Review of Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War (2004) by Sanchayan S — 23 Apr 2014

"Tae Guk Gi " probably will stand as one of the great war movies in the years to come. The story is beautiful , emotional and very intimate even more against the backdrop of the battles. Yes it is over dramatic - but isn't movies about all that? To begin with the positives - this is a beautiful , intimate and driving story right till the very end.

The war , the battles and the realism involved in such horror is nicely portrayed throughout the film. Director Je-gyu Kang really shows how to show the true side of wars keeping the artistic form in mind.

With jerking handheld cameras predominant in the movie , the cinematography is very detailed and purposeful. Even to a non keen observer even without the visual effects , the camera shots are enough to tell you when is the time of war and when is the time of peace.

Production value is extremely high , extremely detailed. Moving on to the effects , this is one of the best realistic effects put on screen , limited explosions and more frag effects of grenades and other artillery weapons.

Apart from depiction of short bursts of battles which are brilliant , the movie also delves in both sides of the war - something many war movies do not reach to . The movie is not biased and its more central to the nature of war rather than the war itself - the effects and motivation that war posses.

The best way to achieve that is to make a family go through that and that is what the film is about . Values of mercy , choice and the reason for fighting is all the movie is about and all of that is portrayed through a beautiful love story between two brothers.

Now even after this , as a film it suffers - primarily through under development of suspense during the first hour of the movie and over indulgence in quick battle sequences. Now as good as every action piece was , one can't help but feel the interim between two battles is not developed - there is an abrupt sense or loose sense of development during the first part as if it was lacking focus.

The real bugging factor is the abrupt editing - something which takes away from the good moments of the film . Some of the editing choices were poor making the scenes feel not so coherent as it is supposed to.

Even the ending editing choice was somewhat confusing. Again with great horrors of war should come equally believable performance- something which was lacking again during the first hour of the movie.

The second half was absolutely brilliant cranking up the stakes and emotions which every scene building upon the previous one but the first hour suffered as the performances were quite bland and was not able to connect to the audience.

Again directing wise and with some over the top music certain dramatic sequences were over dramatized. Now the imagery and the flow was powerful enough but too much music does take away from the intimate moments.

Emotions were created but on repeated viewings that will come down because the music becomes a distraction. Apart from these flaws , the movie does not show any other and in fact quite a thrilling watch.

It is gross , it is horrifying but it is intimate and it is beautiful.