That was an excellent one.

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

The Tower a was remake of the 1974 American disaster classic,The Towering Inferno. It stars Mina Cho, Sang-kyung Kim, Sul Kyung-gu and Son Ye-jin. It is a disaster film that takes place in a 120-story luxurious landmark building called Tower Sky located at Seoul during Christmas Eve.The said film was definitely a great visual spectacle.Too bad that there is nothing more to it than that.The viewer will be definitely be amazed with the special effects and the CGI technology used in showing while the disaster unfolds to the point that one may feel that he gets an overdose on visual fireworks.Credit should definitely be given to Kim Ji-hoon for the amazing job he did in this film.Unfortunately.the special effects somewhat minimizes the emotions and the characterizations of the people involved in the story.The viewer may tend to overlook the story involved in the film and the great acting displayed by the talented Korean actors and actresses involved in the cast.Another thing that needs to be called out is the introduction of the characters involved in the screenplay during the first part of the film is overlong and somewhat cheesy.But nevertheless,it still manages to entertain despite its shortcomings.

The film opens to the apartment of single father Dae-ho and his pre-teen daughter Hana. The weather prediction for Christmas is for above normal temperatures and no snow. Dae-ho tells Hana there will be snow, and makes it a promise. It's not a safe bet promising a child something for which you have no control.There's a big cast, with several story threads. There are the members of the fire department, including a new recruit, and a group of weary veterans. The cooking staff gets quite a few frames. There are representative inhabitants of the towers, families and businesses, and those who interface between tower management of the clients. There is a lot of money invested in the Tower, and a lot of liquidity used to keep it going.Early on, hanging weaknesses are made clear: some pipes had frozen, and sprinklers between floor 60 and floor 80 were rendered inoperable. The discoverer was told to re-prioritize on the Christmas party. A second group brings up an issue with the chairman of the managing company: there is a danger of a sudden updraft near the Tower. This would make helicopter flights near the Tower more risky. The Chairman asks to be put in touch immediately with the Commissioner of the relevant regulatory agency.Dae-ho and his co-worker Yoon-hee have a number of interactions. When Hana appears to be unhappy, Yoon-hee helps Dae-ho out.During the evening celebration, there are fireworks and helicopters flying nearby to provide a simulated snowfall. It all looks rather nice. People in and near the Tower are quite impressed. Hana is really happy that Dae-ho's promise came to pass.However, the updraft problem manifests, and a couple of the helicopters go out of control, resulting in crashes into the Tower. A fire starts an spreads rapidly. The other hanging weakness falls, since the fire started in levels between 60 and 80, where the sprinklers are blocked.Just about anything that can go wrong, does go wrong. There's a fire in the elevator well. Some of the elevators do not work. There is no way out for many. By chance, Yoon-hee and Hana are together, and they get rejected from riding the elevator in the well with the fire. Yoon-hee's observation and quick thinking save them when the fire bursts open the elevator door.The various story lines follow characters through the fires, falling architecture, rescue attempts, and difficult decisions made in trying circumstances. Who will survive? Will the idiots who set up the conditions that led to the disaster be taken to account?------Scores------- Cinematography: 10/10 Excellent.Sound: 6/10 Incidental music is florid, hyperbolic.Acting: 8/10 Well done for most characters in a big cast. A small minority were remarkably bad.Screenplay: 8/10 Combines a number of easily recognizable human traits: stupidity, avarice, cutting corners, courage, self-sacrifice, heroism. The exposition was good for the many difficult situations the characters faced.SFX: 10/10 Impressive.

While The Tower may come off as a Korean remake of The Towering Inferno, but even so, this is a thrill ride that doesn't skimp on emotion either. A moving, effective, and thrilling disaster piece, once it gets going, it rarely lets up.At the center of the film is Dae-ho, a single father who helps manage the safety of Sky Tower, a fictional super-high rise in Korea. Home to many luxurious apartments and amenities, including a restaurant. Taking place on Christmas Eve, a massive party turns into a massive disaster as an accident sets the building ablaze. Dae-ho's daughter, who joined him for the party, becomes stranded and Dae-ho attempts to rescue her. Helping him are the nearest firefighters, who make a heroic attempt to save the people trapped inside and put out the blaze.The film has a number of secondary characters and side stories, all of whom we're introduced to within the first 30 minutes. The film does a good job setting up our characters and giving us reasons to care about them, from the cleaning woman and her college age son whose tuition she supports, to the elderly couple, of whom the man in the relationship is trying to be more supportive and caring towards his wife. Each of these side characters has great moments and you care enough about them to want to see them all survive. When the time comes that not all of them make it, it's truly tragic. It helps that the acting, even if a bit melodramatic, is effective. Dae-ho, in particular, is an effective father who never comes off as less than heroic.However, the heart of the film is the disaster itself, and more so than any film in the past couple years, the disaster here is truly epic and effective. While the film isn't terribly gruesome, it doesn't shy away from showing us the tragedy or effects of the disaster in the film. There is a bit of blood here and there, but most of what is effective is due to the scale of the disaster or the intimacy that we have with the people effected by the chaos. One great example comes from an elevator full of people who become trapped amidst a floor with a raging fire. The film doesn't shy away from giving us a glimpse inside the elevator for effect.And once the disaster does hit, the film rarely slows down. Obstacle after obstacle is thrown in the path of our characters. Not everyone makes it, giving the film an edge of suspense that leaves you wondering who will make it out alive and who won't. Disaster films are at their best when they display two things: the tragedy these disasters bring and the suspense of never really knowing what is going to happen next. The Tower brings tons of both. All in all, this is a great film with a wonderful heart.

I have to admit, after watching the film I went to see other people reviews on IMDb and such. A lot of reviewers did compare it to "The Towering Inferno". I have to say - I have not watched Towering Inferno. Having said that, lets begin:- The Tower starts off normal by showing you the characters and what they are like before the inevitable disaster. All the characters you are meant to like, you like and those you hate, you hate. The actors of the firefighters particular stood out to me, especially the captain. Throughout the whole film there I sympathized and rooted for the character to get out of the tower alive.The special effects, both CGI and real, are something to be marveled at. The fire looks dangerous and scary and is a great set piece for some shots, especially in a scene where some firefighters are fighting the fire on a walkway with the group of men silhouetted against the raging fire. The debris and glass that rains down on the characters as well just make the film more tense and horrific. The film has amazing suspenseful parts, with a scene involving a glass bridge being very well shot and with a great tension throughout the whole scene.The film was a fantastic watch and one of the few films where I had a lump in my throat as well as having me on the edge of my seat when the first flame lit up the tower. A great film and well worth a watch, one of the best disaster films I have seen in the last few years. :)