Starring: Jang Dong-gun, Lee Jong-jae, Lee Mi-yeon
Director: Kwak Kyung-taek
Category: IIB
Like nearly every major South Korean blockbuster of the past few years, Typhoon is driven by the antagonism between people from different sides of the 38th parallel. What sets Kwak Kyung-taek's film apart is his acknowledgement that internecine warfare is far from an unequivocal battle between good and evil. It's a struggle between helpless peoples caught in the schisms of global geopolitics, where North and South Koreans are - to quote a phrase in the movie - all potentially 'inevitable sacrifices towards a larger cause'.
There's nothing new in a tale hinging on a North Korean outlaw seeking to launch a catastrophic attack on South Korea. But Typhoon takes a bold step forward by elucidating on why Choi Min-sin (Jang Dong-gun) wants to annihilate the south: the brigand believes he was betrayed by South Koreans when they rejected his family's request for political asylum, which led to his parents being shot by Kim Il-sung's troops. It's a story that rattles his patriotic pursuer, South Korean intelligence officer Kang Se-jong (Lee Jong-jae). Keenly aware that Koreans are hardly masters of their own fate, Kwak positions Americans and Chinese as the real villains. In the opening scene an American vessel opens fire on what seems to be a ship of refugees (but which turns out to be a decoy for Choi's pirates). Unilateral military action by the Americans nearly scuppers Kang's plans to defuse Choi's campaign of mass destruction. And flashbacks reveal a Chinese official turning over Choi and fellow refugees to North Korean border guards, and Choi's sister being raped by a Chinese when he catches her stealing.
Billed as an action thriller - and the most expensive in Korean history, with a budget of US$15 million - it's not Typhoon's pyrotechnics or the location shots in Bangkok and Vladivostok that captivate. It all hinges on the acting: Jang delivers a remarkable turn as the cynical yet mildly-deranged fugitive. Typhoon's longueurs lie in the action sequences and especially during the bullet-fests at the film's finale.
