Northern Limit Line (2015) (DVD) (US Version) DVD Region 1

Starring Lee Hyun-woo (Secretly, Greatly), Kim Moo-yeol (War of the Arrows), Jin Gu (The Admiral: Roaring Currents), Lee Wan (Once Upon a Time in Seoul) and Lee Cheong-ah (The Five), the film takes place in June 2002, a time when the entire South Korean nation was caught up with the Korea Japan World Cup, following a young bunch of soldiers tasked with routine patrols of the Northern Limit Line marking the maritime boundary with the north in the Yellow Sea. Things turn unexpectedly serious one morning when a pair of military boats from the north cross the line and open fire, forcing the inexperienced crew of the Chamsuri 357 to dig deep and find the courage to fight back and defend their country.

Northern Limit Line is quite different to the usual war blockbuster, and although it does have all the expected nationalistic bluster, Kim Hak-soon clearly tries to focus on the lives of the young soldiers, the first two thirds of the film spending most of its time following them about their everyday lives, dipping in and out of subplots and relationships. This works well enough, although some of the social nuances are likely to be a bit lost on non-Korean audiences, and the characters are generally convincing and likeable, the film winning points for avoiding any obvious hero figures. At the same time however, while there's something to be said for this level of character investment, the first two acts are overstretched, clocking in at well over an hour, and the film does have the feel of a TV special during several stretches, meaning that the attention of some viewers may wander.

Thankfully this does pay off during the last forty five minutes or so, when Kim really kicks things up several notches, and the film gets surprisingly bloody and harrowing once the maritime battle begins. Blessed with some impressive production values, the film successfully achieves a balance between the spectacular and the gritty, considerable effort having gone into depicting the terrifying realities of conflict, which are hammered home through some shocking and visceral scenes that do a great job of putting the viewer in the shoes of the understandably confused and terrified young mean. These scenes are well-shot and never gratuitous, and while most viewers likely won't care too much about the individual fates of the characters, there's real tension as they're put through the wringer, and a considerable gut-punch when some of them meet their grisly ends. This combines well with the earlier stages of the film to underline the pointlessness of war theme that Kim is aiming for, and does so without ever getting too preachy or heavy-handed.

Though this isn't quite enough to make Northern Limit Line a truly great film, it's arguably one of the better and more thoughtful war-themed offerings from Korea of late, and an effective statement about the ways in which everyday people inevitably end up bearing the brunt of such conflicts. Kim Hak-soon directs with a steady hand, and while some judicious trimming and editing would definitely have improved matters, there's still enough here to engage and entertain.

by James Mudge - EasternKicks.com