The Tower (2013)

What a beautiful movie!

Sorry, this movie sucks

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

High, but-really-too-high, building, check. A Christmas party, check. Too many people, check. Bad weather, but we don't care because the party is more important, check. Security measures not taken care of because, really, what is going to happen?, check. Father with little child that is in love with a co-worker, check. An experienced fireman that should not be working but-actually-really-has-to, check. Some people that just seem to be there to sacrifice themselves for the tearful moment, check.For anything else, lots of explosions."The Tower" is what the title says: A tower. On fire. With lots of people inside. The plot is kept to a minimum: people running around, things exploding, glass breaking, jumps, and an angel. From the very beginning you can probably tell to yourself what is going to happen, and probably even in which order. The characters are cartoon-ish, the effects just OK, and you probably have seen anything that happens a million times.Then, what makes "The Tower" so much fun? For starters it keeps things happening non-stop, so the two hours feel like a breeze (yes, even if everything is on fire). The acting is good, and you have lots of famous actors doing a really good job with the simple material they are handed: stern leader, comic relief, protective worker, desperate father, selfish major... And the direction is good and has a clear focus. All of this works to make a movie that is really fun and that will keep the viewer on the edge of their seat.

OK I'm a sucker for any movie with big red trucks with ladders and sirens so when I saw this on Netflix I thought I would scroll through if only just to look at the Korean fire appliances. I suspected from the description that this was going to be a remake or at least heavily influenced by the Towering Inferno. I wasn't wrong and it also appeared to have some Backdraft and Ladder 49 influences as well. The version I saw was subtitled and I can help but suspect that some of the movie was likely lost in translation. I think this is particularly true in some of the firefighter communications. I thought some of the acting early on at the fire station was over the top, but during the actual action sequences, it was believable even with the language barrier. Another influence that can't be missed is the similarity of this incident and the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. Some of the visuals were obviously inspired by the images of that day. The movie was well shot and the special effects were as good or better than the standard Hollywood movies of today. I saw the Towering Inferno in the theater in the early 70's and count it among one of my favorites along with Backdraft from the early 90's. But both of these films were pre 9/11 and it's interesting to see what a sky scraper disaster movie looks like post 9/11.

This film is a "disaster movie" all right!! A huge DISASTER! The writing is absolutely horrid; one tired, unrealistic, silly cliché after another. The acting fits perfectly with the dialog; it is equally horrendous. And the "predictability factor" is off the charts; here's how predictable it is. Even if you HAVE NOT SEEN IT you know EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENS! How's that for predictability? However, the awful writing, the dreadful acting, and the predictable predictability are NOT what's worst about this film. The real repulsiveness comes from the shameless way this film takes from the TRUE DISASTER of 9/11/2001, right down to people putting up photos of loved ones on billboards along the sidewalk. It's shameless, exploitation, and unwatchable. The CGI was wonderful, but what an abject waste of technology. Don't see it. You've got better things to do.

When Koreans are original their films or music can be (and often are) great. But when they are derivative, it is just cringe-worthy. If you have seen Towering Inferno you have see this. There's not a great deal of difference. There is just no originality in it. It seems like the producers assumed no one would remember the other movie. I am so embarrassed for everyone involved in it. Funny thing is, the Korean filmmakers seem to have no shame about stealing intellectual property without attribution. I tried to enjoy this but it continually reminded me of the original without having much new to offer and it certainly didn't have the quality actors that were in the original.