Probably the strongest point of the movie is the cinematography. Battle scenes are tasteful but tremendous; the scenes done on the infamous hill were especially eye-catching and must have been difficult to film. Some of the scenery ended up being quite beautiful as well, which is sad considering so much fighting went on in those areas.
Go Soo and Shin Ha Kyun definitely carried the performance aspect of Gojijeon between them. Shin is always a pleasure to watch and brings any character to life with ease, but Go Soo was shockingly compelling. He played Soo Hyuk with intense complexity, often making me question how I felt about his character: was he right or wrong? Also, the interaction between the two felt natural...which is great since a good chunk of the story rides on their characters and their involvement with one another. I have to say the rest of the cast was somewhat forgettable just because their characters weren't as necessary or developed. There were several familiar faces if you often watch Korean drama, though.
My only real gripe with this film is that occasionally it would feel preachy. This is definitely an anti-war film, and you can really feel the atmosphere of futility the conflict had. Usually the subject was handled with grace, but on the instances it was not, I felt as though I'd been pulled out of the story briefly. Other than that, though it's been done before in other films, it's always nice to see a non-American focus on the Korean war during this time period.
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War Trauma
I was hesitant to watch any war movies, but I started watching "The Front Line" movie out of curiosity. The story was attention grabbing with strong performance by all actors, budding actors and/or veteran actors across the whole generation spectrum. To say the least, I could not stop watching it until the end.I am not going to tell the story but I would just say that the movie tells the story so vividly that generals or leaders from both North and South Korea decide to start a battle or a truce/ceasefire but the ground troops are the ones that have to deal with the casualty of war or death. The war itself is the enemy of any soldiers. The war scenes are so terrifying and dire to say the least. Each individual soldier experiences war trauma and also each one of them uses their own defense mechanism to deal with their own trauma.
There is a scene that is so heartwarming when character Kim Soo Hyuk (portrayed by Go Soo so convincingly) saw a snapshot of character Cha Tae Kyung and says "I am going to marry this girl" . It makes our hearts flutter because he keeps on looking at the picture so tenderly. But destiny and fate cannot be predicted and determined. There is a brutal scene where the platoon led by Soo Hyuk literally sacrifices a young new enlisted teenager to be shot by the sniper, almost like a sacrificial giving, so that Soo Hyuk could pinpoint the location of the sniper.
In my humble opinion, character Kang Eun Pyo (portrayed by Shin Ha Kyun) should have shot the female sniper Cha Tae Kyung (portrayed by Kim Ok Bin) when he knew he should do it, but he let the pretty and wounded sniper go. At the end, Eun Pyo is so pitiful and sorry that his inaction causes his college friend to be shot by the sniper.
I would give an eight out of ten overall because I cannot stomach to re-watch it, but I definitely give a ten out of ten for the performance by actors.
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I originally watch this because of Lee Jehoon but I was simply amazed at how great this movie is. As a person who isn’t really a fan of war movies, it’s surprising to found myself liking this one. Truly one hell of an emotional war movie.
I really love the message that they showed in the movie. It really does slap you right in the face with powerful anti-war messages since the first minute. We’ll see how little the individual soldiers matter in the eyes of politicians and high-ranking officers. We’ll see how those soldiers are tired to make pointless war anymore. We’ll see how they are slowly losing their idealistic self. We’ll see how they are tired of deaths and killings. We’ll see how they don’t even know what is the purpose for the war anymore.
“Our enemy wasn’t the commies, but the war itself.”
The Front Line goes for a melodramatic tone more than I expected, but neither the score nor the acting goes over the top, yet it still left a deep emotional impact on its audience. Kudos to Shin Ha Kyun, Go soo, Lee Jehoon for their top notch acting.
I don’t have any comment on the cinematography, its already perfect on its own. That slow motion side scrolling shot of the battlefield is really bone-chilling.
I really held back my tears yet when the North Korean and South Korean soldiers were singing together, I just lost it. It’s really heartbreaking.
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This review may contain spoilers
The definitive Korean war film
This is the first ever piece of korean media that I have watched. My interest in the korean war and lack of western movies covering the subject led me to find this film and give it a chance, and I am glad that I did.The production values are astonishing, the costumes, the locations, everything makes you feel lmmersed into the conflict and unable to look away.
The movie is not preachy at all, in fact it treats both sides, north and south with respect and integrity, showcasing different stories and stakes riding into the conflict of the korean war. The revelation of the sniper's identity in the end was masterfully done, as well as the camera zooming out after the stalemate is declared and the war "ends".
A must watch for any fan of korean content, history, and especially both.
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Le guerre hanno senso per chi le intraprende e sono assurde per chi le deve combattere.
Questo è il filo conduttore del film: la gente muore a miglia per combattere una guerra della quale non afferra il senso.L'assurdità di uccidere e morire uccisi per gli ordini gerarchicamente superiori . Chi lancia la guerra lo fa per interessi che conosce ma alla gente che è strappata ai propri affetti , alla propria vita civile la vive come assurdità dovute.
Gli attori sono abili . Uno fra i protagonisti è pure affascinate anche per le use belle fattezze meno per il suo carattere nel ruolo che interpreta.
I tempi e gli spazi sono ben ritmati. Le scene rappresentano bene i momenti dell'azione e seguono il tono delle rappresentazioni.
C'è poca musica durante il film ma la colonna sonora finale è piacevole e ben accordata alla storia e al suo epilogo.
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