Written by Linda
February 14, 2009
Shiri, an action-packed political thriller, was huge in Korea... we're talking literally Titanic proportions. Not only did this film eclipse the box-office records of a certain sinking-ship movie, but by the time all was said and done, one out of every seven Koreans had seen this monster hit. If that track record doesn't set expectations high, I don't know what does!
Shiri opens with a flashback to "somewhere in North Korea" in 1992, specifically what looks to be a military training camp. The soldiers (both men and women) go through brutal training exercise after training exercise. It only takes a few scenes to realize that they're not practicing... they are in fact blowing real enemy soldiers to bits (and stabbing, and beating to death), in probably the most bloody-piles-o-carnage sequence I have ever seen. Ewwww.
A standout soldier is a dead-eyed woman named Hee, who moves on to become a much feared assassin, picking off important political figures throughout the 90s. It doesn't help that she's a chameleon and seemingly uncatchable.
Fast Forward. The meat of the story then begins at the turn-of-the-millennium, with the government fearing that Hee has resurfaced and is planning with her cohorts to sabotage the reunification process between North and South Korea. Two Seoul agents, Ryu (Korean superstar Suk-kyu Han) and Lee (Kang-ho Song of Joint Security Area) are assigned to catching Hee, her bad-ass commander Park (Min-sik Choi), and their group of soldiers as the bad guys steal some very important water-like explosive that could (of course) blow up the entire Korean Peninsula. The question that the agents have to figure out is not only why these North Korean soldiers have stolen the goods just as peace talks are beginning, but where and how they plan on using it. Tick tick tick goes the time-bomb of suspense.
But not only was Shiri confusing, what with all the political edge mixed with scientific mumbo jumbo (to explain The Fluid), but some of the editing and continuity was downright bizarre. Was it just me, or did some characters disappear from a scene without being acknowledged, and others appear in the middle of the action where they hadn't been before? A whole downtown skyscraper is blown to bits (with impressive effects that made this American audience shudder a bit uncomfortably)... but then it is barely mentioned again.
Unfortunately for the pacing of the film, it is not until near the end that it carries any emotional resonance. It finally starts to go beyond surface entertainment, as the motives of the bad guys becomes a little more desperately clear, and the relationships among the good guys are tested to the limit. But for me it was too little too late. In my book, Shiri ultimately doesn't rise above the typical big-budget political thriller, which is too bad considering the timely political issues it attempts to examine.
