Steel Rain

Well made complicated North and South Korea political and nuclear thriller. Its hard to follow in parts. Korean speakers will find this more understandable probably and appreciate the complicated politics. I liked the comic and touching relationship between the two main actors.

Do yourself a favor and watch this entire film. Great acting, story, special effects, etc. So glad I watched all of it.

I was expecting an "okay" action movie with an excuse plot and a lot of unrealistic, flashy stunts from the lead character. Gangcheolbi (Steel Rain) is not that. This is a movie that gets it right.

It doesn't rely on flashy action scenes to provide entertainment and fake tension, but on a good story to provide actual tension. It doesn't force in character development or beg for some audience empathy, but simply lets the characters do what they do in a believable and organic way. Actions feel consequential. The dramatic scenes (unlike most movies) succeed because they are set up carefully and aren't milked for everything they can.

It's got plenty of action scenes and those were very enjoyable: fast, but well-shot (no super-short cuts), gritty, and with very little nonsense. Some of the shots in general were absolutely stunning. But the plot is also very solid (if somewhat difficult to follow for a Western person...) and stays interesting for the entire movie. It uses credible dynamics between countries and powers and masterfully displays the concerns over the existence of two entire nations, as well as the concerns over an entire people.

My only gripes with the movie are the sub-par acting of the CIA woman, and the parts where Asian actors suddenly tried to speak English (for no reason whatsoever) and didn't do so well, which is a bit of a shame since they acted phenomenally otherwise.

Just saw it on Netflix, really good movie, everything was done well, script, acting, effects, locations, direction and cinematography. 10/10. Please keep making more motion pictures like this!

If you like this, you'd probably also like Bad Guys Vile City (over the top violence, but good story and acting) and Stranger (Secret Forest) on Netflix. The only issue I have is having to pause and go back sometimes to read the dialogue. Netflix only has Korean (of course) and Spanish SAP, no English.

Clearly, and successfully, made for western consumption, this South Korean "The Sum of All Fears" style doomsday action/thriller/buddy film is one of the best I've seen. All the requisite action and intrigue parts are there and done very well. The actors are very good; the relationships and developments have weight; the meticulous script is excellent and the 'thriller tension' is ratcheted nicely. 'Timely' would be the cliché, but what isn't is that this not a one sided propaganda piece at all.

The hc subtitles do come quick, but they're good clear translations.