Director: Ryoo Seung-woo
Year: 2017
Country: South Korea
Alternate Titles: Gunhamdo
Genre: Action/Period
Plot:
During the Japanese takeover of Korea in WWII, a group of Korean prisoners is taken to the ruthless Nishima Island to work the coal mine inside as forced laborers. Tasked with working under the grueling conditions and with no hope of an escape, they soon get word that a Korean Liberation Army leader is among the miners and has sent an OSS agent in to extract him. Realizing their opportunity, the motley group of survivors bands together with the other desperate souls onboard the camp to stage a drastic rescue mission to get him and themselves off the island.
Review:
For the most part, this one comes off rather well. Among the most enjoyable aspects here is the massive sense of scale and grandeur attempted here that attempts to put viewers straight into the confines of the situation present. Granted an immediate view of the hard-labor conditions present at the camp with everyone covered in dirt, sweat and grime that comes from the coal-mining environment, the hardships living there are quite prominent and obvious. When added together with the treatment afforded to them by the officials in charge from both the Japanese and sympathetic Koreans on their side, the film manages to get that life of theirs quite easily established so that they’re individual personal stories in the battle can be told. Since there’s a lot of people involved in the camp that need to get their stories told which manages to fill out the relationships of everyone involved so that we get a full run-down and understanding that gives the necessary melodrama for the final battle.
With the characters established, the film has plenty of stellar high-energy action scenes here. The various escape attempts that are featured here to get an idea of how ruthless and commanding this regime has over the island which sets up the stellar finale. As a prison escape movie, it would be nothing without a massive, overreaching sequence which is the case here as the finale goes overboard in the spectacle sense. The large-scale sets that manage to hold the entire cast involved in the sequences here are massive and sprawling endeavors that bring forth impressive stunt-work and choreography that lets just about everyone have a chance for a hero moment in the large-scale sequences. It pushes the boundaries towards over-the-top sensationalism with the energetic fights carried out around the island as the struggle to carry out the complex plan starts to come to fruition, which makes this one rather enjoyable for the most part.
While there’s a lot to like, this one does have some rather striking issues. Among the most problematic is the overwrought storyline that purposefully shoehorns too much into the storyline. With too many characters and backstory to setup and get-through, there’s way too much going on to keep up with as we go through the constant reminders that the daughter is in constant danger around the camp or getting the extravagant details of the escape plan going on in the background of this one. This constant sense of melodrama created here that gets exploited in the finale gets to be overwhelming rather than immersive, getting lost in a sea of sensationalistic action and jingoistic nature about the plight of Koreans needing to stand up to the Japanese imperialists. It all makes the film a touch too long to really get the full effect of what’s intended here, but overall these issues aren’t that detrimental in the long run.
Overview: ***.5/5
Managing to work as a fun, high-energy series of action set-pieces but full of overwrought melodrama and too much going on, this one is certainly a worthwhile spectacle experience overall. Give this a watch if you’re intrigued by these big-scale productions or a fan of Korean epics like this, while those who don’t appreciate that might be put off by the film.
This review was originally published on Asian Movie Pulse and is gratefully reprinted with their cooperation.
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