Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageShiri (1999)
Director: Kang Je-Gyu
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Special agents Ryu (Han) and Lee (Song) work to track down North Korean spies who have infiltrated South Korean society; their prime target is a woman (Kim), a crack sniper known to be somewhere in Seoul. Meanwhile a team of ruthless Northern renegades hijack supplies of a volatile new explosive and plant bombs in Seoul, timed to explode on the day a soccer 'friendly' between the two Koreas is due to inaugurate a thaw in diplomatic relations. Kang's film is the all-time box office champion in Korea, thanks in part to an ad campaign which told audiences it was their 'patriotic duty' to see it. What they got for their money was a crudely plotted thriller with sub-par action scenes and a set-piece climax filched from The Manchurian Candidate and Black Sunday crossed with old-fashioned Korean melodrama. The cheesiest twist is the revelation that the woman sniper is living with Ryu as his girlfriend.Author: TR
Cast & crew
Director: Kang Je-Gyu
Producer: Lee Kwan-Hak, Byun Moo-Lim
Cast: Han Suk-Kyu, Kim Yu-Jin, Choi Min-Sik, Song Kang-Ho full cast
Duration: 124 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Time Out's 101 Films of the Decade
Ten years, thousands of movies and millions of dollars in international box office, and it all boils down to this
Martin Provost discusses 'Séraphine'
Trevor Johnston talks to the director of 'Séraphine' about bringing a little known French painter back to life
Our verdict on Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones
Peter Jackson ends a triumphant decade with a sentimental misfire with this lush Alice Sebold adaptation
On the set of Ken Loach's 'Route Irish'
Dave Calhoun meets Ken Loach on the set of his forthcoming Iraq war movie
Stephen Poliakoff discusses 'Glorious 39'
Stephen Poliakoff’s ‘Glorious 39’ is his first film for cinema since ‘Food of Love’ in 1997. Dave Calhoun met him
Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?
How does a film go from DIY experiment to box-office smash? 'Paranormal Activity' director Oren Peli explains
Steven Soderbergh on 'The Informant!' and 'The Girlfriend Experience'
We talk to Steven Soderbergh about his two forthcoming films: one featuring a porn star, the other a chubby Matt Damon
A gateway to all things 'New Moon'
In anticipation of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon', Time Out is offering the chance to pick up a limited edition pack with three exclusive magazines and a free poster.
The films that deserve a TV spin-off
With Roland Emmerich suggesting he'd like to make a '2012' TV spin-off, we propose some more movie-to-TV serialisations
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations
What do you think?
Post your review now