Tube (2003)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

THE TUBE is a slice of South Korean action cinema that owes a great debt to Hollywood action films of the 1990s; it has little of its own look or style and for the most part seems content to emulate American movies instead of carving out a niche for itself. It's a pity, because more recently, Korea has been making some highly distinctive thrillers, such as THE MAN FROM NOWHERE and THE YELLOW SEA, with a look and feel all of their own; this is nothing like them.This film follows a typical template which sees a disgruntled terrorist deciding to take a train full of commuters hostage. The Korean police and special forces are typically useless, so it falls to a rather bland detective to tackle the menace single-handedly. Along the way, there's time for a little light romance with the distinctive Doona Bae, and some unwelcome, rather broad comedy.The problem with this film is that the action is just so lacklustre. Nothing happens that we haven't seen before, and some dodgy green-screen effects don't help to add to the experience. There's a distinct lack of effort and realism which becomes apparent as the storyline progresses, and never any real danger to the proceedings; you just don't care about the lives at stake. The poignant ending feels cynical and manipulative in the extreme, and the movie as a whole is entirely forgettable.

I love trains. I love movies, with a special knack for Asian ones. So when I saw this Korean action piece mostly set on a subway train, I couldn't resist to buy it (2.99 euro, used, in the video rental shop).Then I checked IMDb, and it looked like most comments were quite negative, so with some anticipated disappointment, I put the DVD in the player and watched it for myself.I agree with many commenters that the plot lacks plausibility, while providing more climaxes than needed (after the middle, I felt a bit exhausted like on a long subway ride, and considered one could turn this into a TV mini-series, cutting after each cliff-hanger...) But thinking more about it, I'd like to add some points.First, the political aspect. As is revealed later in the film, the South Korean government is supposed to have had in the past a secret "Rhodes Team" doing unlawful, dirty jobs. As briefly shown, this led to international criticism up to the UN security council, and to dirty disposal of the team and their families, with only "T" surviving, and using terrorist means to force a former minister to reveal those facts. The political thread continues with quasi-military occupation of the subway control room,the ex-minister ordering the destruction of the subway train, and the subway police chief exclaiming: "The real criminals are the politicians and parliament members!" Also, the part where a passenger says he retrieved the data card from "T"'s cellphone. I suspect that this part of the story made much more impact on Korean viewers than, say, in Europe or America.And then there is the unlikely love triangle between hero Chang, his deceased fiancée, and the pick-pocket heroine. No sex or sleaze at all, but deep emotions are symbolized with little things - sweets, cigarettes, a lighter, a special playing card... most memorably a can of Warsteiner beer on a stone bench - first with Chang and his fiancée, then Chang alone, then the stalking heroine alone. And their final handshake sure had Titanic appeal...As you can see, the subway action (which wasn't bad, just a bit too long) got me less involved than these two aspects. A good short summary of the tragic romance is in the music video that came as extra on my DVD. All in all, I find this a quite strong movie, and enjoyed it - less as a train movie than an interesting and touching Korean story.

Korea is one of the few nations in the world where people watch more local films than imports. Korean movies have a firm place in the north Asian market (enjoying a lot of success in China). However they have their eyes firmly set on the International market (or should I say America).In the last 2 years there were 4 attempts to hit this market (Wonderful Days, Natural City, Bichumundu (I don't really remember the spelling) and The tube). The tube was actually the first made but was delayed because of the Daegu (also spelt Taegu) subway disaster which killed over 300 people and closed the Daegu subway system for just over 8 Months.Wonderful days was an OK effort and Natural city didn't really make any sense and Bichumundu was in the style of crouching tiger, hidden dragon and was very successful in the Chinese market.The tube or should I say THE TUBE is interesting combining over the top Hong Kong style action rather than over the top American style action (the previous reviewer obviously had only seen American action films). The back story is too unbelievable to really grab the audience, but once the story moves into the subway it carries itself off well. It could have used a better bad guy though but then most movies these days have bad guys who do bad things because "they are bad guys..OK...they do bad things".The love story is very Korean (crazy girl forcing himself on an over serious guy).But this is not really a good introduction to Korean cinema which is still trying to find its own international voice while attempting to make lots of money. Check out 2 cops, memories of murder, the classic and my wife is a gangster.Here is a warning, one of the two main characters dies. This is not a spoiler, it is a Korean movie and even the comedies have tragic endings, and the dramas have tragic beginnings, middles, ends and lots of tragic side stories. I won't tell you who dies, but don't forget your tissues.Oh, and please watch the subtitled version, the people during the American voices just can't read the subtext of a Korean movie though the person who voices Kay is the exception.

Although TUBE is beautifully shot its still a weak hodge podge of every mainstream American action flick of the past 15 years. What's worse is that its derivative of the VERY derivative Jerry Bruckheimer/Michael Bey standard summer crapola. There are some great unintentional laughs at the expense of the lame love story but mostly this is a corny & predictable mishmash of SPEED, Armageddon, THE ROCK, MISSION IMPOSSIBLE, THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT & THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE. The writers of the last film should sue for 1) completely ripping off their plot & 2) for doing such a bad job at it. If you want mindless & fun action rent anything by Tsui Hark but avoid this time waster.