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TAE GUK GI: Brotherhood of War dvd

post #1 of 24
2/18/05 at 2:41am
Thread Starter 
Just bought the dvd Tuesday and watched it Thursday.

The action is pretty decent, looks just like the style used in Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers.

The movie is a little over dramatic and unrealistic, but so was Saving (i liked it also though).

I liked it okay, there were some really cool deaths in it, and the older brother was great, like a younger Chow Yun Fat.

Maybe i wasn't in the right mood, or had too high of expectations, still it's worth a watch if you love asian film or war films in general.

Anybody else seen it? What did you think?
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post #2 of 24
2/18/05 at 3:18am
I thought it was OK and I do agree with you that it was over dramatic. I also thought that it somehow lack the authenticity in the look and feel of the movie, something of which SPR and Band of Brothers had in spades. As a result I never felt drawn in by the film or story. I dunno, maybe someone from Korea may feel different about it since the subject matter of the movie may hold more relevance to them, it just didn't do it for me.
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post #3 of 24
2/18/05 at 5:14am
Lack of authenticity??? In what way? It seemed pretty much on the money to me. Tons of great action in this one. That scene near the end where the planes were strafing the infantry position - totally awesome!
The melodrama was a bit heavy in parts, but then that's Asian filmmaking for you.
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post #4 of 24
2/18/05 at 5:39am
Well, it's really just a personal feeling about this really since I don't see other people talking about the subject matter, but the settings didn't seem real to me.
I felt the battlefields looked like they just recently dug the trenches and placed the bunkers and fortified positions just last week before the shoot. It never looked like a hard dug-in position that has seen repeated heavy fighting. The exception would be the street battle in a town but that looked like a small localized setting making me feel there really isn't other parts of the town rather than what we saw on screen.
That's not to say the production people didn't do a good job but I think this may be a result of the lack of experience that hollywood has with developing such visual scenarios on-screen.

Heck, maybe I really just have far too high expections for a war movie. Especially one that was hyped about on the movie site's own website that I ran into a year and a bit ago.
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post #5 of 24
2/18/05 at 8:57am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Milkyway
and the older brother was great, like a younger Chow Yun Fat.
Heh, never realised that, good call.

Most Korean films are melodramatic, sometimes its ok, sometimes its too much, but I think considering the topic of the film which is very dear to Korean hearts, it was fitting.
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post #6 of 24
2/18/05 at 9:54am
My wfie and I watched this last night. She's Korean but American in heart and mind because she's lived in the U.S since she was 3 years old so she watched it as a possible history lesson.

She said it sucked.

I personally liked the movie.. I thought it was well paced and brutal at times. I will admit I watched this dubbed and I think that takes you out of the experience at times. If I had time I would watch it again subtitled, but its a rental I must return.
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post #7 of 24
2/18/05 at 10:56am
Made my Top 10 of 2004 (where coincidentally I pointed out Dong-gun's resemblence to Yun-Fat)

http://chud.com/news/1014
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post #8 of 24
2/18/05 at 1:54pm
Just bought this last night over Beastmaster and Fire in the Sky...

Better be damn good cause I turned down The Frikin Beastmaster!!!!
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post #9 of 24
2/18/05 at 2:07pm
As a history lesson, I agree it doesn’t necessarily give one a clear picture of the events, turning points, background info leading up to the invasion, China or America’s role in the war, etc. It’s primarily a film for its native Korean audience, who’ve been studying this stuff since elementary school so the filmmakers assume a lot of the background’s already filled. I suppose a Korean audience would watch Ed Zwick’s Glory or The Patriot without the inherent feelings and preset knowledge that an American audience would have, for example.

As for the melodramatic trappings, it’s true, Korean cinema doesn’t shy away from the occasional heavy-handed melodrama. But it’s also an allegorical war movie which aims at addressing (and hopefully relieving) a lot of the pain and heartaches still felt by those whose lives are still affected by the war over 50 later. It’s a necessary element, I feel. I recommend this and Park Chan-Wook’s JSA: Joint Security Area (a smaller-in-scope, yet still emotionally devastating military mystery drama) as a Korean War double-bill.
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post #10 of 24
2/18/05 at 5:16pm
I thought the movie was great. Sure it was melodramatic, but it was much easier to stomach than those horrid bookends in Saving Private Ryan. Also, I thought they did a great job making the battles intense and sort of borrowing SPR's style without totally ripping it off. The only problem I had with the movie was the sometimes corny score, but that's just another unfortunate part of many Asian films.

To neaux: how did you get talked into watching it with the English track? That, to me, ALWAYS ruins the movie. It's impossible to have any emotional investment in the characters when their voices are disembodied American overactors.
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post #11 of 24
2/18/05 at 5:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Doug Graham

To neaux: how did you get talked into watching it with the English track? That, to me, ALWAYS ruins the movie. It's impossible to have any emotional investment in the characters when their voices are disembodied American overactors.
I try to watch everything subtitled.. I have a huge anime collection that I only watched subtitled...but alas my wife hates to read. And the fact that this actually came with a dub track, I felt like I was doing the polite thing by letting her watch it dubbed.
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post #12 of 24
2/19/05 at 3:36am
Quote:
Originally Posted by neaux
I try to watch everything subtitled.. I have a huge anime collection that I only watched subtitled...but alas my wife hates to read. And the fact that this actually came with a dub track, I felt like I was doing the polite thing by letting her watch it dubbed.
I thought you said your wife was Korean.


