Steel Rain
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Steel Rain |
| Original title | Gangcheolbi ( 강철 비 ) |
| Country of production | South Korea |
| original language | Korean |
| Publishing year | 2017 |
| length | 139 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Yang Woo-seok |
| script | Yang Woo-seok |
| production | Park Joon-ho Kim Tae-won Sun Young |
| music | Kim Tae-seong |
| camera | Lee Hyung-duk |
| cut | Lee Gang-hee |
| occupation | |
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| chronology | |
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Successor → |
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Steel Rain (original title: Gangcheolbi ) is an action thriller by South Korean director Yang Woo-seok from 2017. The film is based on his 2011 webtoon of the same name . The film is distributed in South Korea by Next Entertainment World and internationally by Netflix . The successor Steel Rain 2 was released in South Korea in July 2020.
action
The commander of the North Korean Intelligence Service Reconnaissance General Bureau , Ri Tae-han, knows of a coup against the Supreme Leader (referred to in the film as number one ) by Park Gwang-dong. Since the latter blocks all communication with the Supreme Leader, he cannot report it himself. So he hires former agent Eom Cheol-u to kill Park. This will be on site when Chinese factories open in the Kaesŏng industrial region . Eom takes a position there, but only the Supreme Leader appears. Suddenly they are bombed. Eom realizes the coup is in full swing.
He can save the Supreme Leader and flee to South Korea with him and two factory workers . South Korea agreed to allow Chinese refugees to cross the border. However, it is so messy that people can no longer be checked. Eom can take the Supreme Leader to a maternity hospital for a doctor to treat him. However, she is only an obstetrician. In a quiet minute she will call the police. Eom calls Ri from Intelligence and asks for help. But instead, North Korean assassins come. Eom can turn them off and flees to a beauty clinic. While trying to escape, one of the North Korean factory workers died from a gunshot wound.
By calling the police, Kwak Cheol-u, Blue House Security Agent, learns that the Supreme Leader is South Korea. Coincidentally, in his ex-wife's clinic. Meanwhile, on the news, the north declares war on the south. North Korea accuses the US of attacking. The US is also appearing in front of the press, announcing that North Korea had previously stolen American MLRS to simulate an outside attack. To prevent the war, Kwak and Eom work together. To do this, the Supreme Leader must be saved.
Eom plans a secret meeting with Ri in Uijeongbu , but it turns out to be an ambush by North Korean soldiers. Eom and Kwak get doubts can escape, but doubts get. Ri could also be behind the coup. The signs of this are condensing. At the same time, the leadership of South Korea is discussing a nuclear strike against North Korea with the USA. Meanwhile, the Supreme Leader is being treated in a South Korean military hospital. But this is also attacked by North Korean soldiers. Eom and Kwak can get the situation under control. But the Supreme Leader is declared dead to be on the safe side. In North Korea, Ri needs the codes to gain access to the nuclear weapons. But these are in the Supreme Leader's watch. Eom and Kwak have figured out Ri by now. Eom agrees to go to Ri with a tracking device that he continues to trust. The South Korean armed forces are supposed to bomb this place.
The mission ends successfully and Ri can be stopped. The film ends with Kwak in North Korea visiting Eom's wife and daughter to give him gifts from Eom.
reception
Steel Rain opened in South Korean cinemas on December 14, 2017 and had almost 4.5 million viewers. With this, the film successfully prevailed at the box office against Star Wars: The Last Jedi , which started at the same time.
The film was positively received by the press. Maggie Lee from Variety feels the action scenes and effects from the choreography of Choi Bong-rok and the renunciation of CGI like a terrifying spectacle. The film is reminiscent of the Cold War era . Kwak is a sympathetic protagonist and Jung Woo-sungs seems fatal from his fights. At the end of 2017, three action thrillers with a focus on North Korea were released , and Steel Rain is the “most bombastic” of these for Pierce Conran. He cited Kwak's English and the lack of female roles in the action film as shortcomings. Darcy Paquet highlights the actors' performance as the movie's greatest strength. Kwak plays his role in a nuanced way. His character is worn out from working for the president, but not burned out. Jung embodies an action hero, guided by fear for the fate of his country in unfamiliar surroundings. Overall, Steel Rain is a traditional blockbuster and thematically relevant when released. Chang Dong-woo from the Yonhap news agency calls the thriller “complex” and “ambitious”. The actions of the political leaders are not always understandable and questionable, but Yang wanted to have the true world politics represented in his film. The dynamics between South and North Korea, as well as the USA, Japan and China correspond to the real power structure.
Trivia
In Uijeongbu, Eom Cheol-u notes how many military canteens there are there. However, these are restaurants for Budaejjigae . The term means about army stew and comes from the times of the Korean War . It is a specialty of the city of Uijeongbu, north of Seoul .
Awards
Chunsa Film Art Awards 2018
- In the Best Actor category for Jung Woo-sung
Korean Association of Film Critics Awards 2018
- Best 11 films
Web links
- Steel Rain in theInternet Movie Database(English)
- Steel Rain in the Korean Movie Database (English)
- Steel Rain in the online film database
- Steel Rain at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
- Steel Rain on Netflix
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Pierce Conran: Review: STEEL RAIN, Bombastic Action-Drama Ponders Nuclear Armageddon. In: ScreenAnarchy. Retrieved November 2, 2018 .
- ↑ Jason Bechervaise: Netflix Embraces Korean Content. In: Korea Times . November 29, 2017, accessed November 1, 2018 .
- ↑ Steel Rain (2017). In: Korean Film Biz Zone. Retrieved November 1, 2018 .
- ↑ 'Steel Rain' beats 'Star Wars' at the weekend box office. In: The Korea Herald . Yonhap , December 18, 2017, accessed November 1, 2018 .
- ^ Maggie Lee: Film Review: 'Steel Rain'. In: Variety . February 9, 2018, accessed November 2, 2018 .
- ^ Darcy Paquet: Steel Rain. In: koreanfilm.org. Retrieved November 2, 2018 .
- ↑ Chang Dong-woo: (Movie Review) 'Steel Rain': Ambitious thriller imagines Koreans' worst nightmare. In: Yonhap . December 13, 2017, accessed November 2, 2018 .
- ↑ To Tae-hyeon: [23rd 춘사 영화제 종합] '남한산성' 최우수 감독상 수상… 최희 서 11 관왕 달성. In: Naver . Herald Pop , May 18, 2018, accessed November 1, 2018 (Korean).
- ↑ Lee Seung-mi: 이성민 · 한지민 '영평상' 남녀 주연상… '1987' 최우수 작품상. In: Naver. Sport Chosun, October 22, 2018, accessed October 28, 2018 (Korean).