While not able to identify the leak in the agency, they do know that the assassin is a known figure, a female agent called Hee and the sect thwarting the unification is a renegade group from the North Korean Special Forces. This rogue unit highjacks a top secret explosive called CTX which is untraceable and ten times more powerful than any known explosive. So, the two agents are in a race against time to discover who is the double agent and find Hee and her fellow terrorists before they use the explosive to harm anyone, especially destroy the chances of the two governments finally trying to come to peace with each other.

The Film: Shiri is an important film in Asian cinematic history. It proved to the Korean film industry that they could make an expensive film (for them equivalent to $3 mil US- the Asian dollar stretches, so it looks like a $30-40 mil US film) and see huge profit (around four times its budget domestically). Plus, its risky plot, which was gone over with a magnifying glass by the Korean govt., was fair to both sides of a notoriously divided country.

While important and even entertaining, Shiri is just not my kind of action movie. Its a new-fangled, slick, what I call a "shiny, pretty action movie". Shiri is a film for people (well, mainly guys) who like to see men running around in military SWAT gear with laser guided scopes and assault rifles while sparky hails of bullets go off and digital counters on bombs tick down. To be fair, people seem to love Shiri and films like this, The Rock comes to mind, so it may just be me. There are Tom Clancy people and there are Joe R Lansdale people. I'm just not a building go boom, look at the gadgets and guns kind of action fan. Also, in aping a US style, no doubt Shiri would be far more impressive if it came out 5-10 years ago before slick American action productions like Mission Impossible became a well worn genre.

I guess what doesn't do it for me, is while Shiri's political plotline, North Vs. South Korea, is very neat and it struggles to include a love story amongst the techno terrorism, it just never has the emotional depth or characterizations to back it up and let me forgive the illogical "shiny, pretty action". In La Femme Nikita I felt invested in the characters enough that it just improved the action. Directors like John Woo and Sergio Leone direct action scenes with such tension and physical grace that they have just as much depth as the dramatic scenes. In Shiri, I didn't feel it... Directed with "wham-bam" editing and shaky moving steadicam, like in Michael Mann's Heat, I couldn't help but groan in a grand shoot-out and chase, when an army of SWAT soldiers are chasing the bad guys, mere feet behind them, shooting like crazy and hitting nothing. This was compounded by the fact that in the same scene, a line of fifteen cops are chasing the bad guy, one officer in the middle stops, takes a shot and finally nicks the bad guy, yet the eight guys in front of him, within almost arms reach of the baddie, couldn't hit the villain? Chow Yun Fat shooting a thousand bullets? Like I said, I can believe that. But, in Shiri, law enforcement not stopping a soccer game, knowing the stadium was rigged to be blown to smithereens by terrorists and filled with hundreds of people and the Korean presidents? Well, that was mind-numbingly awkward.

I can say two very positive things about Shiri- It packs a whole lot of movie and plot into its running time, and the pacing is brisk and never dull (including a wordless 6 min opening montage showing the brutal, violent training of the North Korean Special Forces team). And, by the finale, that emotional investment in the situation got much better and I did find myself interested in how it would conclude... But, the characters seem a bit too contrived. The buddy cop duo, Lee and Ryu, were for the most part relatively interchangeable, not much different, other than Ryu has a girlfriend and stays awake at the theater. The main bad guy, while in the end giving a nice speech effectively humanizing the terrorist's cause, overall was an atypical villain, spouting such laughable lines as, "We buried our youth in the tombs of history." As far as the double agent bit, well, it was so obvious who was the spy, the character should have been walking around with a T-Shirt saying "DOUBLE AGENT ^" on it, so there was no suspense in that part of the plot.

But, like I said, Shiri was a huge hit, and people seem to love it and are able to look past what I see as ridiculous action clichés and bad plotting. I felt it was all over the place, with loose derivative strands of romance, political thriller, techno action , double agent suspicion, and buddy cops all threaded together, but apparently for others it was a successful combination. So, I guess if you are the sort of new wave, The Rock, Purple Storm, The First Option kind of action fan, you'll probably find Shiri a welcome film in your collection.

Hollywood influences abound and, at times, weigh a little too heavily on this Asian production. The likes of Die Hard (1988), Heat (1995), The Rock (1996), G.I. Jane (1997) and The Assassin (aka: The Point Of No Return, 1993 - the US remake of Luc Besson's Nikita, 1990) are among the mainstream films plundered for stylistic touches and plot elements. This definitely makes Shiri exportable material, but also dilutes any genuine mystique its foreign nature may have given it. Shiri is almost like a pastiche of glossy Bruckheimer blockbuster or Joel Silver actioner that's now a multiplex staple. Yet, with an assured 'stillness' in its character-building scenes, and a mood that's often contemplative rather than exciting, the film repays second and third viewings, and is nonetheless great entertainment as an above average shoot 'em up drama, despite its wholly derivative content.

The title refers to a breed of river fish that (obviously) have no respect for national borders - though, as a metaphor for anti-political ideology, it's hardly an important aspect of this decidedly conventional offering...

