Tae-poong (2005)

Director:

Kyung-Taek Kwak

Writer:

Kyung-Taek Kwak (writer)

Release Date:

14 December 2005 (South Korea)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Revenge Is A Force Of Nature!

Plot:

A modern-day pirate plans a massive attack on North and South Korea.

Plot Keywords:

Train Station | Rescue Team | Flight | Morphine | Pusan Korea

Cast

Dong-Kun Jang	...	SIn
Jung-Jae Lee	...	Gang Se-jong
Mi-youn Lee	...	Choi Myeong-ju
David Lee McInnis	...	Somchai (as David McInnis)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
John David Dix	...	(voice)
David No	...	Leather Jacket
Chatthapong Pantanaunkul	...	Toto

Directed by
Kyung-Taek Kwak

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Kyung-Taek Kwak		writer

Cinematography by
Kyung-Pyo Hong

Film Editing by
Simon K. Park

Art Direction by
Chang-gil Gang

Makeup Department
Seo-young Kim	....	makeup artist

Sound Department
Tae-young Choi	....	sound
In-gyu Lee	....	sound
Jun-o Park	....	sound

Visual Effects by
Kang Sung-Uk	....	visual effects
Danyo Donghyun Yoon	....	pre-visualization artist

Music Department
Simon Leadley	....	scoring engineer

Other crew
Winston Emano	....	publicist
David Magdael	....	publicist
Anne Stulz	....	publicist
Steven Wallace	....	publicist

Distributors

• CJ Entertainment (2006) (Korea) (theatrical)
• DreamWorks SKG (2006) (USA) (theatrical)
• Encore Films (2006) (Singapore) (theatrical)
• Golden Village Entertainment (2006) (Singapore) (theatrical)
• Paramount Classics (2006) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Toei Company (2006) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2006) (Netherlands) (DVD) (rental)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2007) (Netherlands) (DVD) (retail)

Other Companies

• HFR  digital cinema
• Trackdown Digital  music recorded and mixed at

Also Known As:

Typhoon (International: English title) (USA) (literal English title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence and brief language.

Runtime:

124 min

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean | English | Thai | Russian | Mandarin

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Certification:

USA:R | South Korea:15 | Netherlands:16 | Malaysia:18PL | Singapore:NC-16

Filming Locations:

Busan, South Korea

Tragedy and Action Packed

Many of the tearjerkers and romantic dramas by Korean film-makers have definitely been appealing to many Asian movie fans. Winter Sonata, Autumn Fairy Tale, Lovers in Paris, First Kiss, just to name a few. Koran actors and actresses appeared in those movies have enthusiastically been accepted in Japan, Hongkong, China, Singapore and in other Asian countries. Jiwoo Choi, Yongjun Bae, Hyegyo Song, Bin Won, Jeongeun Kim, Shinyang Park, Jaewook Ahn, Byunghun Lee are such celebrities, or rather, idols in those countries.

Bun it's quite a different story in the U.S., where 'a man carrying a big stick' is respected. They don't go much for some ticklish romantic episodes played by Asian performers.

Typhoon is an answer to this situation. It has daring hoopla, alertness, conspiracy, betrayal, red-blooded revenge and heartbreaking family tragedy stemming from the tragedy of divided two Koreas. For Dongkun Jang, a North Korean escapee as a child, politics has no meaning at all. His parents were killed when his family were escaping from North Korea to South Korea seeking freedom, by way of China. He and his sister survived the massacre by the North Koreans, but separated---separated for 20 years. All he wants is to find his sister and save her from the hand of North Korean and Chinese 'bandits'. Any means justifies the end for him. He would gladly steal secret weapon from South Korea and the U.S. to trade his sister with it.

His wrath and fury was well and timely expressed in his retort to his opponent: "Comrade, have you ever eaten human flesh?" Jungjae Lee, South Korean navy officer, has a mission to stop him and retrieve the weapon from his hand. Inevitably, the two has the fate to tackle with each other. But Jungjae Lee feels for him and says: "Tonight we will fight to the death, but in another life I would have liked to have been his friend." All the emotions and feelings are melted down to the electrifying scene when Dongkun Jang finally meets his sister and shouts: "(20 years ago) Didn't I tell you to just stay where you were!" Tight and tighter embraces follow.

Fast change of sequences, realistic plot, almost zero-defect photography, compact movements of actors, especially those by Dongkun Jang and Jungjae Lee. Hey, you both are great, Jang and Lee! Not many goofs could be found in this film.