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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Finally, JSA gets a release in the United Kingdom. This was the film that shattered all the box office records in South Korea and launched Park Chan-wook's career. After reading so many positive reviews for this film I guess I was expecting it to be a bit of a let down. I'm glad it lived up to all the hype.
The story is based along the Korean Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea. One night a South Korean Soldier is found struggling to get out of North Korean territory after shoots were heard. It is believed that the soldier killed two North Korean's and injured one other. The South Koreans naturally praise the soldier as a hero but the North Koreans want justice. A Korean speaking investigator is sent in from the Swiss/Swedish UN team to find out what happened that night. Her investigation leads here to discover the history of both the surviving soldiers involved.
When the film starts off you get the feeling that you're going to watch a film very similar to 'Courage Under Fire'. We get the two versions of what happened by the usual flashback sequences and follow the UN investigator in her interrogations. We are then thrown back a few months to an incident which leads to the night of the shootings. Now this is where the film really succeeds. We are given the history between the soldiers involved which adds a great twist to the story. What makes this movie a joy to watch has to be due to the two lead characters. Lee Byung-hun (Sympathy For Mr Vengeance, Save The Green Planet) does an excellent job portraying the young South Korean soldier but it's Song Kang-ho (Sympathy for Mr Vengeance, Memories of Murder, Shiri) who steals the show as the surviving North Korean soldier who strangely seems unwilling to talk about what happened.
Park Chan-wook directs the film perfectly as always. He does an excellent job at showing the division of North and South Korea. Much of this is done by fancy camera work and character interaction. It's the little touches Park adds that makes this movie rise above the rest (the final image before the credits is a fine example). As always with his films, Park manages to add a large amount of style by using fancy camera angles and editing techniques. This style never overshadows the most important thing which is the story.
Overall this is a thought provoking and at times touching film. Tartan has done a great job at presenting this DVD in a two disc special edition (even if it was a bit overdue). A must own for anyone, especially Park Chan-wook fans.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Major Sophie Jean is a Korean born, Swiss raised MP officer sent to investigate an incident in the DMZ (De-Militarised Zone) which resulted in two dead North Korean officers, one wounded and one dead South Korean officer with another in custody. Her task is to find out the truth and negotiate a solution to the problem that could prove to be the incendiary needed to spark a full scale war between the two neighbouring enemy countries. Sgt. Lee Soo-Hyeok (Lee Byung-Hun) from South Korea claims he was kidnapped by the Northern Soldiers, whilst Capt. Oh Kyeong-Pil (Kang-Ho Song) claims they were ambushed by the South, both soldiers testimonies are exposed by a series of flashbacks revealing the truth.
Park Chan-Wook's superbly crafted anti-war flick is also a riveting political thriller with many surprises in the plot twists that ultimately challenges the delineation of the two opposing countries. JSA is not interested in blowing people up, it's more concerned with human relations and questioning archaic political stances that have divided Korea for more than fifty years. The complex characters are intellectually engaging without being convoluted as they carry the fundamental message of just how tragic the conflict between citizens with the same ethnic background has deteriorated through ill-advised dictatorship - as shown by Oh Kyeong-Pil's explosive patriotic rant for his leader Kim Jong Il, whilst simultaneously, rejecting his friendship with the South Korean soldier in custody intent on saving both their lives; which incidentally is one of the most magnificent scenes ever performed by Kang-Ho Song.
There's also a lot of fun to be had along the way as Park Chan-Wook deftly handles the camera; going through the scope of one soldiers rifle. Another scene has the camera set up in a minefield capturing the long grass swaying with an eerie wind whistling highlighting to the viewer that this is indeed the dead zone; or, is it a visual metaphor depicting the long agonizing wait before the wind of change will eventually come to pass?
