jrweyrich

I have been waiting for this movie to be released in the US ever since I saw the trailer on Youtube.com last month and read all the hype. Plus, one of my favorite Korean actors, Cha Seung Won, is one of the four leads. This guy can do it all--comedy and drama, and he does not disappoint as the North Korean commander in this movie. This is the first time I have seen him on a big movie theatre screen and the camera loves him. DVD rentals on my TV are not quite the same--too bad more Korean films don't get US theatrical releases. Also giving excellent performances were Kim Seung Woo and Choi Seung Hyun--two actors who I first saw in last year's Kdrama, "Iris". Rounding out the lead actors is Kwon Sang Woo--another good performance and my first time seeing him in a theatrical film. All the supporting roles were also very well cast. If one likes war movies, this one is not to be missed--especially since it is based on a true incident during the Korean War. Direction, sets, costumes, music--all were well done. This film merits more than one viewing at the movie theatre.

The only good thing about this little film series is looking at Diana Rigg. The producers must have been trying to capitalize on The Avengers, as this series was released a year after her stint on the show was over. She does look good, but the plot, writing, and production value are so poor that one can only take this for a couple of minutes before having to hit the eject button. And the music--like someone is driving nails into your ears! At first I thought the sound was so bad because it was on a VCR cassette, but I was mistaken. The music used for each scene truly hurts ones ears. Many of the scenes were shot on Spain's Costa Brava. Unfortunately, the attractive scenery of the Costa Brava cannot help this disaster of a film. What was Diana thinking when she accepted this role? Oh my....