User reviews

This South Korean war epic/action movie does get a marginal recommendation from me, being that it's not boring and it does contain some good action and some excitement. But at the same time, the movie is clearly being held back from maximum impact due to some significant flaws. For starters, there are the production values. While the movie was big budget by Korean standards, and indeed some shots look very nice, all the same there are many moments where the movie does not have enough "oompth" to its look, giving the movie a restrained feeling. Also, linking footage and entire scenes seem to be missing at times. A bigger problem, however, is the script. The script is severely underwritten at times, most notably being the heroes who set out on the mission. The heroes are poorly introduced, and we learn next to nothing about them. Also, the storyline has a lot of predictability to it; you'll have seen many moments in this movie in other war movies before. Another problem is that the English language dialogue often sounds very stilted and awful. This may be why actor Liam Neeson seems to be hamming it up at times. I realize I may be portraying this movie to be worse than it really is, so let me say again that while the movie could have been better, it is an acceptable time-waster. And it's a heck of a lot better than the 1982 movie "Inchon".

This is a little hidden gem of a film, you probably won't find it running anywhere as it has a limited budget and almost zero media behind it. But you SEE every dollar on the screen and it looks like it cost twice the sum, so stick with it. Very much a war film, behind enemy lines and a plot that, while based in Korea, is one we know very well. French resistance type of action. Liam Neeson makes a very good MacArthur (much better than Tommy Lee Jones and Sir Laurence some time back), at times catching even the face quite right. (Greg Peck has the high honor). But here we have a straightforward story of brave men doing brave deeds with honor. We should remember such men, and this film gives their heroism a chance to shine. BTW this may be a fictionalized plot but it is based on true events. All told, well worth the time.

Part spy thriller, and part action film this is a weird mix film. The spy aspect is done well, with good tension, and the framing scenes about the preparation around Macarthur are well done, but also largely irrelevant to the main story. But then things go wrong, the film becomes an over the top action film, with bullets flying everywhere. If it had been one or the other it would have been better, but the two aspects make for strange changes in pace which don't really gell well.

Operation Chromite Viewed in Koreatown, Los Angeles, Sunday August 14, 2016.. image1.png

Directed by Lee Jae-Han. Starring Liam Neeson as General Douglas MacArthur and Jung-Jae Lee as the leader of a nearly suicidal undercover mission behind North Korean lines at the peak of the Korean War. Operation Chromite --(original Korean title, 인천상륙작전; 仁川上陸作戰;Incheon Sangnyuk Jae-jeon) is a 2016 South Korean war drama blockbuster directed by John H. Lee and based on actual events leading up to the decisive Invasion of Inchon led by MacArthur in 1950. which turned the tide of the war after initial North Korean successes.

"Operation Chromite" was the real life code-name of a secret operation whose purpose was to infiltrate the North Korean defenses at Inchon and clear the way for MacArthur's surprise attack from the sea. Handsome charismatic actor Jung-jae Lee is the leader of an eight man squad disguised as North Koreans who infiltrate North Korean HQ in Inchon to find out where the mine fields are that would block a naval incursion. In actual fact MacArthur's surprise move far behind enemy lines resulted in the recapture of Seoul and the turning of the tide in the darkest early days of the Korean War when American and South Korean forces had been pushed back to a mere toe-hold in the so- called Pusan Perimeter. Neeson's portrayal of MacArthur is such a caricature it's almost a joke, however the principal Korean actor's, hero Jung-jae Lee and villainous North Korean commander Bum- soo Lee, are quite convincing and keep the suspense at a peak throughout. With director "John H." Lee this might be called the Picture of the Three Lees.

Overall a rousing historical war film with lots of shootouts and suspense ~ money's worth "time pass" if nothing else. Lead actor Jung Jae Lee was a discovery and I will look for more of his films. MacArthur was previously portrayed by Gregory Peck in the 1977 biopic entitled "MacArthur" and by Sir Lawrence Olivier in the 1981 Reverend Moon (Unity Church) funded monstrosity entitled "Inchon", described as "a noisy and absurd re-telling of the great 1950 invasion of Inchon during the Korean War" on IMDb and a high ranker on many Worst film of All Time lists. Operation Chromite is basically a Korean Flag waver similar to WW II Hollywood films which were designed to promote civilian morale on the home front against the Axis enemies. What is significant here is that this is not just an historical film to remind people about a war that took place over sixty years ago but also an alert to the ongoing hostility of North Korea even today. Not to forget that a peace treaty was never signed between the two Koreas and that Nuclear armed North Korea continues to rattle the Sabres daily in northeast Asia, even threatening the USA and Japan with possible nuclear attacks.