Anyway, the film isn't trying to present a history lesson any more than Private Ryan was. The special effects are unbelievable for a non-Hollywood film. If they aren't quite at Private Ryan level they are pretty damn close.
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post #13 of 24
2/19/05 at 6:38am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Strumvogel
That's not to say the production people didn't do a good job but I think this may be a result of the lack of experience that hollywood has with developing such visual scenarios on-screen.
Huh? This isn't a Hollywood movie, so wh...... I'm confused.

I thought this was a very well done movie. I agree with others that it was a bit too melodramatic and fell into cliche a few too many times, but overall I think the idea behind the movie really worked; that idea being the contrary experiences of the brothers throughout the war and the overall horror of a civil war. There were a few scenes that I thought outdid SPR, one being the street battle and subsequent chase of the Communist commander through the streets. The pacing and layout of that whole scene was great.
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post #14 of 24
2/19/05 at 10:40am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Desslar
I thought you said your wife was Korean.
she is. what the hell does that mean? That my wife wouldn't put up with me watching tons of anime?
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post #15 of 24
2/19/05 at 4:10pm
I think he was assuming that your wife is fluent in Korean, and was questioning why she would want to watch a movie she can understand dubbed into another language. If she came to the US at 3, and wasn't raised in a Korean-speaking environment, I can totally understand though.
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post #16 of 24
2/20/05 at 4:47am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Isao Kanemasa
I think he was assuming that your wife is fluent in Korean, and was questioning why she would want to watch a movie she can understand dubbed into another language. If she came to the US at 3, and wasn't raised in a Korean-speaking environment, I can totally understand though.
Yes, you've hit the nail on the head.

On a related issue, why is it in some foreign movies the spelling of character names in the subtitles doesn't match the pronunciation used by the actors? In this film the two brothers' names come up time and time again, but even listening carefully I never heard a word that sounded like the spelling they used. Seems like a more phonetic spelling would make more sense.
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post #17 of 24
2/20/05 at 6:42pm
In many Asian cultures, the younger male will address the older as "big brother" or "senior", regardless of whether or not they're actually related by blood.

In Taegukgi, Jin-Seok (the younger brother) calls Jin-Tae "hyung" ("big brother") a lot, though the subtitles will address him as "Jin-Tae".

Similarly, Jin-Seok calls his brother's fiance "noona" ("big sister"), though I believe the subtitles spell out her character's name.
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post #18 of 24
2/20/05 at 8:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Isao Kanemasa
In many Asian cultures, the younger male will address the older as "big brother" or "senior", regardless of whether or not they're actually related by blood.

In Taegukgi, Jin-Seok (the younger brother) calls Jin-Tae "hyung" ("big brother") a lot, though the subtitles will address him as "Jin-Tae".

Similarly, Jin-Seok calls his brother's fiance "noona" ("big sister"), though I believe the subtitles spell out her character's name.
Ahhh..... Duh! I should have thought of that. I suppose this change makes sense, but I hate it when they alter dialogue in subtitles for no good reason. My knowledge of Korean is nonexistent, but I often notice it in Japanese films.
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post #19 of 24
2/20/05 at 8:05pm
Hence why the ROBOTECH episode where Roy Fokker died was called 'Farewell Big Brother,' despite him not actually being related to Rick Hunter.
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post #20 of 24
10/11/05 at 11:30am
Wow. Heart-wrenching movie. American directors should look to this film, if Hollywood ever decides to make a realistic film of the American Civil War.

One thing I was kind of confused about at the end of the film. When Jin-Seok (the younger brother) finally gets through to his older brother (Jin-Tae) in the final battle scene, Jin-Tae shows Jin-Seok the pen he gave his younger brother at the beginning of the film (Jin-Tae found the pen in the burned out prison, assuming that Jin-Seok had been killed). I could have sworn that Jin-Tae gave the pen back to Jin-Seok; however, the pen was in the grave? Did I miss something? Or was there a scene exised?
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post #21 of 24
10/11/05 at 1:12pm
Right before they part ways on the battlefield, Jin-Seok tells his older brother to hold on to the pen, and to give it to him the next time they meet (kind of as an oath).
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post #22 of 24
10/12/05 at 8:04am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Strumvogel
Well, it's really just a personal feeling about this really since I don't see other people talking about the subject matter, but the settings didn't seem real to me.
I felt the battlefields looked like they just recently dug the trenches and placed the bunkers and fortified positions just last week before the shoot. It never looked like a hard dug-in position that has seen repeated heavy fighting. The exception would be the street battle in a town but that looked like a small localized setting making me feel there really isn't other parts of the town rather than what we saw on screen.
That's not to say the production people didn't do a good job but I think this may be a result of the lack of experience that hollywood has with developing such visual scenarios on-screen.
The movie cost freakin ten million dollars, you unappreciative fuck. and thats for a movie that managed to be much bigger scale than SPR. Oh the trenches looked recently dug? what you mean like at the beginning of a war? or do most wars have trenches dug years in advance? quite yer freakin bitching.
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post #23 of 24
10/12/05 at 9:08am
Yeah, that'll convince him.

If you don't shed any tears at the end of the movie then you're just not human.

It's a great film, abit too long, it spans two discs but still very good. The film tends to paint the north korean army as one dimensional killing machines but seeing as this is a south korean movie I guess that's to be expected.
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post #24 of 24
10/12/05 at 9:22am
haha sorry i get defensive about this movie. but come on, complaining about the production vales for a movie that accomplished SO much with so little is just stupid. maybe he should next complain about the production values in El Mariachi.

dont forget this movie portrays the south korean army as pretty bad also, what with the guys going around killing civilians in the street. not to mention the superiors being assholes and practically forcing him to trade sides.
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