R-Point (2004)

The Worst Film Ever

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

R-Point is essentially a small horror film that pays homage to such Japanese horrors as The Grudge or The Ring, but then also to classics such as Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket, and is a film I rate highly as an enjoyable and effective wartime ghost story.A disgraced Lieutenant, a stone cold Sergeant and a literal Dirty Dozen of the South Korean army's VD infected. You can tell that the brass doesn't care whether these men come back or not. They're expendable and the mission is damned from the start anyway. The only reason they're there is the incentive that if they complete the mission, they get to go home.Their mission is to enter R-Point, a strategic vantage point on an island between South Korea and Vietnam and find the missing men sent there and having disappeared after sending a very strange distress call back to HQ.R-Point is a cheap little horror film that makes the very most of what it does have to offer, and that is atmosphere and suspense. The visuals are beautiful, the location is beautiful and even if the dialogue is a bit silly at times, the actors do a damn fine job considering I don't know any of them.From start to finish, R-Point subtly builds tension and atmosphere and plays on the imagination using the power of suggestion, allowing for multiple agendas and outcomes to come of what happens throughout.Conventionally it doesn't do anything new but admirably improves an old and exploited genre that has seen a small comeback with the likes of Deathwatch and Outpost, relying on human drama, intrigue and multiple strand narratives to keep the audience guessing as to how the end will happen rather than what the outcome will most typically be.Untypically, its characters are all very different people with complex pasts and concerns in their lives. No one is typically maddened or emotionally disturbed by the war. In fact it is highly suggested that the toughest of the platoon's soldiers are liars who have barely even seen combat and are terrified by the prospect. Having said all that, I feel that the climax is a bit of a let down, in the sense that so much tension built is spent on revealing the not so clever conclusion. It saves itself by being kind of creepy and I suppose by giving a nod to classic Asian ghost stories. But it seemed like it was going to be different and it gave no real surprises.Still a fantastic film and very well made but don't hold your breath... if you can help it!

Su-chang Kong, who was also a writer on Tell Me Something, wrote and directed this Vietnam War film. Based upon what I have seen, he shows much promise as a director.The film is supposedly based upon legend about the area. Soldiers - Korean, Vietnames, American, and French - enter the area and never return. Maybe they are paying for their sins.A Korean unit is sent into the area after us. radio messages are received. Nothing is as it seems. How can the dead send radio messages Will the soldiers end up like all the rest? It is a film of terror and fear. No FX, little gore, and no nudity, It is a cerebral exercise in horror - the horror of war.

The plot of R Point revolves around a Korean platoon operating near the end of the Vietnam war. They are sent out to investigate the disappearance of some allied soldiers in/near a ruined fort in Vietnam. Upon arrival it is obvious that the location to which they have been sent is somehow menacing and that the area might be haunted.This is by no means a Hollywood style, all out horror flick, and for myself this was its strength: The film starts in a fairly relaxed way, but subtly becomes more and more eerie as it progresses. There is no 'turning point' as such in the story, where things go from bad to worse. Instead we have a sense of growing menace and foreboding. The subtlety with which this is achieved is excellent.The characters are well developed and have distinct personalities of their own rather than behaving like generic 'movie soldiers'. This helps add to the realism as collectively the platoon starts off just fine but gradually descends into a nightmare.Whilst not especially gory, R point is a genuinely scary flick. There are a number of strange plot twists which keep the viewer wondering exactly where this whole thing is headed. The camera work is also good and the location has been chosen well. The area in which the story unfolds is dark, deserted, seemingly miles from civilisation and has an air of isolation and evil hanging over it. All in all this goes down as one of my favourite horror films, a sort of blend of Apocalypse Now and Ring with an originality of its own. The film is intelligent, haunting and the characters believable. All in all, definitely worth watching =)

PLOT: A squad of Korean soldiers is deployed on a search & rescue mission after a radio transmission is received from a missing team, killed by unknown forces.REVIEW: R-Point does well in establishing an ominous atmosphere at the beginning of the film. The initial reconnaissance by the team unfolds with foreboding and tension, and the viewer is both eager and frightened to see what they will discover. Unfortunately, this tension quickly morphs into boredom. Little happens for much of the film, and the mood set by the introduction is lost. It doesn't help that the characters are unengaging and for the most part interchangeable. The performances quickly become annoying: everyone seems to be constantly hysterical, with characters grabbing each others' lapels and shaking them, or dropping to their knees and sobbing, every other minute. Most frustrating is that for all the buildup, the tale turns out to be a pretty generic ghost story, and not a very exciting or scary one. R-Point starts with an intriguing premise, but wholly fails to deliver.