Korea, 2004
Director: Kang Woo Suk
Starring: Sol Kyung Gu, Jeong Jae Yeong

Plot: In January 1968, the South Korean Military forms a special group, the 684 Special Unit in response to the North Korean Special Unit 124 which infiltrated South Korea. The unit is loaded with convicts who have nothing to lose, 31 men with either life imprisonment or death sentences. The group is brought to the island Silmido, and given a choice either to go back, and serve out sentence, or to stay on the island and take on a special mission. All that stayed undergo rigorous military training and become perfect soldiers to enter North Korea and kill the president Kim Il-sung.

The remarkable thing about SILMIDO is the fact that it is based on a true incident. I wasn’t that familiar with that event before viewing the film. And for those of you out there who are unfamiliar with the “Silmido” incident in 1970, let me just say that it was an incident that fueled the hatred between the North and the South. That said, it feels like everyone involved in the production of the film has taken great care to accurately depict one of Korea’s most controversial terrorist acts in contemporary history.

However, something must have happened along the way. The film indeed does have conflicts with itself. SILMIDO is not just a based-on-a-true-story. This DIRTY DOZEN-ish actioner offers quite high-octane action sequences and not so quite emotionally captivating moments. One minute they introduce a bunch of killers who must make a decision to possibly sacrifice their lives for country in very realistic way, then all the sudden this dramatic music swells and suddenly the film feels like… a Bruckheimer film… nothing more than THE ROCK or CON AIR.

The actors do a solid job, but you can’t really single one out. This is very much an ensemble piece. We follow the bunch as a whole, and focus on any individual character is very limited. Their performances provoke some good emotions out of the viewer by doing a fine job, especially showing their mistrust for each other and their dislike growing to their mutual respect and admiration.

One might feel that the story of this political misjudgment is suited for a documentary rather than an event film. That might be true. But for what it’s worth, this version of the story is strictly for entertainment value and it does its job, somewhat.

Review by Shogo!