VETERAN -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 3/23/16

 

Korean writer-director Ryoo Seung-wan's VETERAN (2015) is one seriously good cop flick.  Action, drama, comedy, thrills, suspense--it's all there and there's lots of it.

The film manages to be alternately gritty and funny in its opening minutes as a crack team of Korean cops go after a Korean-Russian automobile smuggling ring. This sequence starts things off with a bang as we're introduced to seasoned detective Seo Do-cheo (a rich performance by Hwang Jung-min), who enjoys scrapping with the guys he's arresting, and his down-to-earth team leader Oh (Oh Dal-su), who gets in on the action himself and always has Seo's back. 

The rest of the team, including everyone's favorite, the lovely and capable Miss Bong (Jang Yoon-ju), are a quirky bunch whose continuing exploits would be ideal fodder for a TV series. 

After the exciting opening, the story proper focuses on Seo's friend Bae, a lowly freight driver for the monolithic Sin Jin corporation, being beaten to a pulp in one of the executive offices after a contract complaint and then apparently attempting suicide in shame by taking a high dive down a flight of stairs. 

When the matter is hushed up, Seo oversteps his jurisdictional bounds and steps on several toes, including those of his department supervisor and members of Internal Affairs, in an attempt to get to the bottom of his friend's fate. 

Yoo Ah-in is brilliant as handsome but evil young Jo Tae-oh, eventual heir to the presidency of Sin Jin despite being a spoiled, dangerously impulsive narcissist with a severe anger management problem. Jo delights in humiliating and abusing his employees, a fact the shocked Seo observes firsthand during a party for the "super rich" which he attends after serving as technical advisor for a TV cop show.
  

As both the Bae situation and Jo Tae-oh's sinister schemes to cover it up intensify, so do Seo's efforts to overcome political red tape and other obstacles in his quest for justice.  One attempt on his life during this time leads to a furious knife fight inside a cramped apartment, resulting in the team's "newbie" getting seriously stabbed ("You stabbed our newbie!" the other team members indignantly remind a prisoner later). 

Finally the stage is set for a violent confrontation between the cops vs. Jo Tae-oh and his Sin Jin goons which will include a spectacular vehicle chase through the heart of the city that's filled with bent fenders and shattered glass, not to mention a few flying bodies.

Ryoo Seung-wan's solidly self-assured script crackles with great hardboiled dialogue, humor, and riveting drama, moving smoothly from one to the other without missing a beat. His direction is eye-pleasing and slick while still keeping its edge, particularly the fight action which is briskly done without looking overly choreographed.
 

The cast is uniformly fine, with the three leads--Hwang Jung-min, Yoo Ah-in, and Oh Dal-su--particularly effective, as is Yoo Hae-jin as Jo's pathetic toady Choi. Amidst all the sound and fury, Ryoo Seung-wan (THE BERLIN FILE, THE CITY OF VIOLENCE) finds time for plenty of engaging character interplay that makes the film all the more satisfying.

The DVD from CJ Entertainment is in 16 x 9 widescreen with both English (dubbed) and Korean 5.1 Dolby digital soundtracks and English subtitles.  Extras consist of trailers for this and other CJ Entertainment releases. 

I liked VETERAN so much that I immediately wanted to watch it again, which was great because the second time I could really relax and enjoy it without having to figure out the sometimes complicated plot.  And with this sizzling firecracker of a cop flick, there's an awful lot to enjoy.

VETERAN -- DVD Review by Porfle

BATTLE FOR INCHEON: OPERATION CHROMITE -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 1/5/17

 

It has one of those annoying double titles separated by a colon, as though they couldn't make up their minds, and a cover that more than whispers "direct to DVD junk."  But make no mistake--BATTLE FOR INCHEON: OPERATION CHROMITE (2016) is the real thing: a lavish, impressively-produced Korean War film that begins with a suspenseful espionage mission and ends with a full-scale invasion.

Based on true events, the story concerns a group of South Korean soldiers led by special forces captain Jang Hak-soo (Lee Jung-jae) who pose as a North Korean inspection unit in order to try and locate the placement of mines in Incheon Harbor before the invasion which is to be led by General Douglas MacArthur (Liam Neeson).

Their chief obstacle in this attempt is Commander Lim Gye-jin (Lee Beom-soo), a protege' of supreme leader Kim Il-sung who's in charge of fortifying the harbor against an impending attack.  Not only is Lim Gye-jin tight-lipped about where those mines are, but he's also one of those arrogant, sadistic, and supremely suspicious little bastards who always sizes you up with a sideways leer and a hand poised over his holster. 

Few situations are more suspenseful than an undercover mission in which the good guys have to maintain their false identities amidst constant scrutiny by a ruthless enemy.  (It's an atmosphere of constant fear and paranoia in which even civilians have to keep their sh** wired tight at all times.)  Naturally, Lim Gye-jin and his men eventually must resort to the most desperate measures imaginable to try and procure a map of those mines, leading to their discovery. 

Their attempt to escape is the first blazing action setpiece of several during this film, each of which is masterfully shot and edited.  Director John H. Lee has a smoothly competent visual style complimented by some expert rapid-fire editing that crackles like a live wire without ever becoming cluttered or confusing.  In other words, this is red meat for action junkies.

A furious shootout in a hospital (during which an emotionally-conflicted young nurse must decide whether or not to abandon her current life and join the opposition) and other heated gun battles throughout the film are comparable to those in James Bond films or the works of John Woo.  And giving the story added depth is its attention to the combatants as human beings with their own dreams of freedom and yearning to return home to their loved ones. 

While all of this is going on, of course, there's Liam Neeson all made up as General Douglas MacArthur, complete with corncob pipe and shades, trying to add a new dimension to his career as an older character actor.  Once we stop thinking of him as Liam Neeson, his MacArthur is sufficiently convincing. Actually, I never stopped thinking of him as Liam Neeson, but I enjoyed watching him play the character anyway.

Lee Jung-jae makes a sturdy, likable good guy as Jang Hak-soo--he's the opposite of the usual soulless action hero and we're always aware of the depth of his feelings throughout the mission.  As Lim Gye-jin, Lee Beom-soo is a delight, albeit a perverse one since his character is such a smoothly evil little monster.  The rest of the cast are uniformly on point, making us feel each tragic and heartrending detail of their emotional turmoil when the mission begins to go all to hell.

With all this going on, BATTLE FOR INCHEON: OPERATION CHROMITE would've been enough with just the undercover mission alone.  But damned if it doesn't end with nothing less than the full-scale invasion of Incheon, with MacArthur leading a fleet of ships cutting through the churning waves and what's left of Jang Hak-soo and his men battling for their lives on the shore along with hundreds of other clashing warriors. 

I don't know how jaded the average young movie watcher is these days, but I think the generous amounts of CGI used to give the sequence added scope and big-budget appeal are rather impeccably rendered and eye-pleasing.  I mean, to me the battle scenes just look really well-done.  Others may disagree.

The DVD from CJ Entertainment is in 16x9 widescreen with Dolby 5.1 and 2.0 sound which you can watch in either dubbed English or the original Korean with subtitles.  Extras consist of a brief making-of featurette and trailers for this and other CJ Entertainment releases.

I had low hopes for BATTLE FOR INCHEON: OPERATION CHROMITE going in--from the looks of it, I was expecting something along the same cheapo lines as THE LAST DROP or something similarly horrible.  I love it when my first bad impressions of a film are proven wrong, and I end up having a great time watching what turns out to be a surprisingly well-crafted and entertaining film.

BATTLE FOR INCHEON: OPERATION CHROMITE -- DVD Review by Porfle