Yeah, I finally went back and watched a Korean film. Too bad it was this one.

My friend Maggie related to me that this film was something of a breakthrough in Korean filmmaking. Prior to its release, Korean films were tame "romantic" comedies where the two protagonists never even meet each other through the entire film, then both get on a train in the end with the implication that they finally get together. And yes, I've seen one of these - it was truly a strange little film. Je-gyu Kang, the director of Shiri, is credited with opening the floodgates for the "new wave" of Korean directors, and his later film "Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War" was a decent, if occasionally John Wooish recreation of the Korean war. I had moderately high expectations for this movie going in.

What I got, instead of a taut spy drama, was a "by the numbers" buddy flick. A commando squad from North Korea steals a new kind of liquid explosives, and threatens to demolish buildings in South Korea unless their demands are met. Ryu and Lee, two South Korean secret agents, work together to try and stop them from carrying out their dastardly plot, all while being stalked by Hee, the completely badass sniper.

The film came across as a poor knockoff of a b-grade Hong Kong action film. The plot was telegraphed a mile away (which, oddly enough, was one of my complaints about Tae Guk Gi), the plot twists transparent, and the ending was way too predictable. I kept expecting Sylvester Stallone or The Rock to stroll in from stage left, and really didn't care one way or another what happened to the characters.

If you want to see the piece of film that broke Korean filmmaking wide open, then by all means, see this film. Otherwise, don't bother. It's not a horrible film, just not my cup of tea.