ESCAPE
(director: Jong-pil Lee; screenwriters: Kwon Sung-hui, Kim Woo-Geun; cinematographer: Kim Sung-an; editor: Lee Kang-hee; music: Moon Blue; cast: Lee Je-hoon (Sgt. Lim), Hong Xa-bin (Kim Dyong-huk), Koo Kyo-hwan (Major Li Hyeon-san), Song Kang (Woo Min); Runtime: 94; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Park Eun-kyung, Hong Jeong-in; Well Go USA; 2024-S. Korea-in Korean with English subtitles)
“An underwhelming high concept film that is nevertheless watchable and tense.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
The straightforward and sparsely made Korean Army thriller is directed by the actor turned filmmaker, Jong-pil Lee (“The Sound of A Flower”/”Born to Sing”), and co-scripted by Kwon Sung-hui and Kim Woo-Geun. It’s an underwhelming high concept film that is nevertheless watchable and tense.
At the cease-fire zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea, the veteran North Korean Sergeant Lim Gyu-nam (Lee Je-hoon), with 10 years of service, awaits to be discharged. Instead he plans to escape from the North Korean dictatorship and live as a free person in the democracy of South Korea.
But, a North Korean private, Kim Dong-hyuk (Hong Xa-bin), he’s close to, discovered Gyu-nam’s plan, and attempted to escape first. Gyu-nam couldn’t stop him, and the sarge was arrested as a deserter when caught on the trail trying to stop Dong.
The sarge’s childhood friend, the sadistic Major Li Hyeon-sang (Koo Kyo-hwan), working for the State Security Ministry, gets the charges dropped and promotes him as a hero for trying to stop the escape, and then makes him the division head’s assistant. But Gyu-nam takes advantage of the new opportunity to escape. Hyeon-sang then goes after him with a cruel vengeance.
An injured Gyu-nam crosses the Korean Demilitarized Zone, while Dong-hyuk is tortured to death while in captivity.
REVIEWED ON 7/9/2024 GRADE: B-