Rating: B+
Dir: Kim Hong Sun
Star: Seo In-Guk, Dong-Yoon Jang, Jung So-min, Gwi-hwa Choi
I’ve been watching genre movies for about 35 years now. So when I tell you this ranks among the goriest movies I have ever seen… that isn’t something I say lightly. It’s a glorious, insane mash-up of Con Air, Flesh for Frankenstein and Brain Dead. Those are not three movies I ever expected to see thrown into a cinematic blender. It begins in the Philippines, where a batch of criminals are being extradited back to Korea. After an incident before a previous flight, the authorities have opted to charter a freighter this time. Park Jong-doo (Seo) is the cop in charge, overseeing the worst criminal scum, including Lee Do-il (Jang), a heavily tattooed thug.
I wasn’t surprised when a brutal plan to spring the convicts went into operation, even if they’re not all on the same page. No quarter is given, as they take over the ship, despite Lee’s best efforts. However, deep in the ship’s bowels is an even more savage entity. Alpha (Choi) is a monstrous creation, born out of hideous wartime experiments by the Japanese. He is blessed with enormous strength, immunity to pain as well as most damage, and an irascible attitude towards anyone in the vicinity. He was supposed to be getting transferred back to Korea too, but the security protocols failed. So he is now roaming the ship, bending, folding, tearing and rending anyone unfortunate enough to get in his way, in a variety of spectacular ways.
The old Texas Chainsaw tag line, “Who will survive, and what will be left of them?” is 100% relevant here. I trust it’s not a spoiler to give the answers: very few, and not much respectively, as Alpha makes his way through the decks. He’s an equal opportunity mutilator: crew, cops or criminals, he doesn’t care. The director says 2.5 tons of blood were used in the production. If my math is right, that’s 650-700 gallons, depending on the specific density of the formula [a gallon of real blood weighs 8.34 lbs. In related news, my Google search history is now fucked. I’m likely on several watch lists] While there have been movies with a higher volume, I doubt any used it in such up-close, personal and downright crunchy ways.
Then, just when you think there’s nobody left, a helicopter drops off a load of mercs from the dodgy corporation responsible, along with someone who might be even more violent. Oh, and Lee has got hold of the chemical responsible. Ding-ding! Third and final round! As if the “FATALITY!” button on our sound-board wasn’t getting enough of a workout already. I’m sure you could easily pick holes in the narrative, if you were so inclined, or criticize characterization that goes little further than a sneer. I have no interest in that. Kim basically spends most of the two hours figuring out ways to push the viewers’ buttons. From our point of view, he succeeded, defying three-plus decades of jaded cynicism.