggly-haired Sin: clean-cut, calm and proud of his homeland.

As we watch these two alpha-male Nimrods strafe and finally lay into each other, their battle might be understood as an unintentionally funny homo-erotic courtship. When they can no longer contain their raging lust and rip into each in self-consciously spectacular finale, their knife-fight will either be very moving or provoke laughter, since their knives almost become phallic in their symbolism, and the final act of seppuku is almost masturbatory.

Some might find that viewpoint unnecessarily crude and mean-spirited, but the film relies too much on hardware to either engage or entertain its audience. The most expensive South Korean movie ever made ($15 million, or something), this purports to be a serious, if populist attempt to reveal the unknown victims of the North-South divide. However, it's another example of the admittedly very shrewd and successful Korean film industry engaging in commercial one-upmanship, with each new blockbuster being more expensive, more impressive, more accomplished than the first. Typhoon obviously has an eye on the international market given that a good deal of the dialogue is spoken (stiltedly) in English and that the production-values recall a Jerry Bruckheimer or Tony Scott venture. The plot, save the historical context, is also a facsimile of innumerable race-against-time action films which you've seen a hundred of times before.

This would be just another dumb, lumbering spectacle, were it not for the commitment to the material that cast and crew show. This style of film-making is now utterly familiar from South Korea, and Typhoon owes an enormous debt of gratitude to Shiri and Taegukgi, with the threat of devastation and recall of the terrible violence between the North and South Korea. I'm getting a little bored of Dong-Kun Jang's acting style, which basically requires him to act bug-eyed and hysterical, but I suppose this won't change anytime soon, since he's making a mint out of it. Jung-Jae Lee is more subdued but equally disappointing; his facial expressions are quite limited. (Credit to them, however, the poor script hardly offers them much acting range.) Director Kyung-Taek Kwak has this type of male-melodrama down pat, having honed it in the terrific Friend and clichéd but moving Champion. Kwak tries to broaden his male-centric universe by introducing Sin's long suffering sister, who has only ever know suffering. Indeed, her history of sex slavery and drug addiction are likely to get one righteously angry, but not for long because Kwak's un-ending emphasis on the brother-and-sister's misery verges on self-parody. Likewise, the burgeoning 'understanding' between Sin and Kang, but their resolve to complete their separate missions, makes for a lack of real frisson, real hate.

Typhoon, from an unsympathetic Western perspective is just a faceless, expensive behemoth that begs for big office (and got it). I found its greatest failing not the constant dramatic overkill and over-emphasis (which at least kept me watching) but rather it's pedestrian direction. Kwak over-relies on his sets, special effects and production team, all of whom obviously put in the hours, but his action scenes are quite unexciting, especially when compared to the Bourne films, which beg comparison given the globe-trotting and the murky past the characters must dredge up. One knife fight is much like another, as is an explosion, a car chase. Even the final, desperate assault on the hurricane-lashed ship is tinged with tedium since its such a familiar scenario. Typhoon skirts boredom on too many occasions.

The film is not helped by poor editing and pacing, which contrives to leave us with a month-long gap in the story at one point, and a bathetic score which drowns out all the action. The film's only real interest is its staunch standpoint that South and North Korea should be left to resolve their problems unmolested by China, Japan or America, and it also provides a slightly compelling international backdrop. The film's use of real locations and constant hopping across Asia help ground it in a relatively realistic context: South Korea surrounded by real countries. Thankfully, the film-makers don't resort to using especially recognisable landmarks so the film doesn't feel too much like a travelogue.

Basically, the budget, stars and political standpoint make this something like essential viewing for fans of Korean cinema, but they should take warning this is hardly the industry at its best. Viewers in search of both fun and gritty politics should ('scuse the stupid metaphor) avoid it like a raging hurricane.

Dong-Kun Jang (Nowhere to Hide) is an angry man. If you have seen the documentary Seoul Train, you would know why. He tries to escape North Korea through China to get to South Korea, but is deceived by everyone. He sees his parents slaughtered, and is separated from his sister. The only thing on his mind is revenge against both North and South.

He manages to get some nuclear material and has a brilliant plan.

Director Kyung-Taek Kwak keeps the movie moving as Jung-Jae Lee is called upon to track down the angry man and retrieve the material. He finds his long-lost sister and uses he as bait.

There is more than an action film here. It takes that to place in the US, but there is Korean romance buried withing the film. Too bad there was not enough time for more.

Typhoon tells the story of a North Korean man who with his family had previously failed in an attempt to defect to the South because of the existing political position of South Korea. The failed attempt occurred, according to the insight of one character in the story, because such things weren't possible until a year after this antagonist's attempt. Embittered over this turn of events, the man decides he will kill every South Korean since his mother was killed and his sister was humiliated due to unfavorable political circumstances. A South Korean agent enlisted to interdict this would be terrorist chases leads around much of Asia in his effort to stop the North Korean's plan.

The actor playing the would-be terrorist provides a completely over-the-top performance, with the terrorist character at times nearly foaming at the mouth when he is confronted by his enemies. His intense bond with his sister, whom he hasn't seen in 20 years by the way, borders on the psychotic. The South Korean agent assigned to find him is cool, analytical and competent, yet the agent somehow manages to feel a strong bond with his deranged prey, being reluctant to kill the terrorist despite his clearly murderous intent. While this plot development does not work on the screen, it plays directly to pan-Korean nationalist sentiment in its target audience, and I'm sure it is appreciated by the home crowd for exactly that reason. Ohterwise this film is a bit mediocre in spite of the production values it clearly has.

If you like your typical American movie, with your typical over-the-top-ness & your typical unnecessary love scenes: go by the commentary above..

I have to agree in that is very much a Korean movie; the acting is solid, the lines make sense and the scenes aren't dragged out too long.

The movie in a nutshell: A boy bittered by the massacre of his family grows up into a modern day pirate, aiming to destruct 'the evil south'. Queue lots of killing, an amazing amount of Russians, your fair share of beautiful scenery and torn emotions as the two leads' understanding of each other grows.

This new film by Kwak Kyung-Taek is dubbed a blockbuster, having used up the most expensive budget in Korean cinema history. The money does show up on screen and the locations are nice and exotic. But the movie is somewhat disappointing in other respects.

The first hour is very boring, one that had me restless. The music sounded like something from an expensive video game and many scenes dragged on far too long. After witnessing the most uninspired car chase I've seen in a while, I was ready to give up on this movie. However, Lee Mi-Yeon managed to save the film single handedly with an incredible performance. It's a shame she's on screen for such a short time but with her introduction, the film suddenly finds energy and was entertaining from then on. The film could have used some better characterization and more interaction between the two protagonists. It is mostly the flawed screenplay that is the blame here concerning our lack of emotional attachment to the main characters not the actors themselves; they both do a suitable job. More of Lee Mi-Yeon could have always helped as well. As it is, this movie delivers somewhat as entertainment but it could have been much better.

One scene that will remain in my mind from this film is when the two protagonists meet at the train station. This is one of the few times when the music complemented the scene and the result is truly cinematic. Only at this turning point does the movie find its mark but when it does, it's more than watchable.