12.12: The Day (2023) User Reviews

tragic history of kroea

[jeonghun-89433 · 9/10 · 1 December 2023]

As a korean, we learned that coup happend 12.12..1979. But we didn't learn that how they did it and the story how we lost against traiters. But this movie showed the time line based on fact.

So it was interesting even though we knew the fact. All actors especially hwang's acting is really amazing.

I also had some imagination . If we prevent coup. Korea could start democracy early. And won't be happen in gwangju disaster.

Also seeing this movie, commander's role is really important when things happen.

If we had a wise commander in army. We could have blocked it and won it. It is really sad

and reminds me that good leader doesn't come. When we need. We must choose good leader by using our right with right decision.

Blood rush, bloody rage

[TaylorYee94 · 9/10 · 12 February 2024]

A whirlwind of events that happened during nine hours on some winter day, rushing through and to the ending that we already know for two-and-a-half hours. AND I could not take my eyes off for one second, and those two hours felt like a glimpse of a moment.

Chronologically perfect organization makes complicated events compact and clear. The plot is a spider web; everything is connected to everything, and there is no leap of logic from one event to another. At first, I was worried that all members of Hanahoe getting their moment would muddle the main narrative and obscure strong message. However, how it is executed from the director is just perfection: perfect structure and system. Moreover, because '12.12: The Day' extends the focus from Jeon Du-Hwan alone to Hanahoe, the message becomes stronger and more relevant. Villainizing one person is not enough; the problem lies deep in the rooted corrupt system. Jeon is gone, but Hanahoe in all kinds of forms still exist in today's society.

Hats off to how the director portrays the ending. Lee tae-shin is not described as a loser, but Jeon is as history would tell the story to the next generations.

Lighting plays an important role in the whole movie. 12.12 happens from 7pm to 4am next day. Lights at night from all kinds of sources like lamp posts, headlights from the tanks, old light bulbs in the old building, and even cigarette lights emanate a different atmosphere in different situations. Jeon hides from the light by turning off the lightbulb right when the most important conversation of his life is happening. Lee walks into the light with hundreds of searchlights pointing at him with utmost confidence and grace at the end.

The only weakness of '12. 12: The Day' is that I could not handle myself being outraged and suffocated so often that I had to check my blood pressure and to distance myself from the film from time to time.

*Jung Woo-sung finally meets THE one. His best performance, the best character that embodies actor Jung Woo-Sung. It is every Korean director's wish to portray the best version of Jung, and Kim Sung-soo achieved that goal.

Brilliant.

[TreeFiddy53 · 9/10 · 15 January 2024]

Based on true events, 12.12: The Day, released in the end of Nov 2023 and has very quickly become the highest grossing film of the year over there; will likely end up being the best Korean film of 2023 as well. It has broken into the top 9 of all-time Korean box office.

12.12: The Day is a historical action drama set in 1979. Following the assassination of President Park in, military factions wrestle for control during a violent coup in this tense South Korea. The film focusses on the 12 December 1979 military coup and the related conflict between the military leaders. If you've watched the film 'A Taxi Driver', the Gwangju uprising depicted in it was a response to the military coup in 'The Day'

If you like military/war dramas or political thrillers, you have GOT to watch this film. The cast did a stellar job of conveying the sense of urgency and turmoil in a nation's trying times. I don't know enough Korean history, but based on the plot of the film, there are clear protagonists and antagonists; the plot is written so well, the scheming is SO convincing, the idiots are such idiots played so well, that you want the good guys to win and the bad guys to lose even if you don't know the language and not relate to the national story being told.

The film is brilliantly shot, and the sound design deserves special mention for keeping the intensity and the sense of urgency high throughout the film. It takes off in the first five minutes and there are no lows in the film after that. Sit down, buckle up and you're in for a thrilling ride. As someone who didn't know the history behind the events, the destination of this ride was.... anticlimactic but because these are real events, it added a certain value to my viewing experience. Don't miss this one.

Excellent

[DavoZed · 10/10 · 21 December 2023]

This is probably the best film that I have seen in the last 12 months.

Maybe the best film I have seen in the last 5 years or more.

It is a type of movie that is completely wrong for me. I like small, indie and foreign movies, with a good but simple story.

This is a massive production, with dozens of major roles and a series of scenes / events over the course of a day.

It has an edge of the seat urgency to it, that pulls a person along, through the 2 + hours of the film.

I have done some quick Googling to try to confirm the accuracy of the events. It sounds like the film captures a strong sense of the events of the day, without being historically accurate.

The story, the acting and the production are excellent. The leads are unbelievably good, especially the actor portraying the evil Chun Doo-gwang character.

Awesome political thriller

[alain-kapel5 · 9/10 · 9 February 2024]

Wow... This electric political thriller by Kim Sung-su is a masterwork in the genre and the single best I've seen since The Spy Gone North (or maybe The Man Standing Next which is, coincidentally, a great companion piece to this film). Like in Kim's Asura, both Hwang Jung-min and Jung Woo-sung star in the main roles, and they kill it.

The film follows infamous events in 1979. When corrupt general Chun Doo-hwan incited the coup d'état that aimed to overthrow the current leadership. Korean audiences are familiar with the event, but everyone else should do a bit of light reading to get up to speed with the era's political situation, just to avoid possible confusion while watching. Otherwise, this is dynamic, seriously impressive filmmaking that will grip anyone who enjoys the political drama/thriller genre and shows an interest in historical events.

