Really Surprised!

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Movie: Swiri (15): Action - KoreanPositives:The basic concept of CTX is extremely impressive.The lead actors Suk-Kyu Han, Song Kang-ho and Choi Min-sik steal the show with their powerful performances while Hwang Jung-min too impresses in a cameo.The background score and sound effects are very impressive.The action scenes are well choreographed and also entertaining.The film has good production values.A lot of plot twists and thrills are pretty impressive.The climax is excellent.Negatives:Yunjin Kim's performance is just fine, and for the most part it's not very impressive.Even though the action scenes are decent, they are not filmed very well. Too much of shaky cinematography during a few action blocks spoils the impact slightly.Editing is another major negative as the film could've easily done away with some 10 minutes. The romance subplots only add to the length. It was difficult to finish this film in once only due to the editing.Repeat value: Can't saySWIRI is an entertaining action film with some decent plot twists and overall entertainment, and further worth seeing if you love action films. But that factor too can act slightly negative since the action scenes are just fine and don't really hold a repeat value, though a few action blocks are done excellently too, at the same time.

This movie is more than an action flick, it highlights the relationship between North and South Korea. If you know anything about their pasts and their present than you can see why this is a movie by Koreans for Koreans. The actions scenes did not impress me, I saw this movie in 2006...after watching such movies as MI3, but it wasn't too shabby for a non-Hollywood pre-new millenia movie.Okay so about the movie itself...I don't like the opening, too dramatic and over the top, I was never a fan of Roman decimation and I will never be a fan of this kind of training method. However, once it gets to the actual story then the clues and hints are laid out and you see how everything comes together in the end. You can probably guess the entire ending after some time. The romance is small, about what you expect for an action film. The chemistry is okay. It is really more of a thriller than anything because you're usually puzzled as to how the hero is going to catch the bad guys since he keeps on failing initially.The actors did a fairly good job. The action sequences are okay, they're shaky at times, I don't like how the South Korean SWAT teams can't hit anything despite perfectly planned traps and outnumbering the bad guys 50:1. Maybe they should get plastic surgery to open their eyes? It was a so-so movie, but because of theme and background I'll put it above the the average, it could be used to do more than simply entertain. It is simply outdated now if you want a really good action film.

I'd heard a lot about "Shiri" (aka "Swiri") and how this Korean action film compared favourably (or perhaps even exceeded) recent US action films. So it was with high hopes I sat down to watch this movie.Perhaps it was a result of the hype, but I came away feeling very disappointed in this film. There are some very strong scenes in this film, don't get me wrong - the training sequence at the start, the suddenness of the assassinations, for example - which help add something different to this movie, and the technical aspects of "Shiri" are definitely better than average, but in many ways this film falls short.The big issue for me was the disconnect between the 'realistic' political aspect that provided the motivation for the movie and the over-the-top gun play in the action sequences. At the very start, the training sequence makes the movie look like it will have a more realistic portrayal of violence, but this dissipates in a hail of bullets during the shoot-outs. Apparently the South Korean Special Forces suck, because they put thousands of rounds from MP5s in the direction of their heavily outnumbered North Korean adversaries and continually miss, while the North Koreans just need hand guns (Berettas, possibly) and one shot to gun down large numbers of armoured opponents.I don't mind cartoon-ish violence in live action films, but it has to be kept consistent. The ability of the North Koreans to avoid large numbers of South Korean bullets exceeded my suspension of disbelief and undermined my acceptance of the political motivation. I can handle the plot holes and the bad science, but just can't reconcile the supposed realistic political themes with the absurd action sequences.As for the love story aspect - well, it was something a bit different for this genre of movie (especially the phone message at the very end of the film - that would have been heartbreaking for the characters involved), but not enough to make this film any more than a curiosity for those who want to see what Korean action films are capable of.

I saw this movie on the recommendation of a Korean friend of mine.(Original dub with English subtitles) The movie evolves around a liquid bomb which the bad people get, and the good people try to get it from them as the bad people threaten the good people.However, i have to say that although at parts the movie gets carried away. The movie is overall interesting and watchable but there are scenes that don't fit into the movie in general and hence cause the only disturbance to the plot. One of the those scenes is regarding love, whenever there is discussion about love of any sort, the acting/action seems unnatural. Plot twists turn out interesting although the plot itself is well worn out.