Shiri (1999)

Cast:

Suk-kyu Han is Ryu
Min-sik Choi is Park Mu-young
Kang-ho Song is Lee
Yun-jin Kim is Hyun

What the box says:

A phantom sniper methodically assassinates key figures in a South Korean intelligence investigation. Special Ageny Ryu and his partner Lee suspect North Korea's most lethal female operative, Hee. When a security breach prompts the theft of high-tech liquid explosive CTX from South Korean authorities, Ryu and Lee are certain there's a mole within their ranks.

The New York Times calls SHIRI "a tingling espionage tale," adding deception "(it) takes on themes that were only recently forbidden." Deceptions are uncovered, loyalaties questioned and two nations threatened in the thriller that smashed the Korean box office record set by Titanic!

Plot:

Note: There are several spoilers that might ruin the movie for you. So, in the interest of my tens of fans(I'm overestimating), the font color matching the background will try to hide some of the big spoilers. It isn't Kevin Spacey is Keyser Soozee or anything...

In 1992, North Korea, a platoon of troops is patrolling and is quickly eliminated by another group. We see this group killing tied captives. They compete assembling guns and shooting the one who is slower�All through the training, one woman excels above the rest.

The South Korean intelligence agency is profiling the deadly sniper, Hee. She has assassinated many important scientist and defectors. Agent Ryu is in charge of her case.

In 1996, a squad searches a ship finding a body with the word �Goodbye� carved into it.

At an outside caf�, Hee�s been in hiding for the past 6 months. Suddenly, the waitress kills Ryu and his partner, Lee. Ryu awakens from the nightmare.

In 1998, Ryu is at the fish store his girlfriend, Hyun, owns. They�ve been together for the past year.

North and South Korea is going to compete under one flag at the Olympics. Leaders from each country will meet.

Ryu and Lee are supposed to meet with Lim who suddenly darts away onto the streets. Lim is babbling that �she� knew about the meet. Lim is killed by a sniper. Ryu and Lee can�t find the sniper.

At the intelligence agency office, Ryu and Lee are researching the weapons dealer, Lim. Lim called them, needing protection. We see various fish tanks in the background being cleaned.

In North Korea, the military prepares for an important mission.

Ryu and Lee raid Lim�s warehouse. But, they can�t find a connection between Lim and Hee.

We see various guys loading weapons.

Ryu and Lee can�t determine what Hee is up to, now. Ryu, Hyun, and Lee go to a show. Later, at dinner, Ryu is about to propose to Hyun. After, Lee leaves them; Ryu and Hyun have one of those happy moments that inspire diabetic shock in others before suckin� face begins.

The first part of Operation Shiri begins. Various guys are acting suspicious.

Lim�s finances are being researched. The funds are quickly transferred to Dr. Kim who is quickly killed. Ryu and Lee find the poisoned needle jabbed into Dr. Kim. They learn Dr. Kim gave Lim CTX. CTX is a powerful undetectable, liquid explosive. The lab has the CTX under lock and key. IT is being transferred as they speak.

A group readies to ambush the convoy carrying the CTX. A roadblock stops the convoy long enough for the North Koreans to start a firefight and steal the CTX.

Ryu and Lee rappel from a chopper, finding the hijackers are already gone.

Later, at briefing, it is revealed a gallon of CTX has been stolen. That quantity is large enough to destroy the city. They believe Hee is involved and so are the North Koreans. But, they can�t publicly accuse North Korea until they get proof.

Ryu and Lee meet later. They think there is a leak in the office. And, all of the evidence points to either Lee or Ryu.

At a computer caf�, a guy meets with Hee. Apparently, Hee is ordered to eliminate Ryu.

Ryu keeps pondering the leak. He heads home. Hyun hasn�t moved into his place yet.

The soccer teams are to compete for spots on the unified Olympic team. North and South Korea are meeting to also establish a permanent peace.

At the lab, Ryu and Lee learn that CTX can be triggered by light and heat. This explosive is indistinguishable from water until it explodes. That is a potent chemical.

The convoy surveillance tapes identify Park. Ryu encountered Park on another case. Hee and Park worked together in the 8th Special Forces, North Korea�s finest. The peace conference is assumed to be the target of the CTX.

The 8th Special Forces are planting a CTX bomb. Hee is assembling her sniper rifle.

Ryu contacts a friend to help with the case to keep the leak in the office from learning about it. Hee has Ryu in her scope. But, at the last second, Ryu�s friend leans forward and is shot instead.

Ryu meets with Director Ko. He knows there is a leak in the agency. But, Ryu is ordered not to tell Lee.

Park calls Director Ko and talks with Ryu. The north is starving while the south has plenty. 10 CTX bombs will be planted throughout Seoul. Park will call half an hour before the bomb explodes to give a chance to evacuate the area. He gives the first location.

The evacuation and bomb search begins in earnest (eeeeeeeeewww)�.