Both Hwang and Jung are great in the main roles, and they're aided by a small army of capable supporting actors who perform admirably. Chun is quite a despicable figure from Korea's past and Hwang embodies him as a charismatic but scheming villain not unlike his mayor role in Asura. Jung's commander Lee, in contrast, evokes pathos as a man willing to stand his ground in the face of tyranny, despite everyone's pleads.

This is a lengthy, talky film that begins as a slowly boiling pot that gains considerable speed by the halfway mark and never lets up. It's very involving and brilliantly shot, with explosive violence that occasionally erupts after long buildups, making it all the more effective. The coup's initial stage is skilfully filmed as several events happen all at once, and is arguably one of the film's high points.

Huge recommendation for what is definitely among the best Korean films of 2023.

Masterpiece !

[moyhe · 10/10 · 13 February 2024]

The best Korean movie in the last year and one of the best movies I have ever seen , After I finished it I watched "A taxi driver 2017 " its events after four months of the events of 12 12 the day to see what's the impact of these 9 hours and what they did in a whole country for 8 years , it was horrific and people suffered alot this time .

The direction is great, make me nervous until the end, director kim sung su is one of the best Korean directors especially after this movie , the screenplay was great too , it shows alot of events happend in only 9 hours without any false and with alot of tense .

The acting is amazing from all actors but Hwang jung min is in another level, The scene in the bathroom is crazy , I think all the awards best actor this year are done.

Spring in theater

[SolidYohanK · 9/10 · 28 January 2024]

The English name of the movie is '12.12:The Day'. But Korean name is 'Spring in Seoul'

The most impressive thing of the movie is that it have the audience think the various things by themselves. Beyond the loyalty and the betrayal, the democracy and the tyranny, and the army of information and the army of disinformation, the movie makes the audience think about those by themselves. Any director couldn't make it happened intentionally. But it only could be succeeded by the genius directing.

The second most impressive thing is the unforgettable scripts in it. "Kim Ill-Sung(The former DPRK ringleader) can't never attack ROK now !", "We, army are all at the same side.", "The front is here for now !", "I'll crush you with tank by myself !" and "If you fail they'll call you a coup, but if you succeed they'll call you a revolution !" Surprisingly, there're more scripts I remember though it's been over a month passed since I watched the movie.

The two main actors did their job amazingly. Jeon Do-Kwang(based on the former dictator of ROK, Jeon Do-Whan) is a character who leads rebel army, is a big shot of illegal inner circle of army. Lee Tae-Shin(based on the former patriot general, Jang Tae-Wan) is the character who leads the suppression force, collapsing army. Everything happened around these 2 main characters. And the movie showed it very well.

12.12:The Day scores more than 13 million audiences in Korea. There're the people of the middle ages who know the history and the young ages who don't know it or don't care of it. If it couldn't move both of the people, it couldn't succeed such a great score. It's also amazing score because it achieved in theatre not in OTT.

Which means that If someone made a great movie, people will visit a theatre again to watch it. I want to call it a 'Hope'.

For the fan of a political + military thriller, I highly recommend you of 12.12:The Day. (If you can take a captioned movie.)

Best ever....10 out of 10...

[viiragtb · 10/10 · 13 February 2024]

Wow dam good... Korea film maker and all actors from this movie never fail and nail it... In realife also bad guys win ..this fiction is best ever done...couldn't breath till last min. Editing is so dam good from every corner..I do recommend you guys if you like nonstop trailler .. Best Best Best ever...sometimes real life heroes r fail, but they can die peacefully ... Villain wins but they will always stay with guilty till they die.. love the main Villain the way he felt guilty on his face ...He wins but not fully happy.... That's why korea actors much more better than Hollywood.... Hollywood fail to show long time back...they know only super hero win in the movie which they give wrong message to viewers.. What I learned from this movie is bad guys always win in realife and they wanna shows to the viewer to accept it...message them just 1 person can change the whole table upside-down within one night....likes it happened in MYANMAR coup in 2020.

a south korean comemoration...

[ops-52535 · 9/10 · 2 April 2024]

A historical movie about the coup d'etat 12/12-79, that ended one more of the socalled ''republics'' of south korea, a film that for ordinary people shows what goes wrong when you have far too many star spangeled and salated generals, brigadeers, colonels and majors reigning over large military units on a spot of land smaller than california, and the consequence when they point their weapons at each other, cause some of them cant stand the urge of not climbing further in the ranks, other than becoming head of state...

its a well made film, aka typical south korean thrillerdrama, where there a so many actors in the lead cast making it hard to differ each actor from the others. Had to find the upper and lower rank of military insignia map on wikipedia in the end to differ whos who.

But its a film with a nerve, a bit complicated in the start if you are a virgin to s.k. Politics and armed forces and all the republics that has passed since 2nd world war (they are in the 7th now i think).

Its most of all strong performances on the acts, therefore use 2 hours of your precious life on this domestic disturbance movie from the black part of the manchuchuo-flag, the republic of south korea.

The grumpy old man recommends.

Nasty Sleepy Boring Laundry Money

[taurushulk · 1/10 · 9 February 2024]

It actually looked away at times. Quite boring waste of time and money at triple speed to watch, short-sighted, trivial, tasteless, lengthy. See nothing, feel nothing, learn nothing from his body of work, but also revealed his extremely low directorial ability ridiculous,so embarrasing, the reason for wasting everyone's time on a conductor has something to do with vomitting. Possibly the worst film ever, apart from the sequence, that was restaged. This is just another commercial that been funded by tobacco company. Sleepy, nonsense, with too many boring and meaningless long shots. Slept for two hours & half movie. That how it goes, don't know how to make a movie, don't waste money & time.