It took 35 years for
another movie to be made about Inchon.
“Inchon” (1981) starring Sir Laurence Olivier is famous as one of the
biggest turkeys of the 1980s. “Operation
Chromite” was the first joint American/South Korean production focusing on the
Korean War since “Inchon”. Continuing a
recent trend that has included Bruce Willis, it stars a big American actor who
clearly loves money and cares little for reputation. In this case, Liam Neeson takes the cash and
saunters as Douglas MacArthur. Ironically,
Douglas MacArthur turned in better acting performances than the actors who have
portrayed him.
The title refers to the code
name for the invasion at Inchon.
MacArthur’s plan was to make a daring landing behind enemy lines to
change the momentum of the war. The port
of Inchon was a particularly difficult location for an amphibious landing. Part of the problem was the tides and the
mines. To recon the harbor and gather
intelligence information, a crack squad of eight South Korean soldiers are sent
behind enemy lines. They are led by
Capt. Jang Hak-soo (Lee Jong-jae).
Plausibility gets off to a rough start when the men kill eight North
Korean soldiers on a train and take their identities. As per the war movie cliché, the uniforms fit
perfectly. They masquerade as an inspection
team, but the local villain Lim Gye-jin (Lee Beom-soo) is suspicious because
apparently some North Koreans had brains.
The clock is ticking. Ticking
toward when the crazy ass Korean combat kicks in. Meanwhile, we intercut to the pompous
MacArthur discussing his plan.
“Operation Chromite” is not
among the better Korean war movies. I
don’t think it’s a coincidence that the worst ones have American
involvement. There certainly is a huge
gap between a movie like this and movies like “Tae Guk Gi”. You get the kick-ass combat cinematography
Korean war films are noted for, but unfortunately the script and acting do not
match the fireworks. In this case, the
plot starts off ridiculous and spirals to bonkers quickly. There is very little resemblance to the
actual invasion. You will learn nothing
historical from it.
The acting is wooden, with
Neeson leading the way. It’s an
embarrassing performance, but it gets forgotten in the lunacy that surrounds
it. There is little resemblance to reality
and the poor CGI does not help. The
naval bombardment is straight out of a video game. There is no character development other than
Jang and Lim. Jang is an action hero and
Lim is a cartoonish villain. The movie
becomes a series of confrontations between the two. Lim is one tough dude to kill. It comes down to a tank duel, so try not to
drink yourself into a stupor before the big finish.
GRADE
= D
I liked this one better than you did, although all of your criticisms are spot-on. I think I was able to enjoy it despite its faults for a couple of reasons:
ReplyDelete1. The cast has great chemistry. Whenever two actors share the screen or a conversation their reactions are almost always an enjoyable watch (that might have been part of the problem with Neeson, who spends the film stuck on the bridge of a boat).
2. The squad gets to interact with a lot of noncombatants, including their families and a semi-love interest for the main lead (who somehow becomes a combat nurse at the end), showing different perspectives on the state of the war.
3. The bad guy is a scene-chewing wonder. You want him to be hard to kill so that his death, when it comes, is in the ruins of his arrogant plans.
The result is more opera than war drama but I did enjoy watching it.