The Terror Live

It's good to address social issues in a movie, but this one has disturbed me. Certainly in South Korea there is some unfairness and depression, but it's definitely not enough for committing terrirism. However, in this movie, the terrorist was forgiven by the main character after he killed so many innocent people, and the producers seem to have a pity on that role, which is a bad demonstration.

A pretty entertaining, tense thriller. My favorite thing about it was how the main character was sleazy and pretty unlikeable, though you still sympathized with his predicament. It started to get a bit silly and over-the-top by the end unfortunately. Korean films continue to be hard hitting and brutal in execution and style compared to American films, and this is most effective in movies like these.

A good and inventive single location thriller from South Korea, feeling very much like their version of PHONE BOOTH or similar. This one has all of the political and cultural subtext that makes Korean movies so fascinating, while at the same time it tells a highly suspenseful tale of terrorism and the country's response to it. Ha Jung Woo is reliably good as the lead, essentially doing it all by himself, and holding everything together. Things do get rather preposterous at the climax, in which the CGI budget isn't quite up to the job, but I'm more than happy to forgive it that.

The story is very fast-paced with dynamics among characters and some actions & bombings. New events keep happening as the deadline of explosion approaches, and they accumulate the suspense. Also, those events are linearly organized based on time rather than being scattered sparsely, so the storyline is neat, and it is comfortable for the audience to follow till the big ending even though it flows fast. Everything makes sense, plausible. Every character is connected, and things happen for a reason. A blackmailer is not just random guy on the street, but he also has justification for his wrongdoing, and it is well explained in the movie. I want to compliment the scriptwriter's ability to keep the story interesting, neat, and fast.

Indeed, from an innovative perspective, the contradiction between the devastation of terrorist attacks and the pursuit of personal interests by journalists in disregard of social security is vividly demonstrated, while satirizing the irresponsibility and inadequacy of the government.

The Terror Live (2013) : Brief Review - The Terror Live is misfired at occasions but throws its big bombs perfectly at corrupt system and disloyal media. I am not a big fan of Korean cinema but i have loved watching major classics made there. Maybe that's why i expect every acclaimed/known Korean film to be damn sensible and intellectual and may be that's why The Terror Live seemed like a gun, misfired at some places. The film is close to 'real time thriller' term but as we progress with the characters, we start getting those regular vibes. A newsman discovers he's been rigged with a bomb after he has an exclusive interview with a terrorist who blew up a bridge. The story has a simple demand that the audience should stick to it for 95 minutes and if that's okay for you then this one is not a waste of time at all. I tried to think about the motive of the film and i realised that it was very important. But then i see what changes have we seen after that in system, politicians and media who are still walking corrupted with no fear of any sort? Then did the film really succeed to send a message? It has.. but i guess people are not interested about it after finishing those 90 minutes of viewing. So all that important topic and stuff I was talking about goes in vain. The film fails to match its own intelligence by making false promises at the beginning, however, i liked the point when it tries to find a new motive after losing that promised one. The performances and technical aspects are excellent. It keeps you on edge of your seats and it's quite possible that you might just end up bitting nails by the time it ends. It's true that a better writing would have made it a classic thriller and i had to say that it misses the tag by some noticeable distance. Nevertheless, it still worths every second of your watch time so don't miss it. I'm going with half-a-star extra only for attempting to do something different from mainstream filmmaking. RATING - 7/10* By - #samthebestest.

A former news anchor turned radio host, tries to negotiate with a terrorist who is bombing the city. This isn't a bad film. I enjoyed it but I didn't think it was as good I had hoped it would be. There is a effort to have the story make sense but still had a couple of holes. The actors played their parts well and there is a fairly consistent level of suspense. Overall I liked it.

This is a 95 minute long film, which captures 95 minutes of onscreen action that begins at 9.30 and ends at 11.05. Excellent editing, clever screenplay, brilliant acting and a complementary background score that accentuates the constantly building tension ensure that the real time unfolding of events keeps you super glued to the scene. The ugly underbelly of media houses, their manipulation to score higher TRPs and the general apathy of governments are the different subplots that serve to ratchet up the pressure. I would have rated it even higher but for the finale that suits an action film more than it suits a thriller like this because of its slight implausiblity. Recommended. Spikes, loads of them, in heart beat guaranteed.