Director : Je-gyu Kang
Starring : Dong-gun Jang, Bin Won
2004
Tae Guk Gi is widely considered the best Korean movie of all time and one of the best to come from all of Asia. The budget for this film had to be pretty crazy. Think of this movie as the Korean Saving Private Ryan. I liked them both pretty equally. Tae Guk Gi had a better story and better acting overall while Saving Private Ryan had the beach scene, Vin Diesel and that awesome sniper. Both had a main character who whined a lot (Matt Damon and Jin Seok). Both were sweet movies.
Of course with this movie being from South Korea and about war, the film is set in the war torn Korea's during the years 1949 and 1950. It starts out with two brothers, Jin Tae and Jin Seok, hanging out around the city. They are really close, a little too close in my opinion. This can be witnessed best when they share a popsicle. Anyway they both go home to a big family and everyone parties together. Life is grand. Next thing you know the war breaks out, a draft is called and everything falls apart.
Things from here till the end are predictable. The older brother tries to be really over protective of the younger brother. The younger brother tries to be all macho and goes with the I don't need or want your help. Throughout the next year they gradually fall apart with the older brother becoming RAMBO and the younger, well he just whines a lot. I know none of that sounds appealing but it rules.
Rating : 4.5 stars. Tae Guk Gi is a war epic that offers a lot more then loss of limbs. I watched this with my brother and we joked that this movie had to of absorbed most of Korea's 2004 GDP because they pumped a lot of cash into it. Some of the effects still look a little wack but any set or battle scene looked most legit. Jin Seok did get a little whiny as stated and I was sort of hoping for him to die but what can you do. The whole final battles plot also is kind of eh but still entertaining.
Quotes : This movie didn't have the greatest lines but with it being foreign, quotes are even harder to find. I could only find one decent one.
"Wills are for dying people. You've got to be strong."
Best Scene : The whole communist execution scene. You know which one. I could kind of sense that something like this was going to happen but it didn't matter, the scene still has a great effect.
Screens :
Trailer
