yeodawg They gang rape nurse and there are several "GAUNTLET" style shoot-outs. All of that would make for an exciting movie you'd think. This movie tells the story of North Korean shock troops that launched a botched mission to kill the South Korean President. It starts off with the soldiers being recruited from death row (a la Dirty Dozen). They then run them through a series of obstacles, but the real obstacles are the ones in their hearts and minds. Now I tried to power through one of these films before "JSA", it gets all muddled down in political and societal dialog. Now "OLDBOY, I COME WITH THE RAIN" I my favorite movies (behind "THE PRINCESS BRIDE" of course). But I don't understand Korean society or politics, all I know there is no witty repertoire or a since of comedy. Nor is there any on my sign unleash hell, or _You NEED me on that WALL, you WANT me on that WALL!" Just reading the subtitles my eyes roll to the back of my head and the next thing I know the soldiers is in a running gun-battle with the trainers.

tim-itc 'Shilmido' This movie is very sad...A group of 31 constituted with criminals including convicts on death rows were forcibly lead to an island to be trained for a special mission after penetrating into North Korea.The government, however, is trying to secretly kill them all due to a abrupt change of South-North international diplomatic relationship.I can hardly forget the last scene in which all of those who could survive thanks to what they have been trained killed themselves.This movie partially teaches us history of this country and for that I would like to recommend it to Korean people regardless of sexes nor ages.The best movie of my entire life.

Michael Clough Do you the most amazing thing about Silmido is, is the fact that it is based on a true story.It's hard to find much fault with this film, the acting & production quality is very good. Silmido is an engrossing drama from start to finish, firstly see our death-row crims cum crack soldiers preparing for their mission & secondly to see their eventual demise.Silmido is another example of the huge steps taken by the South Korean film industry in the past decade, making films far more original than Hollywood, with in many cases production & acting standards equal to Hollywood with budgets a fraction of the Hollywood machine.

medialuvr As the South Korean movie industry matures, more of their feature movies should become of interest to mainstream western audiences. Silmido is one of these movies.The Korean peninsula continues to experience behind-the-scenes low intensity engagements between the two nations. Set in the 1960's, the nK strikes at the ROK leadership and prompts a response. The KCIA sponsors the formation of a special army unit to strike back at Pyongyang. Comprised of civil prisoners and other outcasts, the movie follows their formation, training, and deployment.The film covers a great deal of cultural ground. The viewer gets a sense of the male-dominated, hierarchical government with its intrigues and power brokers. The spartan living conditions, training and discipline are not inconsistent with ROK practices. The motto used in the film - "Loyalty" - illustrates the conservative bent of the military system and the social schism which exists between it and the South Korean people at large. The film could have used "Strength and Honor" from Gladiator to the same effect. As a code of behavior, the concept of loyalty is the thematic underpinning for the major plot turns.While lacking some of the pacing and plot roll-out elements of first tier film efforts, Silmido still delivers an interesting story line and succeeds as an action movie. It offers a harsh indictment of the government's leadership, not unlike American Viet Nam conflict movies, and the viewer is left with a perspective of Korean soldiers as army ants whose sole function is to live and die protecting their society.