Now, from everything I picked up, the plot has to do with a couple of North Korean soldiers being killed between the North Korean and South Korean borders so it's up to someone from the NNSC, which stands for Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission, to investigate what transpired during that incident.
That, to me, sounds like an interesting premise. However, as I've already learned from the short time I have started this series, a good premise does not ever equal a good movie. And it could honestly just wind up being a pretentious mess. However, I have been exposed to good mystery films before such as "Clue: The Movie", which is one of the funniest mystery films I've ever seen. I'm not saying that "Joint Security Area" is going to be as good as "Clue The Movie", but there is that chance that this movie could wind up being really good.
And the only I'm going to know if this movie is any good or not, is if I shut up and I push play, and I'm going to do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Joint Security Area".
16 minutes later
Agh...OK. Perhaps this is just me, but I have never seen a dead body look that pale before. I don't claim to be a medical expert, but I'm pretty sure that it would take more than 3 days for a dead body to look that pale. That's just creepy to look at.
14 minutes later
So this tourist took a couple of photo shots of this North Korean soldier, even though they were told straight from the American soldier guiding them that no photography was authorized in the area. And he doesn't get reprimanded in any way. I'm sorry, but if you're told not to take any photography within a said given area, then perhaps you should follow the advice and NOT take any shots. I totally understand I'm complaining about something so minor, but the fact that he got away with it without any consequences just kinda bothered me a bit, you know?
19 minutes later
You know, guys, I'm awfully sorry I haven't been saying very much. I'm just getting really sucked into the story here. I'm just almost anxiously waiting to see what happens next.
8 minutes later
Are they having a spitting contest across the North/South Korean border? My god they are.
20 minutes later
OK...that scene took a bit of a dark turn there. Wasn't really expecting that kind of reaction. Certainly came out of nowhere.
The Review
All right, well that was a bit of a downer ending, but anyway guys, that was "Joint Security Area" or "JSA: Joint Security Area", you can take your pick there. Let me shut that off...OK. You know, guys, I wasn't totally sure how good this movie was going to be, but my god, was it ever good.
Before I get into the review itself, I do need to rectify one small error. At the start of this, I said that the incident in the movie took place between the North and South Korean borders. That summary is not entirely accurate. It actually took place at the DMZ, which is a small border house on the North Korean border. I know that it may not sound like much of an error, but I do feel that it was necessary to clarify that mistake.
Anyway, our story is here is great. Because we have our main female character, Major Sophie E. Jean, who is sent from the NNSC, to investigate a double murder case involving two dead North Korean soldiers and find out the truth about what really happened. Because both Sgt. Lee of the South Korean border and Sgt. Oh of the North Korean border give out both their version of their stories about what happened in the border house. Which later leads into a flashback account of Sgt. Lee, who we spend most of the time on in the movie.
So one night, Sgt. Lee and a bunch of other soldiers are on a scouting mission and one of the soldiers notices a North Korean fort and notices that they are in trouble if they get spotted, so they slowly retreat and Sgt. Lee gets left behind after wanting to take a piss. And no, I'm not joking about that. So as he begins to retreat with the others, he steps on a mine and realizes that he is fucked, because he can't take his foot off of it for obvious reasons. So he later gets spotted by a couple of North Korean soldiers, one of them being Sgt. Oh the other being Woo-Jin, and asks them for help because he realizes that this is the only help that he can get at this point. We then see later in the movie that he, a friend of his named Private Nam, befriend these two North Korean soldiers that helped out Sgt. Lee and the story is about the friendship of these four soldiers two of them representing their own country, even though both countries hate each other throughout their history. And the movie mostly sticks with this because it really does a fantastic job of really making you care about all four of these soldiers.
So if you couldn't, tell our characters are very fleshed out, and the movie goes into detail about their background. Which leads to my only small gripe with writing, and it has to do with Major Sophie, who honestly is the only one who gets the short end of the stick when it comes to character development. She's really only there to remain a neutral party, as per her job. And at one point, without going into spoilers, the movie tries to give her some development, but it comes off as a bit flimsy, thus really making her kind of shallow. So, chances are, you're not going to care a whole lot about her. Which I think was intentional, considering it focuses more on the investigation rather than herself.
But for the most, the writing here is really strong, and even though Major Sophie doesn't get a ton of depth, she still has enough screen-time as she does her investigation and learns more about what happened until she eventually learns the truth. And our mystery here works fine, though it really takes more of a backseat so that we can get a ton of character depth on our four soldiers, so I'm not going to complain about it too much.
Now, moving onto acting. Um...this is the one major flaw that I do have with this movie. And it, once again, has to do with the actress playing Major Sophie. There are a number of scenes where this movie has a ton of English dialogue. Well, before that, there is also one Swiss soldier who also has a little bit of English dialogue. Now, I'm not going to question the accent of the Swiss soldier in whether or not it is accurate, because I'm not an expert on the Swiss language. Also, I could've sworn there was one general or Sgt. who was giving off a German accent, but I'm getting off topic. There are moments where our main actress, who is played by Lee Young-ae, who I thankfully don't have to pronounce it while typing this, because I would probably end up butchering her name. But anyway, there are moments where Lee Young-ae has to speak her lines in English and it comes off as terribly stilted and robotic. Now I can forgive most of that, because it's very possible that she wasn't very fluent with her English. However, I still want to make mention of it, because every time she has to speak her lines in English, it's as though she's reading her lines as if she was handed the script for this movie for the very first time. Now when she has to speak her lines in her native language, her acting is great. It's just, well, her English acting could've been handled a little better. But beyond that, the acting is great from everyone, and I didn't see anyone else phone in their lines or wasn't trying.
There really isn't much I can talk about in terms of special effects other than blood effects, most of it being practical, squibs, and the pyrotechnics are all really good here. Though I suppose I did mention the pale dead body from the beginning portion of the reaction, which looking back at it, looked a lot like a dummy. And I think that might've been the only poor special effect I could think of, but honestly, you would really have to stretch it if you were looking for it, and I kinda did, so take it for what you will.
Camerawork is really good, the lighting is well lit, and the music is rather decent in both score and soundtrack. So in terms of technical's and music, both are really solid.
One thing I do have to mention is the subtitles. And I'm not talking about some words being poorly translated or some subtitles being missing. No. I'm talking about when starting the movie. Because you see, when I first pressed Play on the menu screen, the subtitles didn't show up when the actors who spoke Korean. So, I had go back to the menu screen, go to Set-Up, pressed the English option for subtitles, and hit play again before the subtitles finally showed up. Which is a rather strange thing to do because I thought the subtitles would just show up the moment I hit the Play button. So if you decide to check this out on DVD, please be sure to go Set-Up before you do press Play, otherwise you're going into it without subtitles, unless you are someone who understands the Korean language. And if that's the case, then rock out.
So ultimately guys, am I able to recommend "Joint Security Area"? Oh hell yes. This movie is amazing. I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into by watching this movie, but it definitely surpassed my expectations. And if you can find a copy of this movie anywhere, be it on DVD, Netflix (if it's available on there), Hulu, or what have you, then by all means, check it out. The movie is a little under 2 hours long, but I assure you that it's worth every second of your time. And I'm kinda happy I was able to pick this up because I saw it a few times at my local Mini Mall for about $2, and I was debating for a long time whether or not to pick it up, but, in the end, it was totally worth the purchase.
Anyway guys, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all in the near future. Peace.
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