North Korea has described the film as "ridiculous bravado from ignorant lunatics" -- only to be expected from this insane corner of the world. Op Chromite was released in Korea on July 27, 2016 and is already the big hit of the year in Korea. It may not make waves at festivals but it's not at all bad and is worth checking out.

Korean Entertainment Industry is a reality. It evolved over the years and now it may count on a wide choice of good Actors, Authors, Musicians, Producers and Technicians. The results are professional TV and Movie productions, with an overall good artistic level.

The present title is a War Movie that recalls of old American productions of the same genre. Just as in the 50s and the 60s, when World War II was too fresh a memory and war stories were rhetorical and unrealistic, this movie is biased by a mono dimensional description of the UN/US counter offensive in the Korean War (which easily may be too fresh a memory for people from ROK…).

This is a pity of course, because almost nothing is left of the real events (which by the way are much more interesting than the fictional ones) and the movie is not instructive at all. Unfortunately men are the same everywhere and Communists are not the only ones who cannot resist the charm of propaganda

As of late, it seems every country with a nationalistic concerns, has been turning out war films with what I'd call, "patriotic" overtones.

Operation Chromite offers up a South Korean/US take on the Korea war. There's a good back story, complimented by decent acting, directing and lots of well paced, polished action.

That said, I'd describe this film as also a bit simplistic in its approach. The North are, for the most part, the "bad guys" in a very black and white way and the Southern solders, the "good guys".

If you can accept these limitations, this war film remains a mostly enjoyable watch. Seven out of ten from me.

September 1950. UN forces under General Douglas MacArthur are poised to invade and retake South Korea at the port city of Incheon. However, the operation, Operation Chromite, is fraught with risks and has a high probability of failure. In order to gain more intelligence on enemy positions, especially the placement of sea mines, MacArthur sends a team of eight Korean spies into Incheon. This is their story.

So-so. Had potential to be a gritty war drama, telling the story of the Battle of Incheon, which was a stroke of military genius. Instead it is a fairly conventional, gung ho war movie. Historical and military accuracy, and general plausibility, is sacrificed at the expense of action scenes, melodrama and empty sentimentality.

Dialogue is generally over-the-top and quite ridiculous at times. Every kind of cliché you can think of, MacArthur (played by the unfortunate Liam Neeson) gets to utter. Add in a character whose sole job seems to be calling out the names of comrades as they get hit and otherwise being sullen and whiny, and some pretty hammy acting and you have a recipe for a pretty average movie, at best.

In 1950, the North Korean army has invaded and defeated South Korea. The UN coalition, under the command of General Douglas MacArthur (Liam Neeson), plots a bold plan called "Operation Chromite" to invade the South Korean peninsula, disembarking the troops through the Incheon port. However there are mines in the water and he needs to know the location of the defense first. MacArthur sends an eight- man military unit from the Korean Liaison Office in a secret operation called X- Ray under the command of South Korean Navy Lieutenant Jang Hak-soo (Jung-jae Lee) to find the location of the North Korean defenses. They disguise as a North Korean inspection unit to infiltrate the enemy headquarter. However, North Korean Senior Colonel Lim Gye-jin (Beom- su Lee) suspects of Hak-soo and does not provide the mine location to him. What will the spies do?

"In-cheon sang-ryuk jak-jeon", a.k.a. "Operation Chromite", is a magnificent South Korean war film based on a true story. The dramatic story is full of action and supported by excellent screenplay, direction and performances. The conclusion is melodramatic like in many other South Korean movies, but perfect to the great story of heroism and patriotism. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): Not available

Good story portraying the cruelty of this war and Liam Neeson plays his role well but the rest is absolutely ruined by ignorant American dubbing.