It's like I'm playing Splinter Cell. Time is running down. The bomb is found right before it detonates. The explosion rocks the building and the surrounding area. The next scenes of flaming bodies falling from the skyscraper to the streets below have taken a new meaning since 9-11.

Ryu checks on Hyun. He takes her to safe house. Everything has her so distraught, she�s about to commence the consumption of intoxicating beverages.

Lee is called by Ryu who has found Hee�s informant. Lee goes to the meet and finds Ryu is disguised as the informant. This is Ryu�s plan to flush the leak in the agency. If something happens, that would make Lee the leak. Lee mentions that Hee had enough shots to have taken him out at least twice but didn�t.

We don�t have to worry about the accusations for much longer as Park and his forces enter the theater. Of course, a gunfight ensues into the streets. This isn�t some Merchant Ivory picture. Most of Park�s group is killed. One even blows their own head off in Scanners style�

Ryu and Lee keep after Park. The obligatory La Femme Nikita gunfight through the kitchen ensues. It looks as if Park is about to be caught when he somehow escapes into a mall.

This has to be the closest to a John Woo scene with multiple guns pointed at everybody�s heads. Ryu has a brief talk with Park who gets away thanks to the help of Hee.

Spoiler Fu paragraph

Lee manages to trail Hee before losing her in front of Hyun�s fish store. Sneaking inside, he finds Hyun in the back.

Ryu is thinking why Hee didn�t shoot him when she�s had the several chances.

Spoiler Fu paragraphs ensue

Ryu checks on Hyun�s background.

Hyun is bandaging herself up. Park chews her Hyun out for not killing Ryu. She�s changed. They�ve come too far in their mission. She will have to keep going. Park wants her to complete her part of the mission.

Ryu goes to a hospital Hyun stayed for a long time. She visited a sick girl. He learns that Hyun went to Japan for plastic surgery.

Park demands money and a jet or, he�ll detonate the rest of the CTX bombs.

Fish keep dying all over the office. Lee realizes that the entire office has tanks everywhere. He cuts open one of the dead fish and finds a listening bug.

The big soccer game is due to start later that day.

Hyun is at her fish store when Lee pays her a visit. Police are preparing to storm. He knows the goldfish are bugged. And more than that he knows she is actually Hee. Park shoots him. Park and Hee manage to escape although many of the fish tanks can�t avoid the gunfire.

Ryu tries keeping Lee alive for an ambulance. But, Lee dies�

Ryu realizes the target is the soccer stadium not the ransom and jet. Director Ko ignores him and orders him back to the office.

At the stadium, no liquids are being allowed inside. Park and Hee get inside. We see Nerdy Agent is stuck at the stadium.

Ryu rushes to the stadium�.

Hee retrieves her hidden sniper rifle. Park retrieves the hidden CTX. Ryu arrives.

Park�s men take over the lighting control substation.

The North and South Korean Presidents arrive at their box.

Park�s men ready the lighting.

The crowd is watching the soccer game.

The lights are turned on, heating the CTX. Ryu realizes the lighting for the Presidential box is on. He checks with a lighting crew who calls the lighting substation.

Ryu heads to the substation and is caught.

Nerdy Agent calls to find out how the CTX can be detonated.

Park will kill the corrupt politicians to start a war. He has been waiting for 50 years for Korea to reunify. The North is starving while the South waits. The soccer game won�t improve North Korea.

The CTX is still being heated.

Ryu seizes a gun demanding the lights turned off. A gunfight ensues�Ryu struggles with Park.

The CTX is still being heated while Hee sits in the bleachers.

Ryu and Park are still fighting as the gunfight continues in the background.

Nerdy Guy shoots Park. Ryu manages to turn the lighting off in the nick of time. The only time that matters when an explosive is about to detonate.

Ryu realizes that Hee is still loose. He heads to the Presidential box, warning the security forces.

Hee shoots the Presidential limo, to no avail. She takes out some security guards.

Ryu is right in front of her. Neither of them says a word. Then, Ryu shoots her and he walks away.

Later, Ryu is being debriefed about Hee. She never seemed to pursue him. The agency got the fish through Hyun�s shop. Ryu learns that Hyun was pregnant. His superiors drag him over the coals for not realizing sooner about Hyun.

At the wrecked fish shop, Ryu checks his voice messages. It is Hyun telling him where the CTX is at the stadium and the rest of the plan. She doesn�t want him to be at the stadium to face her.

Ryu visits Hyun�s friend at the hospital. He gives her 2 Kissinguirami fish. If one dies, the other will, too. Hyun gave him a pair of them. They talk as the credits roll.

What I say:

Some movies are harder to write about than others. In fact, a lot of B-movie sites prefer to spew venom and sound like Comic Book Guy on the Simpsons. It is far easier to tear down than it is to build. But, sometimes, you gotta unload your vengeance like a student of a massacred Shaolin sect. Massacre and Battlefield Earth are a couple of good examples of movies that really need to have their craptacularness spread to the 4 corners of this round Earth...(That makes as little sense to me, too....)

