2009: LOST MEMORIES LE (korean dvd)--my attempt at a review
09-29-02, 08:45 AM
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2009: LOST MEMORIES LE (korean dvd)--my attempt at a review
Part SCI-FI movie, part action flick, part drama. If it had some romance in it, it would be perfect. NAH, this movie is great just the way it is. Before I get to the review part of this, I can say this about the movie, AN UNLIMITED SUPPLY OF BULLETS is what this movie contains, I LOVE IT!!!!!
THE PLOT (I'll keep it brief, and not include spoilers so if this synopsis seems halfassed. i apologize, i'm a cop, not a writer):
In the year 2009, what would Korea be like if it were actually taken over by Japan way back in the day? Imagine that the US and Japan were allies during WW 2, atomic bombs were dropped on Berlin in order to stop the war. Japan eventually becomes a main member of the United Nations, and that the Korea that we know and love today, becomes an alternate version of itself, and basically becomes part of Japan. Even the Koreans have Japanese names, and downtown Seoul looks like, well, downtown Tokyo. Well, this film gives you an idea of what it might be like.
My man, Jang Dong-Gun plays SAKAMOTO (it was a trip to see and hear him speak Japanese for most of the movie), a member of the JBI (japanese bureau of investigation) and his partner SAIGO, played by Toru Nakamura, are on the trail of a Korean liberation group that has resurfaced in 2009 in another attempt to free Korea from Japanese rule.
Throughout the film, the two men's friendship is tested as Sakamoto begins to feel sympathy for the Korean group that he is after and Saigo tries to keep it real with his partner and do his best to ensure that Japan still maintains control of Korea.
Later on, as things begin to fall apart within their investigation of the Korean liberators, Sakamoto and Saigo begin to see the life as they know it from different sides. For this, Sakamoto is framed for the murder of one of his Korean friends, becomes a fugitive and then goes on the lam to avoid getting caught by the JBI. Saigo, not wanting to see his friend jammed up like this, helps him get out of the JBI's grasp, albeit very briefly, but help is help nonetheless.
Then, the film takes a very interesting turn into the SCI-FI arena. I'm not going to spoil it and tell what it is all about, but it provides an interesting twist as to how things came to be in Korea. It then becomes up to one man, you guessed it, Sakamoto, to get Korea back to they way it should be. Then it has to be up to one man, yep you guessed right again, Saigo, to stop him.
Bullets fly, people die, now it is up to you to watch the film and see what happens for yourself.
The action scenes are excellent, and the beginning and end pieces are pretty long, at least I think so.
The Sound: I didn't listen to the Dolby 5.1 track because with DTS, why bother? Two words sum up the DTS track, IT ROCKS!!!! The sound was crisp, dialogue was nice and clear, and the surrounds were put to good use. The subwoofer got a decent workout during the action scenes, man are my neighbors pissed. That's ok, i just got Princess Blade in the mail today, so they are about to get pissed off again.
The subs on the film are well done, with only a few errors here and there. The musical score on this is very well done also.
The Picture: EnterOne has done a great job with how the picture looks on this, they did FRIEND right with the quality, and they shine again on this release. Some of the scenes that take place at night appear to have some graininess to them, but maybe my contacts just need to be cleaned. Other than that, no problems at all, it by far surpasses HK dvds, and a majority of US dvds.
The Extras: I didn't really check into these too much, but it contains alot of stuff on the technical aspect of the film. Kinda reminds of the 2 disc set for SE7EN and how they did their extras. Maybe if I knew Korean instead of Spanish, I'd look at them more but I'll check into them at a later time.
I highly recommend this film, it is not solely an action film, it does contain a fair amount of dramatic elements so don't expect an action fest but what it does have, it delivers. I bought the edition that comes with the 300 something page book (which is pretty damn cool) but I think that the regular release is coming out soon.
Props go out to Jang Dong-Gun for doing an awesome job acting in this film. He is up there now with my faves Lau Ching Wan and Takeshi Kitano.
I might go watch it again. If there are any questions about the film or anything else, email me at:
[email protected]
and I will answer to the best of my ability.
