refresh daemon 2009: Lost Memories has a lot of promise. A sci-fi action/mystery (mild on the sci-fi) set in an alternate universe where Japan sides with the Allies during World War II, Corea never gained independence from Japan and becomes part of the empire. Pretty cool setting, no? In fact, the first half of the movie, despite the occasional logical flub and inconsistency, manages to be quite interesting. And then you hit the midway mark and the film crashes into mindless melodrama and sinks to the point where even its otherwise gorgeous action sequences can't save it.But, it is quite a pretty film. Lots of wonderfully shot scenes grace this film, even if you can see strong traces of John Woo present in many of them. But this picture is cleaner and slicker than Woo's earlier productions. The sets and costumes are wonderful. The lighting and editing however does run a little heavy-handed. And in fact, the film's preoccupation with aesthetics, instead of strengthening its story, sinks the film. There's also a bit of a mood-killing plot twist halfway through the film as well, which really doesn't help.In terms of lighting, the film is shot dark and while it definitely makes things seem fairly "cool", at the same time, everything is so awash in blues most of the time that it's hard to keep believing in it. It tries a little too hard to be cool. There's also the obnoxious abuse of slow-motion and extreme close-up reaction shots. Honestly, during an action sequence, I really don't want to see 15-30 second bursts of watching as characters react to other insignificant characters' deaths. It frustrated me to no end. And then there's the logical jumps. Not only is one character's story not tied up, but it conflicts with itself logically and the film probably would have been helped having removed that character altogether.Because the film couldn't shore up its story and resorted to overenthusiastic melodrama and manipulation, it went from being quite interesting to a bit of a chore. I give it credit for great aesthetics and premise, even if in the end the story becomes chaotic and inconsistent, but the degree of the films abuse of melodrama to substitute for story keeps it from staying afloat. People that can get past story and enjoy the slick presentation and action, might enjoy this. Everyone else should consider giving it a pass. 6/10 (purely on the merits of its aesthetics and premise).

Max Debutante Hollywood has made loads of Asian remakes recently, and this would probably be another contender for their interest... although an American remake might have to be *extremely* bold. 2009: Lost Memories is one of the best Asian action films I've seen... period.First of all, get those Hollywood tendencies out of your head. This is a film whose story, far fetched though it may be, seems to convey some very genuine, weighted, and apparent contemporary sentiment about a significant event in modern Asian history. Since the event and players around which the film is centered are indeed VERY real - make Wikipedia your friend ;) - I would urge people from other parts of the world watching this film to try and imagine if something in their own histories had followed a similar plot; to better appreciate the film from the vantage point of the storyteller. DO NOT watch this film if you're only looking for some John Woo style action. It's really not about the action at all.I'm a typical non-Asian: very limited knowledge of Asian history, and absolutely no implicit understanding of Asian culture, or the mark that such history has had on modern Asian convention. I think this film (among many) offers a few clue-ins about the inward tensions concerning the past between Asians that are completely unknown to the rest of the world. It may seem deliberate as a matter of course to people from the region, most oblivious outsiders would still be guessing. In short, it is about an alternate reality in which Korea never gained independence from it's status as a Japanese protectorate. Now add time travel... and enjoy the film.Although it's a little on the long side, it was fun all the way through. The storyline never dropped or suddenly got slow, and there was nothing that could be completely lost in translation as I find is often the case with a lot of other trans-continental cinema. There's PLENTY of gun action for such aficionados. It was coherent, and very suspenseful from start to finish. Even the music played to great effect; perfect at certain instances like you see in film from time to time. All in all, a fully enjoyable feature.I liked this film, not for the time travel sci-fi, gun fights or adequate special effects, but for letting me see someone else (besides Hollywood) pay homage to their own heroes. In Japan this might be a horror film.

Eglaya2003 This has been some Asian year so far. Every single TV stations in my country are broadcasting lots of Asian movies. Of course, most of it is an English-dubbed junk, but in just one month, I've seen Crounching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; The House of Flying Daggers; Hero; Bischunmoo; Dolls; Zatoichi; Musa the Warrior; The Returner and now... 2009: Lost Memories.I was very thrilled when I saw an announcement in the TV guide. The preview seemed to be very interesting and the fact that it was sort of collaboration between Korean and Japanese actors, made me think. I don't know Korean history well, but I realize that its relationship with Japan wasn't very good throughout the centuries. I'm rather baffled by the fact that most Koreans are learning Japanese at school while the Japanese doesn't do the opposite.About the movie. Well, it really doesn't match Musa the Warrior. Not by a long shot. Yet, it's quite an indent, showing that Korean Movie industry is growing and it can offer us some great movies. What I liked about this movie the most, was that it has been tried to maintain a realistic mood, therefore - all the dialogs, that ought have been in Japanese, WERE in Japanese. Not like in American movies, where Russians, Poles, Chinese, Spanish and Finnish - all talk in English >__< The flow of action itself was rather sluggish, and I saw no point in editing all the action sequences in slow motion. It actually made my mind boggle. And perhaps I'm an absolutely dumb person, but I didn't quite get the real biography of Sakamoto, what he should have been in the REAL story line.Nevertheless, this movie preaches all the general values: truth, courage, devotion, love of your homeland and respect. Being a Lithuanian I can understand Korean, because our own nation has been under the influence of Poland for centuries.To put it into account, you have to see this movie, if you are interested in Asian cinema industry, because there is nothing more handsome than an Asian man crying: tears run down his face, eyes are full of grief and sorrow, but not a single face muscle stirs. Amazing.

MovieRat-2 No, we are not talking about another Matrix-esque film where the world is really a virtual reality dream/nightmare...this is a film that takes a serious look at one of the many great "what if's" in history and shows how the world would have been. One of my favorite things about this film is that it shows the extremes of what people will do to either keep that history or change it. Its race against race; father against son; and friend against friend in a race for a nation's identity. Who will win, who will lose, and who will ultimately decide the fate of the world? Fantastic action sequences that seem almost too real. The bloodshed abounds in this film as we see repeated scenes of terrorists face off against police forces in shoot-outs that can only end with the annihilation of one group or the other. The battle scenes are realistic in that you don't see your standard "good guys never miss while bad guys can't hit the broad side of a barn" routine, these are truly horrific battles with a large casualty count from both sides.The film, however, isn't all about action. The story itself stands on its own as you try to piece together the jigsaw of clues and dead-ends to find out what in the world is the truth. Even when you arrive at the climax of the whole story you are left on one cliff-hanger after another, wondering if this will be the final bullet to decide it all...and at the ending there is no cliff hanging, the writers have thrown you off the cliff and you wonder what awaits you at the bottom.Despite this nail biting ending, the film had is draw backs: 1) a plot that progresses like a starting train, VERY slow at first before gaining tremendous steam at the end; 2)lots and lots of blood, not for the squeamish; 3)the ending had a loose end that was never explained; and 4)you will want more character background and insight from the two main characters.A very good film that had plenty of room for improvement.