That was an excellent one.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Although the South Korean Action thriller Shiri was released over a decade ago, the film has lost none of its poignancy, influence, or adrenaline charged suspense. Despite been hailed as the movie that defeated Titanic at the South Korean box office, occasionally this fact appears difficult to fathom, in that Titanic is a film that continuously makes coherent sense, while Shiri suffers from a number of anomalies and issues within its plot. During one scene, a convoy makes its way out from a tunnel. A couple of shots later, the tunnel has strangely disappeared, and I personally have my doubts that such a phenomenon frequently occurs in reality. During another scene, a recording device miraculously makes its way from one location to another, without so much as an explanation. These are two of several instances that don't entirely make sense, though if you put these small addendum's aside, Shiri is a feature that, although it isn't excellent, proves to be two hours of good entertainment.What this feature does best is amplify the tension, the final confrontation been so nail-bitingly suspenseful, you will quite literally hold your breath. The violence is continuously prominent, with a considerable amount of blood spurting out from bodily wounds, the level of causalities often appearing rather astronomical. Action scenes often involve massive shoot-outs, rather than physical confrontations, although when these occur they are very American in nature, and contain no stylized fighting. The camera work during these instances is very frenetic, and it can occasionally be difficult to ascertain what the audience is supposed to be focused upon. On more than one occasion, a small enemy insertion team is capable of defeating a wealth of South Korean soldiers who simply drop like flies, though I suspect real combatants would have greater capability than those displayed here, who seem humiliatingly incompetent in order for the story to continue.The film begins with a secret North Korean assassination unit, who are been ruthlessly trained to weed out the weak and find only the most proficiently capable. The most well respected of them all is Lee Bang-hee, an outstanding sniper, who is later responsible for the deaths of many high ranking politicians and intellectuals after covertly entering South Korea.Jong-won Yu (Suk-kyu Han) the agent in charge of the investigation into Bang-hee, alongside his partner, Jang-gil Lee (Kang-ho Song), both of whom work for South Korea's intelligence service, find themselves closing in on her. But the situation begins to outrageously take a turn for the worse, when North Korea's 8th Special Forces steals a mountainous load of CTX, a liquid chemical explosive, the combined amount having the capacity to wipe Seoul off the face of the planet.Continuously one step ahead of those vying to apprehend them, Yu begins to suspect that a mole is buried inside the intelligence service, however when the only other two people who know of the investigation are his partner and his boss, the list of suspects is slim. As trust begins to waver between the partnership and the situation intensifies, a series of questions begin to push the plot forward: How are the North Korean Special Forces involved with Bang-hee? Are the North Koreans, who are petitioning for peace, aware of what is happening? And will the intelligence service work everything out in time? But, with every step that agent Yu takes towards his goal of apprehending his target, the more he distances himself from his fiancé, Myung-hyun Lee (Yunjin Kim), a beautiful young woman with an avid fascination for fish.Fish themselves have a crucial element to play in the film, metaphorically articulating the differences between the South and the North, whilst also representing love, the Kissing Gourami, a species that cannot live without their paramour, that kiss their partner as often as they fight, reflecting the relationship that Myung-hyun and Yu have. The romance is efficaciously incorporated into the plot, which seamlessly moves from an action scene, to a melodramatic one, though additional information would have been beneficial in further establishing much of their history.Frequently entertaining, and beneficially aided by the accompanying score (which has a slight similarity to Armageddon), Shiri does occasionally suffer from predictability, and those familiar to films of this genre may determine the directionality of the plot before it officially unfolds. The film's conclusion seems to have been deliberately exaggerated for increased emotional affect, though a number of alternate possibilities could have ended the feature in an equally entertaining fashion.Despite a few aforementioned issues, Shiri is a sometimes funny, sometimes sad, but frequently action packed thriller, that deserves to be viewed.

Nevertheless, the approach is catchy and thrilling, there are multiple well exercised action and chasing scenes, and foreign viewers obtain additionally an overview of daily life and habits in South Korea (by the way, the country has higher standard of life than in many EU countries). True, the filmmakers have their paragons in Hollywood and Hong Kong, hence some unreal elements and protracted romantic scenes are included to please the viewers, to broaden the audience. The actors/actresses are yet credible and versatile, although the faces of supporting actors seemed identical to me at times... Anyway, the film is recommended to all those fond of Hollywood without its actors.

You want realistic military training? How about the first one to assemble their gun gets to shoot the competitor in the head? How about target practice with real soldiers interspersed between?How about a film that out grossed Titanic in Korea?How about a really hot secret agent (Yunjin Kim)?Lots of action and exploding buildings. Not really up on the politics, so I am sure I missed something. As some have said, the film is a metaphor for those who want to see a united Korea. The two lovers represent that effort.At the end, it is a rush to find the assassin at a futbol game between the two countries.

Is it possible to make a Bruckheimer movie and not be stupidly loud and ugly?Maybe. At least there are some parts of this that make it seem so. But they are surrounded by parts that are so automatic and banal it seems that different directors were involved. Or there was a sort of Jekyll and Hyde swapping of personalities.For example, there is the required Bruckheimer shot of two guys (sometimes it is a guy and a girl) running away from a car (or house) that they know will explode, then they lunge forward, pretending to be pushed by the shock of the fireball behind that fills the screen. Groan. I hope never to see that again. Ever. Each assassination causes our heroes to get blood splashed on their faces. There's a shootout with fishtanks... yeah, you've seen it before. At least there were no helicopter jumps onto speeding trains. There's an odd, odd choice in soundtrack; the severest action scenes have a sedate fifties action track behind them, obviously copied -- perhaps literally -- from that era.But in between there are some elements that are uniquely styled. There's an opening sequence that is energetic, and essential to introducing us to a kickass female killer. There are some scenes with a "Mr and Mrs Smith" flavor where the mundane domestic love is allowed to breath and seem real. And deep.Two guys directing, I think. Or one guy, two nations.Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.