Tyubeu
Tags: suspenseful, neo noir, allegory, violence, satire, revenge

Plot synopsis:
Detective Jang Do-joon (Kim Suk-hoon) who does not know the meaning of giving up, is hot on the trail of Kang Gi-taek, a deadly terrorist. Kang Gi-taek (Park Sang-min) was an elite secret agent for the government's intelligence agency before getting tossed out for assassinating a key figure.
On the day of the new mayor's official visit to the subway, Kang Gi-taek hijacks the train and begins a full-scale act of terror. Pickpocket girl Song Yin-gyung (Bae Doona), who senses what is going on, quickly contacts Detective Jang Do-joon. The greatest act of terrorism in history, with the lives of 13 million citizens held hostage—the showdown begins between an out-of-control terrorist and a determined detective who is on the verge of life and death.
As the passengers face their deaths, Detective Jang Do-joon disconnects the first car. He has made the decision to sacrifice himself to save the others. His love was only too happy to be rid of the terrorist and it is only after he handcuffs her to the train that she realizes what he is about to do. Detective Jang Do-joon holds onto the controls of the first car and asks her to pull the lever to disconnect the two cars. The heroine must send the most cherished person in her life to fate. She must watch with the survivors in sorrow as the man who gave his life to save theirs, meets his end.

Review: TUBE (2003): While I can't highly recommend it, it is kind of fun, provided you don't think too much about the plot, which has a walking stereotype loose-canon cop (Kim Seok-hoon) battling a terrorist (Pak Sang-min) onboard a hijacked subway train.
Equal parts SPEED, TAKING OF PELHAM 123, MONEY TRAIN and DIE HARD, the film has few pretensions, which make it easy on the derriere.
Poor Bae Doo-na gets one of the stranger film roles in film history, as a pickpocket who apparently knows she must LOVE the hero even before she KNOWS the hero, and creates all the necessary Korean histrionics along the way (as well as almost bearing more physical brutality than the hero!) while our glowering protagonist poses with a series of unlit cigarettes in his mouth (and which only one person will ever be allowed to light, care to guess who?).
The SPEED and TAKING OF PELHAM allusions are apt, as are slight nods to MONEY TRAIN (the hero's boss does his best crazy Robert Blake impersonation) and DIE HARD (or UNDER SIEGE 2 if you'd rather, since it's so blatantly name-checked on the U.S. package), but overall it's a victim of it's own weak (and often downright ridiculous) logic and begs a few too many questions.
Turns out, if I read the docu-stuff on the Korean 2-disc set correctly, that the Korean subway trains don't even look as hi-tech as they do here, and the ones in the film were almost entirely CG apart from the sets for close-ups!
In Tube, it's not about what happened in the past, but how the characters evolve in the current setting and further development of the movie.
I think Baek Woon-Hak has written a very strong, action-packed story, with Seok-Hun Kim playing a very convincing Jay. I'm more of a feel-good-movie-geek, but movies like this make you at least think twice about certain things.
What intrigues me most about Asian cinema, and especially in this movie, is how they brilliantly combine drama and building up tension, with action, psychology, thrills, and even a comic-relief in the middle of all that.I watched this movie, and I don't even speak the language.
You don't get me containing my excitement too much for Hong Kong/Japanese/Korean action films.
So when the creators of Shiri reunited for a film about a cop on the trail of a madman who has taken over a speeding train, my heart began to pump uncontrollably and pestered my local DVD supplier continually for updates as to the film's North American Release.
Directed by first timer Baek Woon-Hak and starring a multitude of hyphenated names that you wouldn't recognize, the movie was about a former assassin for the government that takes over a subway train to persuade his former boss and now mortal enemy to sacrifice his life for the lives of the innocents on board.Putting a crink in the plans is a rogue cop who has been on the killers trail for many years, and who too is looking for payback for the death of his wife and the loss of a finger in an abbreviated altercation that took place some time in the past.
It's too bad it doesn't work.While watching Tube I wondered if the Director and Producers were sitting around one weekend watching American action films and tried to copy what they thought were the best parts from each.
The premise is stripped from Under Siege 2 (and if you ever copy a Steven Segal film, you need your head checked), the opening sequence rips of Heat, an attempted rescue on the train was done better in Speed and even films like Apollo 13 and Stallone's Daylight look to have had their scenes stolen directly from the original screenplays.But stealing from big budget films wasn't the only once noticeable Americanization of the film.
I could have cared less about the characters, I felt no attachment to the emotional attachment between the various couples and if you are just going to throw mindless action at me, well then, I hate to say it but give me a Michael Bay film.
Taking a dose from "Speed", "The Rock", and "Die Hard", the South Korean movie TUBE is just your average shoot'em up and blow'em up actioner.
It takes its cues more from your average Hollywood summer fare, with an outrageous premise and a variety of cliches only possible in similar silly action movies.TUBE has going for it an intriguing villain, but the hero is not quite so interesting, even if the film spends more than 25 of the first 30 minutes on his back story.
