Battleship Island - Korean Movie Review

My film tastes are difficult to pigeonhole. I enjoy big budget-blockbusters, documentaries, foreign films and just about every genre in between. If the story is compelling, film offers a format to express the story in many ways. I have reviewed a couple of big budget films here at Steemit. Now it is time for a foreign film. Today's movie adventure was a Korean film called Battleship Island. My only regret is that it won't see wider distribution in the United States.

I like Korean films. My favorite being Oldboy by Park Chan-wook. Battleship Island is a new release film written and directed by Ryoo Seung-wan whose work I am unfamiliar with. The film centers on an entertainer and his daughter who are sent from Korea to work in an island coal mine run by ruthless Japanese soldiers. The timing coincides with the waning days of World War II. In order to cover their crimes, the Japanese soldiers plan to kill the Koreans to avoid war crime trials. But the Koreans have other ideas, hatching a plan to escape from the prison-like island.

Battleship Island mixes serious subject matter with some great comedic moments. The casting of Su-an Kim (Train to Busan) as So-hee and Jun-Min Hwang as her father, Lee Kang-ok was brilliant. So-hee has an amazing future in film. Her performance was riveting. Her combination of pouting, crying and comic relief added just the touch of humor a dark film like this needs. The comic elements are enhanced by Hwang's performance. The two had great chemistry and were just goofy enough to be believable. This film had a solid foundation with the casting.

The narrative of the story was also excellent. Although I don't think the Japanese are particularly happy with this film, which appears to embellish heavily. This film is touted as fiction, so "no harm, no foul" in my book. The things the film depicts the Japanese as doing are all well documented other places, transposing them to make this film seems palatable to me. The pacing was perfect, the story intriguing and the action sequences well choreographed. I'm not sure why the film started and ended in black-and-white, while delivering color for most of the movie. But it may have to do with another thought that occurred to me during the movie. A graphic battle scene plays out near the end of the film, backed by The Ecstasy of Gold from the film The Good, Bad and the Ugly. I was wondering why an anachronistic song would be the inspiration for this fight scene. It was either a sweetheart kiss the western, but more likely something a bit deeper. The film ends with the bombing of Nagasaki. And there are plenty of bad Koreans interjected into the story. I think the connection to to The Good, Bad and the Ugly is the "baroque manipulation" aspect of that film. A subtle satire that explores moral complexities. Both films also shared some anti-war themes.

I like war movies. I like foreign films. I like dark films that have brilliant splashes of comedy. Most importantly, I like good storytelling. This film delivers on all counts. The pacing, acting, dialogue, action, and themes are all handled with a deft hand. It runs deeper than just a story, delivering deeper meaning balanced with rich characters that you just have to connect with. IMDB has given this film an average around 7.3, which I think is pretty low. I wouldn't go any lower than 8/10. Maybe even an 8.5. A great war story, artfully drafted.

Photos and video courtesy of CJ Entertainment. Photo of Battleship Island courtesy of Google streetview.