Park Chan-Wook's superbly crafted anti-war flick is also a riveting political thriller with many surprises in the plot twists that ultimately challenges the delineation of the two opposing countries. JSA is not interested in blowing people up, it's more concerned with human relations and questioning archaic political stances that have divided Korea for more than fifty years. The complex characters are intellectually engaging without being convoluted as they carry the fundamental message of just how tragic the conflict between citizens with the same ethnic background has deteriorated through ill-advised dictatorship - as shown by Oh Kyeong-Pil's explosive patriotic rant for his leader Kim Jong Il, whilst simultaneously, rejecting his friendship with the South Korean soldier in custody intent on saving both their lives; which incidentally is one of the most magnificent scenes ever performed by Kang-Ho Song.
There's also a lot of fun to be had along the way as Park Chan-Wook deftly handles the camera; going through the scope of one soldiers rifle. Another scene has the camera set up in a minefield capturing the long grass swaying with an eerie wind whistling highlighting to the viewer that this is indeed the dead zone; or, is it a visual metaphor depicting the long agonizing wait before the wind of change will eventually come to pass?
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
When I first saw Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance I knew Park Chan-Wook was a director to look out for. I've now seen all of his other films that I could get my hands on - Oldboy, Lady Vengeance, Cut [Three...Extremes]; but it was Joint Security Area which I felt compelled to see the most
A tense thriller which keeps you guessing till the end. When two North Korean soldiers are shot dead by a South Korean soldier in the DMZ, a neutral investgative team is set up to find out what happened - but both sides blame each other for it, and work to ensure that whatever really happened is covered up.
I've seen this film countless times and never get tired of it. It's not a film like The Usual Suspects where repeated watching reveals hints towards plot twist, but for some reason as soon as I finish watching it I want to see it again. An outstanding film from an oustanding director.
A tense thriller which keeps you guessing till the end. When two North Korean soldiers are shot dead by a South Korean soldier in the DMZ, a neutral investgative team is set up to find out what happened - but both sides blame each other for it, and work to ensure that whatever really happened is covered up.
I've seen this film countless times and never get tired of it. It's not a film like The Usual Suspects where repeated watching reveals hints towards plot twist, but for some reason as soon as I finish watching it I want to see it again. An outstanding film from an oustanding director.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Very effective- but no Oldboy
Park Chan-Wook has created a brilliant, suspenseful film in "JSA":it is an effective and often very moving summary of North-South Korean relations. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Alexander Hackett
AWFUL watch Oldboy
I couldnt even get through the first 20 mins of this film the acting was just that bad. This defines abismal b-movie. Read more
Published on 27 Feb 2010 by Theodore Bear
The Line in Korea
JSA is a terrific film if you are looking for mystery and excitment as well as a surprise ending. The actors playing the parts are believeable & good. Read more
Published on 20 Jan 2010 by Keith W. Browb
Logical, wistful, naïve
A highly-logical and well-laid-out Cold-War whodunnit (there's still a Cold-War on the Korean Pennisula) with in-depth characterizations in the way the Koreans like (well... Read more
Published on 6 April 2009 by J. A. Eyon
Beautiful, surprising, entertaining, tender and deep.
Yet another wonderful movie from South Korea. Shamelessly and unexpectingly mixing styles, it takes us to a ride of suspense, smiles, tenderness, violence, naiveté, and the... Read more
Published on 26 Sep 2008 by Francisco José Poyato Ariza
Yet another brilliant Korean film
I suppose Korea's almost unique situation - divided in two, by a border and ideology, as Germany used to be - is fertile ground for film-makers. Read more
Published on 5 Dec 2006 by Apple-eater
BACK TOWARDS FRONT
Despite what Hollywood might tell you the best love stories all end in tragedy - take, for example, J.S.A. or JOINT SECURITY AREA. Read more
Published on 26 July 2005 by Thomas E. O'Sullivan
Watch it
By enlarge, the film was very entertaining; it nicely represented certain sentiments of ordinary two peoples of Korean Peninsula and political issues surrounds by these two... Read more
Published on 25 July 2005
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