It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

I love trains. I love movies, with a special knack for Asian ones. So when I saw this Korean action piece mostly set on a subway train, I couldn't resist to buy it (2.99 euro, used, in the video rental shop).Then I checked IMDb, and it looked like most comments were quite negative, so with some anticipated disappointment, I put the DVD in the player and watched it for myself.I agree with many commenters that the plot lacks plausibility, while providing more climaxes than needed (after the middle, I felt a bit exhausted like on a long subway ride, and considered one could turn this into a TV mini-series, cutting after each cliff-hanger...) But thinking more about it, I'd like to add some points.First, the political aspect. As is revealed later in the film, the South Korean government is supposed to have had in the past a secret "Rhodes Team" doing unlawful, dirty jobs. As briefly shown, this led to international criticism up to the UN security council, and to dirty disposal of the team and their families, with only "T" surviving, and using terrorist means to force a former minister to reveal those facts. The political thread continues with quasi-military occupation of the subway control room,the ex-minister ordering the destruction of the subway train, and the subway police chief exclaiming: "The real criminals are the politicians and parliament members!" Also, the part where a passenger says he retrieved the data card from "T"'s cellphone. I suspect that this part of the story made much more impact on Korean viewers than, say, in Europe or America.And then there is the unlikely love triangle between hero Chang, his deceased fiancée, and the pick-pocket heroine. No sex or sleaze at all, but deep emotions are symbolized with little things - sweets, cigarettes, a lighter, a special playing card... most memorably a can of Warsteiner beer on a stone bench - first with Chang and his fiancée, then Chang alone, then the stalking heroine alone. And their final handshake sure had Titanic appeal...As you can see, the subway action (which wasn't bad, just a bit too long) got me less involved than these two aspects. A good short summary of the tragic romance is in the music video that came as extra on my DVD. All in all, I find this a quite strong movie, and enjoyed it - less as a train movie than an interesting and touching Korean story.

When reading this review, please bear in mind that I did not see it all in one sitting. On my first viewing, the DVD I rented stopped half way through so I had to take it back and get another copy, so ended up watching it over the course of two days. My perspective of the movie can best be summarised as a skewed piece of entertainment but whether this was down to bad plotting or a poor DVD transfer isn't totally clear.Anyway, with regards the movie itself, it's a perfectly competent action film very much in the style of Under Siege Two. At first I thought that setting this sort of movie in the rather cramped confines of a city underground line would be restrictive but they do manage to pull it off to some extent. There are plenty of big set piece action scenes packed with flair and panache, the problem is they are too similar.For a start, every single one seems to be repeated a second time later in the movie. There is not one, but two wildly over the top SWAT team massacres wherein a small group of heavily armed criminals seem capable of just waltzing into a hail of bullets without taking a scratch. It's entertaining yes, but it does leave you wondering just how incompetent Korean SWAT teams must be...Plus, there are numerous one on one martial arts struggles between the two leads, Jay the Cop and T the terrorist (they really put a lot of thought into the names here) and the finale to their climactic scrap is to be brutally honest, rather disappointing.However, it's not all bad. The action scenes may be repetitive and silly, but they do make for entertaining viewing. Plus, some of the characters are quite touching, the subplot of one of the line operators who's wife is trapped on the tube is handled extremely well and the relationship between Jay and a girl called Kay (see what I mean about the names?) is a bit ridiculous, but still touching. Then there's Jay himself (I can't remember the actor's name), a young Korean man who demonstrates plenty of action hero potential, equally adept with fists and guns and with his brooding over his dead wife, has more depth than the average Stephen Seagal role. He dominates every scene he's in and is reminiscent of a young Chow Yun Fat before Hollywood toned him down.In conclusion then, a competent film but not a great one. If one thing has come out of this, it shows that Korea can certainly contend with Hollywood and Hong Kong in the action cinema department. In all likelihood, they'll probably produce their own 'A Better Tomorrow' sooner or later but unfortunately, this isn't it.

Korean cinema of late has produced some highly entertaining and diverting pieces of work. Sadly this film is not amongst them. From the opening scene when about 4 bad guys manage to gun down about half the Korean police force but don't sustain any injuries themselves, you know that you should have your tongue firmly planted in your cheek. The problem with this film is that there is no character development and it relies on action set-pieces to carry the film along. Some of these are OK, but many are just not believable. In the Making Of documentary on the DVD release, it says that the film was 5 years in the making. It's a pity that over that length of time, no one realized that the script needed a complete rewrite.

Taking a dose from "Speed", "The Rock", and "Die Hard", the South Korean movie TUBE is just your average shoot'em up and blow'em up actioner. It takes its cues more from your average Hollywood summer fare, with an outrageous premise and a variety of cliches only possible in similar silly action movies.TUBE has going for it an intriguing villain, but the hero is not quite so interesting, even if the film spends more than 25 of the first 30 minutes on his back story. The character of the girl who falls in love with the hero and basically stalks him around south Korea is a bit disturbing, mostly because it's so silly and unbelievably "kiddie" stuff.Not to say that TUBE isn't a worthwhile movie. It has its share of exciting action set pieces, but for the most part the film lacks brain cells, which isn't much of a surprise for action movies. And yet, TUBE just doesn't seem to understand that criminal masterminds don't leave a spunky girl alive even after she's fouled up his plan for the 50th time. Outrageously silly.5 out of 10