My Review

Rating: 6/10 (19 April 2006)

I've only seen this film once, and I intend to make it that way. This part of my ethnic country's history was one of the most painful, and everything it depicted nearly broke me to pieces after I was finished watching it.
Anyways, good film. It showed how Korean films are improving. Story was not too shabby and acting was purely brilliant. Jang dong gun obviously steals the charisma and power as the brother and Won Bin dominates his own character as well. That girl was pretty good playing the "about-to-be-married" wife of Jang Dong Gun (Sadly the actress committed suicide. God rest her soul in peace"). The movie in its entirety was a decent war film in my standards. The mood and the environment captures the moments. Not only did it show the emotional family connections during the Korean war, but it also showed the conditions and horrible consequences of this war. Dead bodies in the street and ruined cities are just a way to give a little helping. I don't know what this film was intended to do, but either I hated the Communists or the South Korean government after watching this film.
HERE IS THE BAD
Now this IS a decent war film, which means it wasn't bad and it wasn't great. I won't go off saying how it was almost so similar to Saving Private Ryan. The style itself is all the same, not the story. The first bad thing I've noticed was the progression of the film. I absolutely HATED how the director just skipped scenes like they were nothing. There would be a quiet scene where Jang Dong Gun talks with his brother and all of a sudden, you hear a loud bang and it immediately cuts scene to the battles. He did that every time, and I was just horrified at the effects. The scenes just kept skipping past, leaving the audience in a state of confusion. The battle sequences were long. I'll have to say, I love war movies BECAUSE of the battles and violence, but this was just too much. There were so many random battles that took place. Like the average amount of battle scenes I've seen in war movies were 3. This one had like 16. I got sick of all the battle sequences it had. Random battles, and it just leaves the audience in the dust. Another bad I've seen which most other war films had, but this overdid it: the main character is the invincible, godly warrior who has laser for eyes and hack like he's in CS. He literally saves the battle from going wrong. While others are dying while hiding and struggling to move forward, the main character becomes the Rambo and with a gun in hand, nearly kills 100 people while charging at them, yet he doesn't get shot. There it is. That's just ridiculous right there. People may say, sure, it's pretty boring to watch someone just duck, cover, and shoot, but it's also pretty dumb watching the main character take on 100 enemy soldiers and winning without getting a scratch. If this movie wants to show how war actually was, then SHOW it, not make some superhero who can never die. That part literally made me mad. No, I don't believe the brother can be THAT smart and sharp and kill all those people. He grew up as a civilian, not as a inborn warrior. Hell, he's better than the sergeant who leads the group. In the end, he takes on like every South Korean soldier and when he turns away against the North, he just kills like hundreds of them with one machine gun. NO. Please, that did NOT happen and one guy can never be that good.
So, I'd say Taegukgi was decent. Make it accurate as you said it was, then it'd be OK.