DVD Review: Shiri
Written by: Kage Alan

Film Rating: A-
DVD Special Features: A

           One might not realize it upon watching it, but "Shiri" is South Korea's
explosive answer to Hollywood films.  It's so well done, in fact, that it
gained more popularity and grossed more money than "Titanic" did in that
country.  Not too shabby for a film industry that hasn't been able to really
break into many foreign markets.  Is it worth all the hype, though?  I
certainly thought so.

"Shiri" has to do with a North Korean Special Forces Unit, the 8th, and a
plan that is hatched many years back.  A young woman named Hee is at the top of her class and training and is selected to enter South Korea as an agent of the North and carry out assignations.  She is methodical, undetectable,
always one step ahead of the game and very deadly.  Her main adversaries are
Secret Agents Ryu and Lee of the South Korean Intelligence Office who have
been chasing her for years, yet have very little idea who she really is or
how she operates.

Just when it seems that tensions between the North and the South are cooling
down due to the efforts of both presidents, a terrorist group seizes 10
containers from the South of a new chemical explosive called CTX, which looks just like water, has no smell, is undetectable with modern equipment and
packs 10 times the impact of a normal explosive.  Every time someone comes
forward with information about the hijacking, though, they wind up dead in
typical Hee style, but is it really her or someone else assassinating them?

Ryu and Lee are desperate for clues as to what the CTX will be used for and
what North Korea 8th Special Force's true goal really is.  Add into the mix a
number of intense gun fights, some decent stunt work, a great script,
wonderful acting, lots of tension, deceit and some politics and you've got a
first rate thriller on your hands.  There is nothing comic bookish or larger
than life about "Shiri".  The film is played in a very straight way and the
terrorist forces aren't merely stereotypically driven in their goals or
beliefs.  There is a very specific agenda they believe in and it's this
belief that allows for viewers to sympathize with their fight, just not their
methods.

While the movie doesn't go to extremes to distinguish who is good and who is
evil between the North and the South, it is the politics of the film that
captured my attention most.  How many of us can say that we know what the
situation is over there with all the attention on the Middle East right now?  
How many of us have ever taken an interest in it?  It was interesting to say
the least.  The only things I was disappointed in were a couple of sequences
when it was too dark to make out what was going on as well as what the
context of what those scenes were and one of the major explosions.  Instead
of CGI, the special effects team used a model and it just didn't look nearly
as convincing as it should have.  Still, these people managed to make a film
with excellent production values on $5 million dollars, something that would
take Hollywood at least 5 times that to even come close to these days.

The Widescreen video quality on this DVD is good, but not great.  As I said
above, some of the scenes were too dark to be able to accurately make out the action.  Aside from this, the colors were rich and the print clear of specs
and other imperfections.  The 5.1 Dolby Digital Sound is fantastic!  There
are lots of gunfire and explosions going on throughout the film along with
lots of other ambient noise, so you get a lot of bang for your buck here.  
You will most definitely want to listen to the film in the original Korean
language and use the subtitles, which are easy to read.

As for extras, the only thing this movie was missing was an audio commentary,
but I suspect that a language barrier might be what prohibited that from
happening.  The major effort is a 55 minute documentary called "The Making of Shiri".  Folks, this is what film documentaries on DVDs all ought to be like.
There isn't a lot of fluff included here and the bulk of the program
showcases behind-the-scenes footage of the actors, the stunt sequences, the
special effects, scoring the film, pre-production training, post-production
work and then footage of how the film was received.  There are a number of
subtitled interviews with cast and crew as they discuss what they went
through to get this film onto the screen.  It's all very interesting and the
documentary never overstays its welcome.  Other than this, there is a music
video from the film and three trailers.  You don't need much more when what
you have is this good.

One thing I realized about "Shiri" is that most people are going to want to
watch it again to catch all the twists and turns and, believe me, there are a
few.  It's nice to see a film where both sides believe they are doing the
right thing and their reasons are fairly honorable, just extreme.  I wasn't
able to see the end coming and it turned out to be far more dramatic than I
thought it would be.  I'm very pleased to see a film like this get a decent
release in North America and hope to see more of them in the future.

COMMENTS:
Date/Time of Posting:  Jun 23 2002 / 15:28:34
name = Ruben Reyna
where = nytemare87@yahoo.com
Subject = my shiri review
comments = I have the shiri vcd and don't plan on getting the dvd even if the pic quality is superior. The dvd is missing an iportant scene of a cop being speared by the head terrorist. The scene is very impt to the movie why it was excised from the dvd is very puzzling to me however if another dvd that is complete with that scene is reinstated than i would buy the dvd until then don't hold your breath.

Kage holds degrees in Creative Writing, as well as Film & Video. He has been featured in a Life Journey Tele-Course, published poems in several national anthologies, been a contributor to The Third Coast Magazine and written several novels. kage@modamag.com This site is a