Shiri follows the efforts of two of South Korea’s best special agents, who uncover killings in connection to an apparent resurfacing of Hee, a legendary North Korean sniper and assassin. When it’s also reported that a highly trained North Korean Special Forces team are plotting to use a dangerous new explosive in the South, it’s up to the agents and counter-terrorists to stop any potential threat that will further escalate the North and South Korean conflict.
As the first big film to directly address the North-South conflict and the first hit commercial action film in Korea’s new wave of cinema, Shiri is now regarded as a classic piece of the industry—funny in that the film is a composite of high budget Hollywood and Hong Kong action flicks. Still, the premise is inherently Korean in its social and political issues, even though they never really go all that far what with all the action and exploding glass.
For the most part, the film is exceedingly simple, playing out like a straightforward action thriller in the vein of Die Hard, Michael Bay and John Woo films, chock full of ticking time bombs, threats of moles in the police force, and lengthy shoot-out sequences. Director Kang Je-gyu fashions a smooth blend of familiar plot turns and handles the action in exciting, comprehensible ways and it’s hard to ever fault Shiri for anything, but it’s hard to fall in love with it as well. Perhaps it is the lack of novelty combined with the empty, one-dimensional characters—one instance of Kang sticking too closely to the action flick conventions.
The characters are given very little time to truly develop or leave an impression, and the film is carried more by our love for the all-star cast than for the roles they embody. Han Suk-kyu and Song Kang-ho are the determined South Korean agents and Choi Min-sik plays the tortured North Korean commander, who has one particularly striking scene when he is given the chance for a speech. Kim Yun-jin rounds out the cast in a fine performance as Han Suk-kyu’s love interest.
All in all, the film lacks the heart and emotional connection with the viewer to convince us to care about character fates and make any sort of impact, but it is still a competent and consistently entertaining work that does its job. If you simply want to see Korea do the same thing others have been doing for years—and do it well, then Shiri is worth a look.
Reviewed by Tarun