The character of the girl who falls in love with the hero and basically stalks him around south Korea is a bit disturbing, mostly because it's so silly and unbelievably "kiddie" stuff.Not to say that TUBE isn't a worthwhile movie.
It has its share of exciting action set pieces, but for the most part the film lacks brain cells, which isn't much of a surprise for action movies.
From the opening scene when about 4 bad guys manage to gun down about half the Korean police force but don't sustain any injuries themselves, you know that you should have your tongue firmly planted in your cheek.
Regardless, it's a South Korean actioner, that stylistically had some nice moments, but this film did not know when to quit.Basically, two bad guys take over a train, and hold the country ransom.
From the opening scene, where the main villain somehow manages to thwart the entire police force unscathed, this is a hard film to take seriously!
The hero manages to thwart the train's weight making a bridge collapse with it's obstacles, then has to stop a bomb, and fight a bad guy (again, with obstacles), then the next plot point is introduced, and the other heroes have to divert the train from hitting a nuclear plant (ala obstacles).
That pretty much sums up how 'Tube' keeps piling unnecessary climatic moments, and it really over-kills the climax factor basically because they forgot to introduce many of the main elements beforehand (i.e. the rigged train to explode, and subsequent numerous bombs)!
In its core this is a pretty original action-flick from South Korea but the way the movie is brought to the screen is little original.
which causes this movie to also be little surprising.Seems like Baek Woon-Hak watched a bit too many Hollywood action movies such as "Heat", "Die Hard", "True Lies", "Speed" and whatever more movie to which this movie shows just a bit too many similarities.
Nothing wrong of course with anyone from Korea or anywhere else trying to imitate Hollywood action movies but when its not done in an original way and merely just copies sequences and moments from well known movies, you simply just failed at trying to create anything interesting or original.
No matter how good the movie looks, it all feels quite amateur like and childish too at the same time.
The movie is almost non-stop action and all of the sequences feel rather overdone and unbelievable.
The characters all remain very flat, especially disappointingly also the villains, who normally always are the most fun, interesting and perhaps also most important in an action type of movie.Korean cinema has better movies to offer than this.5/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/.
My perspective of the movie can best be summarised as a skewed piece of entertainment but whether this was down to bad plotting or a poor DVD transfer isn't totally clear.Anyway, with regards the movie itself, it's a perfectly competent action film very much in the style of Under Siege Two. At first I thought that setting this sort of movie in the rather cramped confines of a city underground line would be restrictive but they do manage to pull it off to some extent.
There are plenty of big set piece action scenes packed with flair and panache, the problem is they are too similar.For a start, every single one seems to be repeated a second time later in the movie.
It's entertaining yes, but it does leave you wondering just how incompetent Korean SWAT teams must be...Plus, there are numerous one on one martial arts struggles between the two leads, Jay the Cop and T the terrorist (they really put a lot of thought into the names here) and the finale to their climactic scrap is to be brutally honest, rather disappointing.However, it's not all bad.
Plus, some of the characters are quite touching, the subplot of one of the line operators who's wife is trapped on the tube is handled extremely well and the relationship between Jay and a girl called Kay (see what I mean about the names?) is a bit ridiculous, but still touching.
Then there's Jay himself (I can't remember the actor's name), a young Korean man who demonstrates plenty of action hero potential, equally adept with fists and guns and with his brooding over his dead wife, has more depth than the average Stephen Seagal role.
If one thing has come out of this, it shows that Korea can certainly contend with Hollywood and Hong Kong in the action cinema department.
Hugely enjoyable action flick in the vein of "Speed" and "The Rock", which sees a brilliant criminal take control of a busy rush hour train before making seemingly impossible demands of the local control tower.
He didn't bank on one particular passenger, however: a renegade cop with a score to settle with the man who killed his fiance years earlier.TUBE really is a thrill ride of a film, superior to just about anything Hollywood has offered in this genre since "The Rock" and certainly comparable to Korean smash-hit "Shiri".
Acting is stellar from all the main cast and the director does an incredible job in giving this the look and feel of a movie with ten times its relatively small budget.So, if you're after an entertaining two hours without having your mind working overtime, you'll go a long way to find a better flick than TUBE.
STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All CostsCop Jay is intent on busting criminal mastermind .T.When he hi-jacks an underground train,he finds the perfect opportunity to make this happen.This slow and overlong action thriller takes nearly two hours to tell a story that could have been wrapped in an hour and a half.For an action film,said action is not exactly in plentiful supply either.It's intriguing (for me,anyway) and certainly very nice to catch a slice of Oriental action cinema,but when it's something so ultimately perfunctory and ordinary,it just ends up feeling so much more pointless.If you want to watch an action thriller set on board a train,rent Under Siege 2 with Steven Seagal,it's far superior.**.
Although TUBE is beautifully shot its still a weak hodge podge of every mainstream American action flick of the past 15 years.
THE TUBE is a slice of South Korean action cinema that owes a great debt to Hollywood action films of the 1990s; it has little of its own look or style and for the most part seems content to emulate American movies instead of carving out a niche for itself.
