Swiri (1999)

Director:

Je-gyu Kang

Writer:

Je-gyu Kang (writer)

Release Date:

13 February 1999 (South Korea)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

Plot:

North Korea's 8th Special Forces hijacks a shipment of CTX, a potent new liquid explosive, and threatens...

Plot Keywords:

Korea | Sniper | Secret Intelligence Service | Agent | Special Agent

Awards:

3 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

  (Credited cast)

Suk-kyu Han	...	Jong Won Yu
Min-sik Choi	...	Mu-young Park
Yunjin Kim	...	Myung-hyun Lee / Bang-hee Lee (as Yoon-jin Kim)
Kang-ho Song	...	Jang-gil Lee
Johnny Kim	...	Dae-Ho Jung (as Derek Kim)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jeong-min Hwang
Hyeong-seong Jang
Su-ro Kim
Seung-Shin Lee
Yong-woo Park	...	Sik

Also Known As:

Shiri (Hong Kong: English title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence and some language.

Runtime:

125 min

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Brazil:14 | South Korea:15 | South Korea:12 (DVD rating) | Spain:18 | Philippines:R-13 (MTRCB) (cut) | Argentina:16 | Australia:R | Finland:K-15 | France:-12 | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Norway:15 | Singapore:PG | UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

"The Hill of Shiri", Joongmoon-Dong, Seogwipo, Cheju Island, South Korea

Company:

Kang Je-Kyu Film Co. Ltd.

Trivia:

German film fans were astonished when this film passed the ratings board FSK (known for its extensive dislike of excessive violence) uncut with a "Not under 16" rating. It was expected that the film would not get a rating at all and had to go for a JK approval from SPIO (Head organization of German film business).

Goofs:

Continuity: For the hijack of the CTX, the hijackers are waiting for the truck as it emerges from a tunnel. This tunnel is there in shots from the ground, but the shots from the helicopter before it lands were clearly filmed elsewhere, as there is no tunnel in sight behind the hijacked truck.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Eodiseonga nugungae museunili saengkimyeon teulrimeobshi natananda Hong Ban-jang (2004)

Soundtrack:

Mack the Knife

Violence, action, good storytelling!

Swiri finally comes to DVD this week since it's successful foreign run in 1999. The movie has enough bullets, action and blood to make even the biggest John Woo fan stand up and clap with admiration.

The story is set in modern day South Korea and follows two cops on the trail of a female assassin known only to them as Hee. On the trail, they always find themselves two steps behind, and the blood and body count continue to grow.

The opening scenes of Hee in training is a scene that I am sure Paul Anderson III wanted to duplicate with Kurt Russell in the 1998 flop Soldier. Yoon-jin Kim plays her role perfectly as the assassin who later becomes torn between her mission and her love interest (who is one of the cops on her trail).

Throughout the story, director Je-gyu Kang uses a fish backdrop (you will have to see the movie to understand) and a unification soccer game between both South and North Korea, to keep the audience guessing as to their symbolic reference.

Plot details aside, the movie is about violence. And boy does it deliver. It has a shoot out scene that would remind movie watchers of Michael Mann's Heat, and a climax that would be a cross between Bruce Willis' The Last Boy Scout and John Woo's Hard Boiled.

Bullet for bullet, this is one of the best action films you are likely to see out of a foreign market. It's one of those rare Die Hard type movies that you can even turn the subtitles off and sit and watch the corpses pile up.

Quite large in Korea back in 1999 and searched for relentlessly by movie enthusiasts, the transfer to DVD is sharp and should not be missed!