suchenwi I love trains. I love movies, with a special knack for Asian ones. So when I saw this Korean action piece mostly set on a subway train, I couldn't resist to buy it (2.99 euro, used, in the video rental shop).Then I checked IMDb, and it looked like most comments were quite negative, so with some anticipated disappointment, I put the DVD in the player and watched it for myself.I agree with many commenters that the plot lacks plausibility, while providing more climaxes than needed (after the middle, I felt a bit exhausted like on a long subway ride, and considered one could turn this into a TV mini-series, cutting after each cliff-hanger...) But thinking more about it, I'd like to add some points.First, the political aspect. As is revealed later in the film, the South Korean government is supposed to have had in the past a secret "Rhodes Team" doing unlawful, dirty jobs. As briefly shown, this led to international criticism up to the UN security council, and to dirty disposal of the team and their families, with only "T" surviving, and using terrorist means to force a former minister to reveal those facts. The political thread continues with quasi-military occupation of the subway control room,the ex-minister ordering the destruction of the subway train, and the subway police chief exclaiming: "The real criminals are the politicians and parliament members!" Also, the part where a passenger says he retrieved the data card from "T"'s cellphone. I suspect that this part of the story made much more impact on Korean viewers than, say, in Europe or America.And then there is the unlikely love triangle between hero Chang, his deceased fiancée, and the pick-pocket heroine. No sex or sleaze at all, but deep emotions are symbolized with little things - sweets, cigarettes, a lighter, a special playing card... most memorably a can of Warsteiner beer on a stone bench - first with Chang and his fiancée, then Chang alone, then the stalking heroine alone. And their final handshake sure had Titanic appeal...As you can see, the subway action (which wasn't bad, just a bit too long) got me less involved than these two aspects. A good short summary of the tragic romance is in the music video that came as extra on my DVD. All in all, I find this a quite strong movie, and enjoyed it - less as a train movie than an interesting and touching Korean story.

Boba_Fett1138 In its core this is a pretty original action-flick from South Korea but the way the movie is brought to the screen is little original. It uses too elements from other, well known, action movies and does everything in a too formulaic way. which causes this movie to also be little surprising.Seems like Baek Woon-Hak watched a bit too many Hollywood action movies such as "Heat", "Die Hard", "True Lies", "Speed" and whatever more movie to which this movie shows just a bit too many similarities. Nothing wrong of course with anyone from Korea or anywhere else trying to imitate Hollywood action movies but when its not done in an original way and merely just copies sequences and moments from well known movies, you simply just failed at trying to create anything interesting or original. Especially since this movie is just not as refined as an Hollywood action flick. The style is there but just not the right handling of it all. No matter how good the movie looks, it all feels quite amateur like and childish too at the same time. This is also due to the simple musical score (the composer listened to a bit too many Hans Zimmer scores) and overdone camera-work. You know, it's the Michael Bay sort of cinematography.The movie also features some awkward humor- and characters that are supposed to be humorous, that also feels mostly out of place and is not consistent with the style of the movie. Think you can say that it downgrades this movies and makes it even harder to take it really as a serious attempt.It's action is also a reason why this movie is hard to take serious. It's just too much. The movie is almost non-stop action and all of the sequences feel rather overdone and unbelievable. It seems to be unnecessarily hard and straight-forward, which goes at the expense of its credibility. I mean, the bad guys can basically shoot anyone, even a small army of heavily armored tactical units, even when they are right in the middle of them, without having to take really cover or worry about their ammo. Yeah of course, action movies are just never the most credible movies but you can also go too far in some cases. It's like a 12 year old kid wrote the script and had put in every action fantasy he ever had.Non of the actors also really impresses and it's no surprise non of them really works regularly as an actor, though admittedly its perhaps not fair to judge the abilities an actor who speaks a language you don't. The characters all remain very flat, especially disappointingly also the villains, who normally always are the most fun, interesting and perhaps also most important in an action type of movie.Korean cinema has better movies to offer than this.5/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

BA_Harrison The Tube is an overlong, cliché-ridden Korean movie that steals liberally from many a better film in an attempt to appeal to an international market. Combining elements of Die Hard, Under Siege 2, Lethal Weapon The Taking of Pelham 123, Silver Streak, Speed and countless other action classics, the film ends up as a tedious mess which, like the train it features, rushes headlong towards disaster .Jay (Seok-hun Kim) is a tough cop who lives life on the edge after the death of his wife. When a terrorist named T hijacks a subway train full of passengers (which includes our hero's romantic interest, Kay, played by Du-na Bae) and threatens to explode a bomb, Jay risks life and limb to get on board and rescue the passengers (fortunately, Jay is actually a superhero possessing incredible supernatural powers of strength and durability. How else could the makers explain his amazing ability to constantly jump onto, fall off, and hang underneath speeding trains without coming to harm?).From the confusing gun-battle at the beginning, to the explosive finale, director Baek Woon-Hak shows that he has no idea how to shoot a cohesive action scene or tell a decent story. Action set-piece after action set-piece is thrown at the viewer with absolutely no sense of pacing. Just as we think we have reached the inevitable end of the film, Jay is given yet another obstacle to overcome before he can save the day; hell, this film has more climaxes than 'Monsterfacials.com: The Movie'!!With a downright dumb ending in which the hero needlessly sacrifices his life to save everyone else on the train (tie down the damn lever and jump off the train—how difficult is that?), this film is a way-below-par big-budget offering from a country that has recently given us so much great cinema: Oldboy, JSA, Three Extremes, Sympathy for Mr.Vengeance and My Sassy Girl.

cryostix I'm not very familiar with Korean cinema, although I have seen some movies. In Tube, it's not about what happened in the past, but how the characters evolve in the current setting and further development of the movie. I think Baek Woon-Hak has written a very strong, action-packed story, with Seok-Hun Kim playing a very convincing Jay. I'm more of a feel-good-movie-geek, but movies like this make you at least think twice about certain things. What intrigues me most about Asian cinema, and especially in this movie, is how they brilliantly combine drama and building up tension, with action, psychology, thrills, and even a comic-relief in the middle of all that.I watched this movie, and I don't even speak the language. That means it's worth it.