kluseba Here comes another solid movie from the country that currently produces the best films in the whole wide world which happens to be South Korea.Don't worry about the critics. The economical, political and social component of a divided Korean peninsula is an issue in this movie and one should at least have a basic knowledge about this conflict to understand this movie. But this delicate topic doesn't dominate the movie and makes the whole thing too melodramatic. It's rather a positive elements as it adds some spicy ingredients to a promising melting pot and it adds some depth and development to many characters in this movie as you will see.The movie still stays a tension filled action movie about a lonesome pirate that wants to attack the Korean peninsula with nuclear garbage. The acting of both the main villain and the main hero is authentic and unique to both of them. The supporting actors such as the main villain's sister also do a great job. The amazing thing about this movie is that the bad guy is more than just your average terrorist. There are many reasons why he has become the one he is and sometimes good and evil are not clearly distinguished. When it comes to the confrontation between the good and the bad guy, one realizes that they have a lot in common and could have been big friends in another situation. This is what makes this movie emotional, tragic and not too expectable at some points. Towards the end, the flick becomes a true tearjerker but I mean this in a positive way. The movie truly touched me because the stories behind the characters are really well thought out. They are dramatic, emotional and tragic.The story is not complicated but still detailed enough to remain interesting and demand a certain kind of attention. The movie just has the right mixture of dialogues, narrative flashbacks and explosive action scenes. The settings are also amazing. The movie plays in several countries from Laos to Russia and exposes many beautiful landscapes and different cultures without being too educational.The only two small flaws during this joy ride are a little bit confusing beginning as too many different characters are introduced at the same time and you need a lot of concentration to get out who's doing what. The second point is a too predictable ending that reminds a little bit too much of many Hollywood movies. I really felt that I have already seen similar stuff a couple of times before at that point. A final showdown on a ship during a storm including terroristic pirates and a courageous military special unit that refuses to obey any orders to save the world on their own is a thing that uses too many stereotypes. Nevertheless, this movie still remains quite underrated, should get more praise and I would definitely watch this again.

Sinus_Felina Technique and lots of money can't save an uninspired script, and the director seems blinded by his pretensions.The action and external plot seems a bit too easy and Bond-like for the serious back-draw of the Korean conflict, which the director exploits shamelessly to get the audiences sympathy. The many explosions and shootouts also take too much time away from character-building: the director has actually resorted to voice-over to relate a few critical plot developments. Telling in stead of showing is a pretty elementary fault in a movie.The acting isn't that bad, but the script hasn't given the actors much to chew into. There are limits to how many tragic faces one can make, and when the actors don't get the right scenes to make the audience bond with the characters, the audience don't care about tragic faces either.The emotional plot is very much hurt by this: the evolving relationship between the protagonists doesn't bring forth the emotions it should have as we don't really feel their pain. In contrast to general character buildup and what makes them enemies, their bonding is fed to us in teaspoons and it IS a relief when they finally get release, but not in the way the director intended I'm afraid. Their numbing understanding of each other undermines the heroism and the "tragic romance" effectively.Go see "J.S.A.: Joint Security Area" instead: a wonderfully paced action movie - with real surprises, twists and tragic heroes - that also manages to take the conflict between North- and South Korea seriously. Typhoon does not.

tmcdaniel1 If this is the "average Korean blockbuster" show me more! It is an imperfect movie but compared to most of the crap from Hollywood USA these days, it is a superior effort. The steely-eyed, hero that never quits and still has a heart has been abandoned by Hollywood as hopelessly out of date. Yet, these men still exist and the public still craves to see them fictionalized on the movie screen. Add a bad guy that you eventually come to feel some real sympathy for and you've got the conflict that powered hundreds of Westerns in decades past. Mix it up with some high-tech Clancy-istic plot settings and you have...an enjoyable movie. The acting is above average and there is enough depth to the story to keep one involved to the end.It helps if you can appreciate the Korean sensibilities. All I can say is try to open your mind. If it seems "Corny" ask yourself if you are not just a little to hip (jaded) to enjoy it.I hope this is a harbinger of a rapidly developing Korean cinema. In a few more years they may be the equal of anyone.

John Like "The Brotherhood of War (Tae Guk Gi)" and "Silmido" this movie touches upon the most sensitive and emotional issue for Koreans while demonstrating an upgrade of the Korean film industry which has been exploding especially since "Swiri" was released in 1998.Great actors and actress, great performance and the script, but one of the few shortcomings was some background music which was not perfectly consistent with the theme of the movie. For those who are not familiar with the North-South issues, this movie may be confusing to categorize just as an action movie or one with more in-depth interpretation of the political issues.What viewers should notice though is that these days the South Korean filmmakers enjoy making controversial movies (such as those mentioned above), which reflects their cultural, artistic and political maturity; South Koreans or Americans are very often bad guys and North Koreans are often good guys or poor victims, left with no better choices. In other words, less and less stereotyping.In the scene where Sin (Jang Dong-Kun) meets his elder sister for the first time in 20 years... I'm telling you, their performance was simply amazing, especially Lee Mi-Yeon's. I even felt sorry for those who don't understand Korean perfectly, having only to depend upon the English subtitles which in no way convey the full meaning and nuance of the totally different Asian language. Obviously they speak in the movie with a very strong (but, of course, perfect) North-Korean accent (this is very impressive too), that particular scene was too outstanding to categorize the entire movie into any single genre.Depending on the DVD editions, in the last fighting scene between Sin and Kang where Sin says, "...the f***ed up thing is that we understand each other."(English subtitle) What it really means is their ironical situation that they speak the same language (Korean) even though they are enemies.With better and more consistent background music (and some other improvements not really worth mentioning), I would've given it a 9. (This does not mean that the entire background music sucked. I'm only pointing out those in the car chase and fighting/shooting scenes)