It's a pity, because more recently, Korea has been making some highly distinctive thrillers, such as THE MAN FROM NOWHERE and THE YELLOW SEA, with a look and feel all of their own; this is nothing like them.This film follows a typical template which sees a disgruntled terrorist deciding to take a train full of commuters hostage.
Along the way, there's time for a little light romance with the distinctive Doona Bae, and some unwelcome, rather broad comedy.The problem with this film is that the action is just so lacklustre.
POSSIBLE SPOILERS This movie was okay up until the end, although I had a distinct feeling of deja vu watching many of the scenes, but couldn't someone have offered their pants or belt or something so Jay could have tied down that lever?
It could have used a better bad guy though but then most movies these days have bad guys who do bad things because "they are bad guys..OK...they do bad things".The love story is very Korean (crazy girl forcing himself on an over serious guy).But this is not really a good introduction to Korean cinema which is still trying to find its own international voice while attempting to make lots of money.
This is not a spoiler, it is a Korean movie and even the comedies have tragic endings, and the dramas have tragic beginnings, middles, ends and lots of tragic side stories.
I won't tell you who dies, but don't forget your tissues.Oh, and please watch the subtitled version, the people during the American voices just can't read the subtext of a Korean movie though the person who voices Kay is the exception..
So when I saw this Korean action piece mostly set on a subway train, I couldn't resist to buy it (2.99 euro, used, in the video rental shop).Then I checked IMDb, and it looked like most comments were quite negative, so with some anticipated disappointment, I put the DVD in the player and watched it for myself.I agree with many commenters that the plot lacks plausibility, while providing more climaxes than needed (after the middle, I felt a bit exhausted like on a long subway ride, and considered one could turn this into a TV mini-series, cutting after each cliff-hanger...) But thinking more about it, I'd like to add some points.First, the political aspect.
As is revealed later in the film, the South Korean government is supposed to have had in the past a secret "Rhodes Team" doing unlawful, dirty jobs.
All in all, I find this a quite strong movie, and enjoyed it - less as a train movie than an interesting and touching Korean story..
Great action in a film that wanders all over the place and ends too many times.
Korean action film from the makers of Shiri.That should be an indication that the film doesn't make a whole heck of sense while amping it up on the action.The plot has a transit cop duking it out with a super villain who is after a memory chip with incriminating evidence on it (the evidence is of government misdeeds not his own) To that end the bad guy ends up taking a subway train hostage.Think Speed, Money Train, the taking of Pelham 123, and die hard rolled into one.
Actually every sequence has the feel of the final battle between good and evil, and thats the problem the movie ends probably 19 times before it actually ends.
In a weird way you feel as beaten up as our hero.I'm sure this would play better if the story made any real sense.
Only the narrating love interest has any real depth to her and she disappears for sections of the film.Give it points for a couple of decidedly non-American twists-which I won't reveal since they are twists, but ultimately the story is needlessly oblique, which when coupled with the audience pounding action makes the film less than it should be.For action fans this is a must see, for the rest an okay time killer.6.5 out of 10, the pieces being better than the messy whole..
The Tube is an overlong, cliché-ridden Korean movie that steals liberally from many a better film in an attempt to appeal to an international market.
Combining elements of Die Hard, Under Siege 2, Lethal Weapon The Taking of Pelham 123, Silver Streak, Speed and countless other action classics, the film ends up as a tedious mess which, like the train it features, rushes headlong towards disaster .Jay (Seok-hun Kim) is a tough cop who lives life on the edge after the death of his wife.
How else could the makers explain his amazing ability to constantly jump onto, fall off, and hang underneath speeding trains without coming to harm?).From the confusing gun-battle at the beginning, to the explosive finale, director Baek Woon-Hak shows that he has no idea how to shoot a cohesive action scene or tell a decent story.
Just as we think we have reached the inevitable end of the film, Jay is given yet another obstacle to overcome before he can save the day; hell, this film has more climaxes than 'Monsterfacials.com: The Movie'!!With a downright dumb ending in which the hero needlessly sacrifices his life to save everyone else on the train (tie down the damn lever and jump off the trainhow difficult is that?), this film is a way-below-par big-budget offering from a country that has recently given us so much great cinema: Oldboy, JSA, Three Extremes, Sympathy for Mr.Vengeance and My Sassy Girl..
As 'T' starts issuing threats and the train speeds under Seoul Jay and the authorities work to stop him.
There are more problems too; the train is heading for a bridge that could collapse under the train's weight and there is a nuclear power station at the end of the line!This South Korean action thriller gets off to a great start with an impressive and stylishly shot shoot out.
We then get an introduction to key characters before the main action gets under way.
Overall you could do a lot worse if you want an action movie but don't expect a classic..
Finding out recently that a poll was to be held on IMDb's Classic Film board for the best titles of 2003,I felt that it would be an excellent time to take a close at what was taking place in Korean and Japanese cinema at the time.Searching round for titles on Amazon UK,I stumbled across a film that appeared to be a very gritty Action Thriller,which led to me jumping straight on the Tube.The plot:Ever since failing to capture the terrorists who killed his wife and cut off one of his fingers, police officer Jay has found himself being stuck with the task of keeping guard at the city's major Tube station.