KIRI KIRI KIRI KIRI KIRI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THE PLOT (I'll keep it brief, and not include spoilers so if this synopsis seems halfassed. i apologize, i'm a cop, not a writer):
In the year 2009, what would Korea be like if it were actually taken over by Japan way back in the day? Imagine that the US and Japan were allies during WW 2, atomic bombs were dropped on Berlin in order to stop the war. Japan eventually becomes a main member of the United Nations, and that the Korea that we know and love today, becomes an alternate version of itself, and basically becomes part of Japan. Even the Koreans have Japanese names, and downtown Seoul looks like, well, downtown Tokyo. Well, this film gives you an idea of what it might be like.
My man, Jang Dong-Gun plays SAKAMOTO (it was a trip to see and hear him speak Japanese for most of the movie), a member of the JBI (japanese bureau of investigation) and his partner SAIGO, played by Toru Nakamura, are on the trail of a Korean liberation group that has resurfaced in 2009 in another attempt to free Korea from Japanese rule.
Throughout the film, the two men's friendship is tested as Sakamoto begins to feel sympathy for the Korean group that he is after and Saigo tries to keep it real with his partner and do his best to ensure that Japan still maintains control of Korea.
Later on, as things begin to fall apart within their investigation of the Korean liberators, Sakamoto and Saigo begin to see the life as they know it from different sides. For this, Sakamoto is framed for the murder of one of his Korean friends, becomes a fugitive and then goes on the lam to avoid getting caught by the JBI. Saigo, not wanting to see his friend jammed up like this, helps him get out of the JBI's grasp, albeit very briefly, but help is help nonetheless.
Then, the film takes a very interesting turn into the SCI-FI arena. I'm not going to spoil it and tell what it is all about, but it provides an interesting twist as to how things came to be in Korea. It then becomes up to one man, you guessed it, Sakamoto, to get Korea back to they way it should be. Then it has to be up to one man, yep you guessed right again, Saigo, to stop him.
Bullets fly, people die, now it is up to you to watch the film and see what happens for yourself.
The action scenes are excellent, and the beginning and end pieces are pretty long, at least I think so.
The Sound: I didn't listen to the Dolby 5.1 track because with DTS, why bother? Two words sum up the DTS track, IT ROCKS!!!! The sound was crisp, dialogue was nice and clear, and the surrounds were put to good use. The subwoofer got a decent workout during the action scenes, man are my neighbors pissed. That's ok, i just got Princess Blade in the mail today, so they are about to get pissed off again.
The subs on the film are well done, with only a few errors here and there. The musical score on this is very well done also.
The Picture: EnterOne has done a great job with how the picture looks on this, they did FRIEND right with the quality, and they shine again on this release. Some of the scenes that take place at night appear to have some graininess to them, but maybe my contacts just need to be cleaned. Other than that, no problems at all, it by far surpasses HK dvds, and a majority of US dvds.
The Extras: I didn't really check into these too much, but it contains alot of stuff on the technical aspect of the film. Kinda reminds of the 2 disc set for SE7EN and how they did their extras. Maybe if I knew Korean instead of Spanish, I'd look at them more but I'll check into them at a later time.
I highly recommend this film, it is not solely an action film, it does contain a fair amount of dramatic elements so don't expect an action fest but what it does have, it delivers. I bought the edition that comes with the 300 something page book (which is pretty damn cool) but I think that the regular release is coming out soon.
Props go out to Jang Dong-Gun for doing an awesome job acting in this film. He is up there now with my faves Lau Ching Wan and Takeshi Kitano.
I might go watch it again. If there are any questions about the film or anything else, email me at:
[email protected]
and I will answer to the best of my ability.
KIRI KIRI KIRI KIRI KIRI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
10-01-02, 06:05 AM
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Nice review dyerjp. I just got the same version also. The only thing I didn't like about the film was the pacing. I think with some cuts to the more quieter scenes the pacing would've been a lot better. Just my $0.02.
Thanks again for the review!
Thanks again for the review!
10-02-02, 10:19 AM
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You're a heck of a salesman, dyerjp. I'd never heard of this thing and now I have to get it. Where did you get it from? Looks like Krdvd has the LE for $30 and pre-orders for another 2-disc set without the book for $25. Keep your reviews coming; they're very welcome, especially on more obscure titles such as this.
P.S. This thread would probably fit better in the International forum.
P.S. This thread would probably fit better in the International forum.
10-02-02, 03:31 PM
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i got it from MRKWANG.com, i have bought some stuff from him before. he is in korea and he gets the releases before places like krdvd does because, naturally, he's right there. oh yeah, the dvd does play on region 1 players as well.