But, I'm rambling away from the point. It is hard to sound constructive when you don't want to gush about how great a movie is. Shiri was a South Korean blockbuster. It unseated James Cameron�s Titanic as the number one movie there not too bad an accomplishment. It also became the top grossing South Korean movie. Think of Shiri as good as Albert Pyun's Captain America is awful.

Most Asian action movies will have you think of John Woo or Ringo Lam's Full Contact. But, not Shiri. The agents in the movie steady their guns. We don't get any of the Chow Yun-Fat gun-fu though cool looking is far from realistic. Several of the scenes with the police storming a building, it almost seems you are in body armor with them.

Some movies could never be considered made after 9-11. After seeing Swordfish, it wouldn't have been made nowadays. And if you thought the explosions in it seemed, not realistic, too Hollywood-Matrix-y. Maybe, in other countries, movies with a terrorist attack like this could be made. But, no way would a movie in the US have a terrorist bomb detonating and, burning bodies thrown from a skyscraper crashing into the street below. I'm not sure if Shiri's depiction of the explosion is realistic. I've always tried explaining to people things are a bad idea like giving me the power to control who lives and dies.

Almost none of the violence has any of the feel it is movie violence. The violence is brutal. People don�t slightly bleed when shot. They get shredded by machine gun fire. In fact, it received an award from a South Korean special forces unit for showing weapons use and how the unit operates. If you come into this movie for gore, you're not going to get any. People aren�t filled with the 120 gallons of fluid under pressure that humans contain if I ever learned anything from Tom Savini. It isn�t glorious or cool like the gore-hounds would admire. I think the one scene that reminded me of head explosion from Scanners is the only scene that is movie violence.

My biggest complaint is during some of the gun fights the camera jerks around, making it hard to follow some things. And, in the end, that isn�t too bad of a complaint. And, that does add some realism to when the police storm a building. Too much realism can detract from a movie in some instances.

The political situation of the Korean peninsula isn�t something I claim to be an expert on. The Shiri review on Teleport City is probably the most informative on background of North and South Korea.

I�m not going to do anything with the hidden spoilers like in the plot section. The entire revelation about Hee�s identity is a shock to say the least to Ryu. In fact, just having them stare at each other after he knows her identity and neither of them saying a word is powerful. And, Ryu shoots her without a word. Only later, he learns she was carrying his child. Hee sending the message telling the plan and asking for him not to face her�While not the �ironic� Twilight Zone ending, it does a powerful thought that sometimes the hero doesn�t always win.

Good versus evil is simple, while the world is more than just black and white. While some movies, we just want a hero to go and stop the bad guy. It isn�t always that easy. Shades of grey color things more than what would make things simple to understand. And, when the villain isn�t completely evil, it gives him more depth. Park is doing this to end the political games that have crippled his country as it starves. How a war between North and South Korea will improve the conditions in the North? That fact is glazed over. But, he isn�t doing it for money or any of the generic terrorist reasons. While, he doesn�t have the tragically-noble villain vibe of Takahashi from Johnny Mnemonic, you do feel some sympathy for Park no matter his methods for his motivations.

The love subplot is actually integral to the movie. There is no way it could be mistaken as one of those Julia Roberts PG-13 movies that ooze more estrogen that a fertility clinic. And, The Pelican Brief falls into that category, too. But, beyond that into Rosie O'Donnell and Ellen Degeneres levels of estrogen...Cowgirls eating pudding levels of estrogen...Or something like that from my inner Cartman... I wouldn�t recommend thinking of Shiri as a chick flick. For, that matter, anyone wanting me to recommend any chick flick is in serious trouble. Though, I've always had a soft spot in my heart for that movie where the guy dies and comes back as a zombie to do on date with his dream girl. That probably isn't chickish-enough...

When, it comes down to it, America has quit trying to make good action movies. With a crop of �stars� like Steven Segal it is hard to blame the industry. I remember a Wayne�s World skit with reasons why James Bond movies will suck with the fall of Communism. That is more understandable to all action movies�Hollywood started using terrorists more like in True Lies. Today, I can�t think of any real action movie made in the past few years.

It has more and better gunfights than most American movies for the past 10 years. We�ve seen what happens when Hollywood tries to make action thrillers: The Jackal. If that movie isn�t a reason to start a moratorium on Hollywood thrillers, what is? Shiri doesn�t offer any easy answers to the questions it asks. A thought provoking action movie is something rare, even rarer when it is this good.

Quotable Dubbed Dialogue
"Do you copy, U2?"
"Have you ever seen fishes cry?"
"My goldfish smokes, too..."
"I was gonna send you a coffin, but you were lucky."
"You don't need to perform an autopsy. Cookies killed it..."
"I understand about liquor but why not coffee?"
"Have you ever seen parents eating the flesh of their dead kids?"
Morals of the Story
Gun assembling contests lead to death...
Bennigans is awfully big in South Korea.
Fish stores can be creepy.
Fights over computer mice are brutal.