Myung ryoung-027 ho (1986) User Reviews

Who knew North Korean propaganda could be such fun?

[BA_Harrison · 6/10 · 5 August 2017]

In terms of plot, Order No. 027 is a fairly routine war adventure, in which a band of brave soldiers embark on a dangerous mission into enemy territory. The script holds very few surprises, but what makes this 'men on a mission' movie a little more unusual is that it is a product of North Korea, a proud piece of communist propaganda in which the heroic North Korean soldiers prove their superiority over the capitalist South, effortlessly kicking their foes into submission with their incredible martial arts skills.

The fight scenes are surprisingly well executed (except for the occasional, unintentionally funny sped up footage) and hugely entertaining, with lots of impressive kicking and hard hitting stunt-work. While I'm not quite ready to pledge my allegiance to the glorious Democratic People's Republic of Korea and their supreme leader Kim Jong-un, I would be willing to check out some more of their action movies based on this fun little flick.

Martial arts action with a North Korean flavour

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 14 May 2017]

ORDER NO. 027 is an entertaining martial arts romp from North Korea, and there aren't too many of them in existence. The film has a military theme/backdrop which sees a group of elite, highly-trained soldiers sent on a suicide mission to South Korea to blow up a military base. On arrival they use their superior Taekwondo skills to take out the enemy at every opportunity. If you want to see flag-waving communist propaganda in action, this is the film for you. It has all of the chest-thumping patriotism that you could wish for, with characters pledging allegiance to their Supreme Leader and willing to lay down their lives for their country.

However, the surprise is that this is an action movie with pretty decent action scenes (just like the North Korean kaiju PULGASARI had decent monster scenes). The fights are hard hitting and if the editing is a little dodgy on occasion, you can forgive it that because of the fun factor. The participants show off genuine athletic skill, and there's all manner of stunts, bone-breaking, and hard-kicking jumps and punches. I should imagine any martial arts fan watching this will be pleased with what they see.

The Upright Devoted North Korean Dozen

[efffigie · 6/10 · 22 July 2017]

I've been on a bit of a kick watching movies from the PRK, and honestly, this one isn't bad as entertainment. The version I watched was overdubbed in Russian (you know, the kind with the single, rather disinterested male voice, which I know drives a lot of people crazy, but I don't mind it much) so I could catch most of the dialogue; although who truly needs erudite dialogue in a kung fu movie!?

Much of the movie is physically absurd, but no more so than any other early 1970s chop socky, and there are some amusing nods to Bruce Lee. You know, I am not a 'martial arts' guy in reality, so any idea of 'realism' or a plot that makes sense, or any basis in actual physics in these kinds of entertainments is, to me, irrelevant. I find almost all kung fu movies unrealistic and silly, so this one isn't bad.

Some of the stunts are actually scary: some of these kicks and punches can be seen to physically connect, some in positions that made me cringe for the (possibly serious) injuries the actor HAD to have sustained. There is one on the ship where one of Our Dear Leaders' Heroes smashes a guy in a stomp-type kick in the forehead in a hatch opening, while the guy's neck is bent backward over the edge of the hatch: if that stomp connected even a little... I mean, that's paralyzed time. Frightening.

I found the ending interesting, as in this movie there ARE survivors (in other PRK epics everybody dies), and as they present themselves, bloody and dirty and looking, well, kind of bitter, instead of a cynical, USA Aldrich-style ending, everybody literally gets a big hug and All Is Well! Different, you know?

Something to remember, I think, is that these movies are probably well liked by PRK moviegoers, no less than other kinds of audiences; mocking or condemning them for their 'anti-capitalist messaging' is kind of dumb: it's a different place with different rules, and the movies reflect that alternate reality. And again, it's a kung fu movie! Who cares about the 'message' of a kung fu movie, any more than the dialogue!? Seriously.

Strange, disjointed North Korean film

[mfcappie · 3/10 · 30 December 2007]

I saw a Chinese-language dub of this a few years ago, and the deepest impression it gave me was of several films that were started by different directors, not finished, but then edited together. It starts out as a really interesting-looking military film, and then it suddenly becomes sort of a spy film, then sort of a kung-fu film, and so on. In each of these parts, the look is totally different, and I'm not even sure if all the characters appeared consistently throughout the film.

Mostly, it's interesting as an oddity, if you've never seen a North Korean movie before. I don't know if this is a spoiler or not, but for me, the most memorable part was when the North Korean spies snuck over the border to the South. According to this film, the only vehicles in South Korea are jeeps that have "US army" spray-painted on the front, and South Koreans are all incredibly hairy and wear foot-long crucifixes around their necks.

The North Korean Version of Propaganda

[Uriah43 · 3/10 · 26 July 2015]

From what I have been able to discern this is a Korean War movie in which a squad of highly trained North Korean soldiers smuggle themselves into an area controlled by elements of the ROK (Republic of Korea) Army to accomplish two main objectives. Their primary mission is to neutralize a company of South Korean Special Forces and once that is accomplished their alternate objective is to kill the South Korean General Staff. To achieve the second task the leader of the squad has to meet up with a nice-looking spy named "Un Ha" (Hye Son Kim) at a predetermined location so that she can give them the exact area where the General Staff is located. As far as the overall merits of this movie is concerned let me just say that I have always found it quite interesting to see films pertaining to war from the other side's point-of-view and this particular movie certainly provides that. Unfortunately, most of the film contained either overt propaganda or an abundance of scenes in which the North Korean soldiers were supermen who attained their status through superior training and their complete faith and loyalty to the "Supreme Commander" (in this case Kim Il Sung). That being the case, the company of South Korean Special Forces had no chance against this small squad and were easily beaten to death by these masters of Taekwondo while sustaining no casualties to themselves. Likewise, they managed to gun down battalions of soldiers simply because they were expert marksmen while their opponents apparently couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. Now I realize that there are many martial arts movies which feature all kinds of incredible, super-human stunts and for that reason I suppose that some of these scenes should be taken with a grain of salt. Be that as it may, if this was a comedy I could probably cut it some slack as some of the scenes were so corny and preposterous that it was indeed quite hilarious. However, since this movie was intended to be taken seriously I feel somewhat obligated to rate it accordingly. Below average.

Huge Fun

[denis888 · 1/10 · 25 August 2017]

Wow, just try and imagine a war propaganda film, made by Soviet North Korea team, combined with martial arts fights. Imagine? The end result is this unintentionally funny flick that is so funny it can be entertaining at times. I am serious - it shows a secret mission of well-trained Communists desperado super warriors sent to a vile, drunken, rotten Capitalist South Korea - the way it is depicted demands a real Oscar for the best way of twisting reality. Sped-up scenes are also very cingeworthy and very laughable, whilst all those martial arts Taekwondo fights owe heavily to Bruce Lee flicks at all films. This is a really bad movie with all the wrong turns and twists - imagine the worst possible propaganda films and you get it. Yeah, it can be watched as a great example of How Not To.