The dubbing completely removes the immersion as the director / voice actors show complete ignorance to any Asian culture and the complete inability to pick up on subtleties (A characteristic of American dubbing that is well known to anyone who watches Asian cinema or anime). The result is the terrible voice actors cannot correctly portray any atmosphere.

If you can handle that, or can find the original, subtitled, then the film is worth a watch.

After several South Korean war films like The Front Line - 고지전 - or Taegukgi hwinalrimyeo - 태극기 휘날리며 - I was expecting this war epic drama to be similarly compelling and thrilling. No, even such great Hollywood names as Liam Neeson were unable to save this shambolic mess of all the imaginable clichés from being an utter failure. This film starts very well and shows a group of South Korean spies getting into North Korean Incheon to get hold of secret mibefields maps. Seems good, but very soon the film starts balancing between utter pathetic Hollywood at its worst dialogues from Neeson and his staff and very clichéd action movie shoot-out scenes with all the possible angles and sounds you can expect. Soon, the serious war drama turns into a laughable thriller, and you lose empathy to main heroes very fast. Do not waste time on this - this is worse than any war epic and this contains an array of all the trite banal clichés and moves. Simply awful

First off, there are different copies around for this movie. Don't make the mistake of watching the one that is dubbed for the Korean Actors. I started to watch it and the English dubbed voices just ruined it, gave it that same weird, almost comic feel of any dubbed movie. I then watched the one that has English speaking for English and Korean speaking for Korean (with subtitles) and found myself really enjoying the movie. Very good Korean acting, better than all the English counterparts. Liam was actual kind of ho hum with his gruff MacArthur character and his dialog was pretty shallow. The Korean acting though stole the show. Most straight Korean movies I watch (with all English subtitles) end up being pretty good. They are pretty good at making movies. Their acting can get a bit dramatic at times but all in all is entertaining. I didn't know what to expect from this movie but gave it a chance cause I just enjoy watching a good movie. This one was pretty good.

A teenagers approach to an historic episode, that deserves an adult director. It's a miracle that main characters survives until the end of the film, among the bullet's rain, and the flood of casulaties. It's a pity that Indiana Jones, Rambo and Captain American were busy to go on help.

I discovered this spy and war movie in the list of Liam Neeson's work. Then I read the reviews here and I thought it is a must see. I wasn't disappointed at all because there was nonstop lot of twists and action. The special and visual effects were respectably executed. It was a great experience for me to see what happened in the very decisive moment in Korea. The historical lines between North and South Korea makes the Chromite Operation a worth seeing film. I recommend to see it in the original version spoken Korean and English, it's more realistic. God bless all the courageous victims who fought against the red murder commando. 7/10.

Good Movie. Excellent musical score. I listened to it, my husband watched it. His rating is a 7 for "war movie". Historical accuracy, none. It is mostly a fictional account, but you will enjoy it if you like the genre. The musical score was magnificent! I normally do not enjoy "war movies", but listening only to this one was enjoyable...emotive, sweeping beautiful score, made me forget it was a war picture.

A dramatic story based on true events. Well worth watching if you like war based drama´s. A good story and generally the acting was pretty good. Fast moving and reasonable levels of action without going "over the top". My one criticism is that it gives the impression that "the good old USA" won the war and saved the world where in truth it was a United Nations combined forces that was involved in this conflict that halted the advance of communism, well that was until the Chinese stepped in - and that´s a whole different story. Would we watch it again, most definitely. Retained for future viewing.

As is the law when it comes to war movies America always wins, and saves the world. And that is of course the case with this movie, but with a twist. Operation Chromite is the previously untold story of a group of South Korean spies sent behind enemy lines to pave the way for the allied sorry American beach landing at Inchean South Korea. I have no idea how accurate this movie is but there is plenty of action to keep the viewer entertained. Of course we have to put up with heroic death after heroic death as each one of our heroes meets there brave but inevitable end. Not the best war movie I've ever seen but by no means the worse.

I am very impressed with this historical accuracy that was never told in school. It truly is based off of real South Korean soldiers who did infiltrate the North during the 1950s Korean War. These are true heroes that did help turn the tide from the North completing their invasion of the South before they were pushed back.... the South and US could have finally finished the War but the Politicans stepped in to where the demarcation line still stands today. This is an excellant true story historical based movie, I honor these people.

