South
Korea really shouldn’t send mixed messages to a psychopath like Kim Jong-un.
After years of wishing his nuclear program would just go away, here comes a
movie that suggests his nukes could be put to positive use. Admittedly, it also
portrays the DPRK as basically a collapsed wasteland. The imploding North is
giving up their nukes, but the South wants to commandeer them in a desperate
bid to end a seismic and volcanic disaster in Lee Hae-jun & Kim Byung-seo’s
Ashfall, which is now playing in New York.
For
years, Korean-American scientist Robert Kang Bong-rae warned the government of
a potential catastrophe, but they ignored him until it is now almost too late.
He still has a plan, but it only has slightly over 3% chance of success. The beleaguered
president and his first secretary Jeon Yoo-kyung still believe that is better
than nothing, so they dispatch two commando teams to take possession of the
DPRK nukes, while Kang runs simulations to increase the odds.
Fortunately,
the warheads will be easy to collect, because the North just packaged them up for
collection as part of their de-nuclearization agreement with the U.S. Yes, things
have gotten that bad in the Workers’ Paradise. Jo In-chang was supposed to
retire today, but instead he must lead the B-team backing-up the primary squad.
Tragically, they must take the lead when the A-team’s plane crashes. Ironically,
the North Koreans are almost passive spectators in all this, but China was
deeply unhappy about peace breaking out on the Korean Peninsula, so they
recruit Lee Joon-Pyeong, a North Korean double- or triple- or quadruple-agent
to redirect the Nukes across the Chinese border.
Frankly,
Ashfall is probably must notable for starring Don Lee/Ma Dong-seok in a
non-action role, in an action movie. He is actually quite convincing as Kang,
talking science instead of trash. His screen charisma still comes through. In
fact, it shines brighter than Ha Jung-woo as Jo, the weirdly nebbish commando.
On
the other hand, Lee Byung-hun goes convincingly dark and brooding as the
profoundly disillusioned Lee. It is hard to believe Ha’s Jo can keep up with
him. They just seem so mismatched, in every way. Most of the rest of the strike
force are just stock characters (at best), but Jeon Hye-jin’s portrayal of
Jeon, the political fixer, is intriguingly subtle. To her credit, former K-pop
star Bae Su-zy brings more to the table than you might expect as Jo’s
mega-pregnant wife, Ji-young.
Many
of the earth-shaking effects are pretty cool and directors Lee & Kim stage
some impressively elaborate action sequences. However, it is a real drag when
the American military turns into the third act villains. Seriously, it will be
hard for any veterans or relatives of veterans to cheer for the deaths of U.S.
servicemen. Gee whiz South Korea—don’t we get enough of this kind of thing from
China? It’s a real buzz kill and it makes no geopolitical sense either,
especially with China flexing its imperialist muscles throughout Asia.
Don
Lee and Lee Byung-hun are big stars, but you have to wonder why a new
distribution line would opt to release a film with such a virulently
anti-American bias—unless they just assumed the specialized film media would
cover for them. Ashfall could have been a pleasant action diversion
(albeit not nearly as entertaining as the poison gas thriller Exit), but
it shoots itself in the foot with its prejudices. It should have been better
than this. Disappointing for sucker-punch reasons, Ashfall is now
playing in New York, at the AMC Empire.
