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Post by politicidal on Apr 18, 2019 3:02:52 GMT
Just finished the appropriately titled Assassination. It's another one of those historical action pieces set during the Japanese occupation in the 1930s. In this case, a woman involved with the Korean independence movement is assigned to target a pro-Japanese businessman and a high ranking Japanese officer. There's trouble concerning a double agent, a mysterious contract killer on their trail, and the relentless secret police. At two and a half hours, it may be a tad longer than necessary but the story is interesting. The direction of the action scenes and chases are exciting. There's a truck chase lifted directly out of Raiders of the Lost Ark and the final gun battle at a wedding is excellently handled.
I'm always looking forward to these particular Korean films. I would probably rank this below The Good, the Bad, and the Weird and The Age of Shadows. But above Battleship Island and Operation Chromite - Incheon which kind of overlaps this subgenre but is a Korean film.
One thing I appreciate about these movies is they go nuts with the plot and embrace the possibilities for inventive action scenes instead of making it a stodgy period piece or try to dumb it down like a lot of recent Hollywood movies had been doing.
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Post by mikef6 on Apr 18, 2019 17:29:08 GMT
Just finished the appropriately titled Assassination. It's another one of those historical action pieces set during the Japanese occupation in the 1930s. In this case, a woman involved with the Korean independence movement is assigned to target a pro-Japanese businessman and a high ranking Japanese officer. There's trouble concerning a double agent, a mysterious contract killer on their trail, and the relentless secret police. At two and a half hours, it may be a tad longer than necessary but the story is interesting. The direction of the action scenes and chases are exciting. There's a truck chase lifted directly out of Raiders of the Lost Ark and the final gun battle at a wedding is excellently handled.
I'm always looking forward to these particular Korean films. I would probably rank this below The Good, the Bad, and the Weird and The Age of Shadows. But above Battleship Island and Operation Chromite - Incheon which kind of overlaps this subgenre but is a Korean film.
One thing I appreciate about these movies is they go nuts with the plot and embrace the possibilities for inventive action scenes instead of making it a stodgy period piece or try to dumb it down like a lot of recent Hollywood movies had been doing.
Feelings must still run high in Korea concerning this time in history because they continue to produce thrilling action films that carefully recreate the period in set design but are also compelling in their emotional content. “Assassination” and “The Age of Shadows” are indeed wonderful films. I think it is possible to say that each runs a little longer than they should but that is minor compared to both film’s pluses. Another South Korean film with this same theme that turns 10 this year is “2009: Lost Memories.” This is a science fiction story in which history is changed so that Japan wins WWII and in 2009 still occupies South Korea. Vague clues still exist that reveal another reality. The Korean resistance tries to put history back where it belongs. Another film that is overlong and also indulges in some cheesy troops (one character howls “N0-0-0-0-0-0-0” over a fallen comrade) but has a knockout ending. Along the same lines of Japanese aggression and colonialism in the 1930s and ‘40s is “Purple Butterfly,,” a Chinese film from 2003. This story of intrigue takes place during the brutal Japanese occupation of Manchuria which began in 1931. A more complicated story line than any of the others plus the director’s uneven editing rhythms mean that one must pay close attention or get lost. This is one of my Best Films of the 2000s. One bit of amusing trivia: The same Japanese actor (Tôru Nakamura) plays the head of the invading Japanese in both “2009: Lost Memories” and “Purple Butterfly.” It looks like for a time he specialized in playing evildoers from the history of his own country.
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Post by politicidal on Apr 18, 2019 17:33:00 GMT
I wish we were making World War 2 movies like this today;though I guess Inglorious Basterds has that same energy. Overlord was pretty fun but it still has the pulp fantasy element with mad scientists and occult touches with Nazi zombies.
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