Here we have Namgeuk-ilgi or "Artic journal" as it may be better known over here. A movie about an exploration team of 6 Koreans to the depths of the Antarctic, who come across the journals of a British expedition team some 80 years earlier. Fate has it that the mysterious misfortunes of the British are to be befall the Korean team in this forsaken barren wasteland as they struggle to reach their destination "the pole of inaccessibility" (the farthest point from the Arctic coastline).
The movie does sound like it could be worth a look, it has a decent cast, we got Ji-tae Yu whose always a solid actor, the movie also starts off promising enough, lending familiar elements from other horror/thriller of similar genres, such as "The Thing". Unfortunately the potential shortly outlives the expectations one would get from this kind of movie. Firstly, one cannot help but feel frustrated by the many "creepy" build ups which lead to nowhere (ie. a tense build up to what the audience perceives should obviously be a "scary" moment, but then that final "scare" part doesn't happen, only the build up). Secondly, the characters are spineless. Personally I find it very irritating in horror movies (unless they are of the humorous kind) when the characters act overly stupid. This movie certainly pushes the boundaries having seemingly brainless idiots in the narrative who cannot think for themselves and simply follow the orders of the so called team "captain" who has quite obviously gone nuts. Even more irritating is that the others agree not to use the "emergency" distress signal even after 2 members have died, because according to the captain it should only be kept for "real emergencies". There are also some discrepancies in regards to realism of this Antarctic trek, though the scenery is shot in a beautiful location, my guess is that real Antarctic is less forgiving and piloting helicopters, in Arctic blizzards to my knowledge among several other things, do not work.
In summary this is a very long and extremely frustrating movie which in the end, strays into many confusing paths, none of which lead to a satisfactory ending. If the brainless characters, the narrative suffering from an identity crisis or the slow pace do not put you off, then the 2 hour build-up to a very disappointing ending is sure to finish you off ^-^.
The movie does sound like it could be worth a look, it has a decent cast, we got Ji-tae Yu whose always a solid actor, the movie also starts off promising enough, lending familiar elements from other horror/thriller of similar genres, such as "The Thing". Unfortunately the potential shortly outlives the expectations one would get from this kind of movie. Firstly, one cannot help but feel frustrated by the many "creepy" build ups which lead to nowhere (ie. a tense build up to what the audience perceives should obviously be a "scary" moment, but then that final "scare" part doesn't happen, only the build up). Secondly, the characters are spineless. Personally I find it very irritating in horror movies (unless they are of the humorous kind) when the characters act overly stupid. This movie certainly pushes the boundaries having seemingly brainless idiots in the narrative who cannot think for themselves and simply follow the orders of the so called team "captain" who has quite obviously gone nuts. Even more irritating is that the others agree not to use the "emergency" distress signal even after 2 members have died, because according to the captain it should only be kept for "real emergencies". There are also some discrepancies in regards to realism of this Antarctic trek, though the scenery is shot in a beautiful location, my guess is that real Antarctic is less forgiving and piloting helicopters, in Arctic blizzards to my knowledge among several other things, do not work.
In summary this is a very long and extremely frustrating movie which in the end, strays into many confusing paths, none of which lead to a satisfactory ending. If the brainless characters, the narrative suffering from an identity crisis or the slow pace do not put you off, then the 2 hour build-up to a very disappointing ending is sure to finish you off ^-^.