Typhoon

I recently bought the DVD, Typhoon, and watched it twice to see why Dreamworks is planning to release this film in North America. It was the most expensive movie ever made in Korea, so I thought it might be something special.

I hadn't realized at first that the director, Kwak Kyung-taek, had also directed Friend, a huge hit in Korea but which I thought was a piece of crap.

I'm usually impressed by the cinematography and acting in Korean movies. I'm often disappointed by little things in the movie which seem to be the fault of the directors. Oasis, which I thought had an interesting theme and was really well acted, had an ending that was so incomprehensible that it spoiled what was, to that point, a really good movie. Chihwasan, which has the most stunning cinematography that I've ever seen, was spoiled by the make-up used to age Ahn Sung-ki near the end of the film. And, Friend was laughable when a group of grown men dressed in school uniforms and pretended to be in high school. These are all things that a good director should control.

At any rate, Typhoon was interesting and worth watching - once. It would make a good made for TV movie, perhaps battling it out with Jean Claude Van Damme and Steven Segal. I can't imagine why it would have a large enough audience in North America to make it worth putting any money into it. It slams the Americans, the North Koreans, and the South Koreans (the governments), but it does nothing to help North Americans understand Korea or the Korean situation. It won't shed any light on the North Korean/American nuclear issue. It's not really an action movie. It doesn't really delve into the characters and issues enough to make it an art house movie.

I don't know where the $15 million dollars went to make this movie. Perhaps it was used in setting up the cast and crew in luxurious surrounding in Thailand and Russia.