I was expecting another epic war movie from the Koreans but this failed on all counts. You can't take anything serious and it all seems pretty ridiculous towards the end.

The original film with subtitles now on Netflix is much better to watch than the version with clumsy dubbing of Korean actors. Fortunately, most of the film is Korean, and they are far superior to the American actors. It is a good war film with the amazing true story of the South Koreans' heroic role in the Battle of Incheon, told through the Korean actors' passion and skill, a story most Americans don't know and should.

This film is yet another historical fantasy deceitfully created to rewrite Korean history to give modern South Korea the history it wants, not the history that actually happened. The real operation depicted here was a joint US Navy-CIA-KLO named Operation Trudy Jackson led by US Navy Lieutenant Eugene F. Clark. The all-Korean "X-Ray" operation this movie depicts is total fiction. LT Clark won a Silver Star for his bravery and leadership on this dangerous and crucial mission, and he is nowhere to be seen, nor are any of the other Americans who reconnoitered Incheon Harbor and Wolmido. Operation Chromite was an American operation from start to finish. All the ships, the planes, and 99% of the 40,000 troops of X-Corps who landed at Incheon and fought their way to liberate Seoul were American - not "UN," and only one South Korean marine corps battalion took part as a unit of 5th US Marine Regiment.

Bringing the stars from other film industry is not we never heard of. It is mainly done for the international appeal. So now it was Liam Neeson's turn to foray into a Korean film. He did not go a big transform. He just played an American character and spoke American English. But he did not get the opportunity to exploit well, the role he played was a very important one though. Even I was curious about this film for his presence than the director known for some great hits. The film did fairly enough to my anticipation, but I slightly disappointed with the overall.

This is another Korean war theme, that mean based on the real. I think only the events were inspired by, not all the details. Because seems they were improvised for the cinematic version like sentimentalising it. That's the opposite to X-factor in this film, according to me. I started to watch Korean films because of strong emotional appeal, but after all these years watching lots of films, I think that sub-theme was overused. This is a war film and casualties are expected. Not from the viewers' perspective, but the film characters'. So knowing the consequences, the film exploited that too much.

I am sure that will patriotically appeal to the domestic (native) audience. For the rest of the world, it was a bit too much to take. This film is about a secret mission taken by the South Korean intelligence service after most of its territories were captured by the North in the year 1950. The general Douglas MacArthur of the US armed force with the UN coalition is the architect behind to hit the enemy at the right place. Where his team on an operation known as 'X-Ray' has to clear the way for the bigger one called 'Operation Chromite'.

❝Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old only by deserting their ideals.❞

The team who left behind their family and friends, has to be ready to sacrifice for their nation. Their notion is to steal the military strategies of the North, but it goes beyond that after a series of twist and turns. Theirs brave attempt is what this film talk about. But there is a little chance for a sequel, particularly for what this title actually meant. I mean, the film was all about the operation known as 'X-Ray' which is a sub-operation of 'Operation Chromite'. But the way the film ended gives a hint that there's no more story left to tell us.

I am familiar with most of the cast and they all were good. It was worth making a film of the real event, but as I know not the best work of the director. Especially the screenplay looked unrealistic in a few parts which is mostly the confrontations between two armed forces. Though in such films it is acceptable which is done for goosebumps and to highlight the heroism with a greater struggle. If you are watching it for Liam Neeson, then you will be let down. He was magnificent in his limited appearance. For me, he looked like a bit Popeye with a pipe and at sea. A couple great quotes from him, but his absence on the field of action would hurt his fans.

Despite the disappointment, the film is watchable. Reasonable runtime and pace with the fine visual effects, it is worth a try. You will learn the history and apart from that there's nothing special. Whatever happens in earlier parts, the last 30-40 minutes makes the most of the film if you love war and actions. But still I'll pass, not going to recommend it to you, especially if you have watched lots of war films and spy missions. The final thing I wanted to say is don't believe those sites rated it very poorly. It stands between average and good, so the final call should be yours in such situation, but be prepared for whatever outcome you will receive.

6½/10