Mixing Hong Kong-style action and Hollywood-style narrative with an old-fashioned yet refreshing story and a cast headed by the Korean equivalents to Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, it is not much of a surprise this ingeniously original action-drama-romance outgrossed Titanic in Korean domestic box office ticket sales.
Yu Jong Won, A super-slick government field agent (played by superstar Han Seok Kyu) is on the trail of a mysterious and powerful North Korean military terrorist group headed by a frighteningly dedicated soldier (Choi Min Sik) and a mysterious woman assassin which has planted a bomb in a stadium in Seoul set to hold the first North/South Korea soccer match only days away. An extraordinary job for Jong Won turns extremely personal when he finds out his long-time girlfriend Myung-Hyun (Kim Yoon Jin) is the mysterious assassin who will kill both country's leaders if Plan A backfires...
Any other film would have shown the terrorists as one-dimensional stereotypes but this film dives deep into their minds, showing they were typically driven by their government and poverty to do their deeds. At core, Swiri is more of a romantic drama than a pure action film, but people unaware of the North-South Korean situation may not fully see the drama. The romantic department however is amazing to see no matter what, not only because of the material it is brought into but the effectiveness of it. If the ending does not bring a tear to your eye, it is pretty clear nothing else will.
Yu Jong Won, A super-slick government field agent (played by superstar Han Seok Kyu) is on the trail of a mysterious and powerful North Korean military terrorist group headed by a frighteningly dedicated soldier (Choi Min Sik) and a mysterious woman assassin which has planted a bomb in a stadium in Seoul set to hold the first North/South Korea soccer match only days away. An extraordinary job for Jong Won turns extremely personal when he finds out his long-time girlfriend Myung-Hyun (Kim Yoon Jin) is the mysterious assassin who will kill both country's leaders if Plan A backfires...
Any other film would have shown the terrorists as one-dimensional stereotypes but this film dives deep into their minds, showing they were typically driven by their government and poverty to do their deeds. At core, Swiri is more of a romantic drama than a pure action film, but people unaware of the North-South Korean situation may not fully see the drama. The romantic department however is amazing to see no matter what, not only because of the material it is brought into but the effectiveness of it. If the ending does not bring a tear to your eye, it is pretty clear nothing else will.