REVIEW:
Shiri, as far as classification goes, is a pretty standard action/spy/thriller movie. The style has been done before. I must say, though, that I have never seen it done so well. Shiri proves that a movie doesn't have to be wholely original to stand above the rest. It's gripping plot, character interaction, and emotion put it miles ahead of similar efforts.

The plot of Shiri grabs the viewer immediately. From the early scenes of special forces North Korea, viewer interest is piqued. Without jumping immediately into the force's intentions, the viewer is quickly introduced to the main character and his relationship with the woman he loves and plans to marry. Then, its off to the races as the first murder that sets their investigation off takes place. Surely hooked by now, the viewer follows the exact logic with which the two agents start to follow their investigation that leads to the bigger picture.

So geniously plotted and so smoothly paced, the movie had me absolutely hooked. Never was I confused as to what was going on, nor did I feel like the movie was getting boring and redundant. But, the genious of the film lies not solely on the investigation plot. The love between Ryu and his girlfriend, Hyun, is called into play and will become an important part of how he deals with what goes on. The interaction between Ryu and his partner is another thing that makes the film so enjoyable. The chemistry is there and we are truly convinced they are great friends. When leaks are suspected, in such a cut throat enviroment, will they still trust each other?

This action thriller packs much more emotion than others of its type. I can count moments of happiness, relief, confusion, tension and sadness at points throughout the film. The latter three are particularly moving (and not independent of one another). Avoiding spoilers, I will not elaborate too much on these.

There is plenty of action in the film, with some intense and very violent shootouts. These scenes are pretty exciting and well done. The camera does have a tendency to be very shaky, which is a minor complaint, but it does not detract much. The most important thing is that the action scenes work well in the context of the film and during the fight, we see the plot pushed along because of what is going on.

It seems that Shiri definitely deserves all the praise it has gotten. I am not an expert in Korean cinema, but on the merits of this film itself, I certainly understand how the masses made it the number one grossing film of all time in Korea. An absolutely gripping story, chemistry between the characters, and plenty of emotion define the awesome experience that is Shiri.

Now "Shiri", on the other hand, feels like the exact opposite, a Korean remake of some big Hollywood political thriller. In fact, "Shiri" was made just so that it could compete with big "foreign" blockbusters. And looking at it, the filmmakers did an admirable job. Gone are the hokey sets, cheesy effects, and melodramatic acting that often seemed de rigueur for Asian action movies (or were some of their most endearing qualities, depending on how you look at it).

Hee is a top North Korean assassin who has been taking out various criminals and politicians. Assigned to her case are two special agents, Ryu and Lee, who have tracked her movements for years, to no avail. A recent rash of assassinations all seem to revolve around a mysterious chemical called CTX, a powerful explosive and source of energy. When a group of rogue North Korean soldiers make off with enough CTX to reduce Seoul to rubble, Ryu and Lee find themselves surrounded by political intrigue.

Why are these North Koreans so intent on foiling plans for reunification? How do they seem to know every move that Ryu and Lee make? And just what does Ryu's fiancé, Hyun, have to do with all of this? Soon, Ryu and Lee find themselves unable to trust anyone, including eachother, as the terrorists make one deadly move after another.

"Shiri" has loads of action, romance, espionage, political machinations involving the reunification of North and South Korea (always a touchy subject), and a double-cross or two. And it's got a slick, modern look. Unfortunately, it comes off feeling like the Korean remake of a Jerry Bruckheimer film. Part of me wants to congratulate director Kang for making such a successful film ("Shiri" broke box office records in South Korea, and could be considered that country's "Titanic"). It's wonderful to see other countries make movies that stand up to the wave of American films that flood and snuff out their box offices. And it's even more impressive when you learn they did it all for $5 million dollars.

But it all feels so, well, slick and modern. This is as "westernized" an Asian movie as I've ever seen, and I'm not sure that's a good thing. Gone are all of those excesses, those gritty, manic quirks that I love so much about Asian cinema. You could throw Ben Affleck and George Clooney in there, move the plot to Washington D.C. or New York, and you have any disposable politically-charged thriller that's come out in the past 5 years.

There are some exciting moments, and the movie does take risks that most Hollywood movies wouldn't take (love the exploding suicide pills). The big shootout between the South Korean agents and the North Korean soldiers is great to watch, reminiscent of the free-for-all in Michael Mann's "Heat". But that's just it... this movie feels like one I've seen before. At times, it even feels measured and uneventful, a real no-no when you're trying to pull off a thriller. There are parts of this movie that feel like blatant attempts to strengthen weak characters (ie Ryu, Hyun, and Lee's night on the town), or moments meant to make us feel for these bland individuals. Even when Kang tries to up the emotional ante with a surprise "twist", he insists on prolonging it even though an attentive viewer would've figured it out 30 minutes earlier, and successfully snuffs it out.

I love to see foreign movies that can compete with big Hollywood movies, but not when it's like this, not when it feels like they give into the big budget way of doing things. The thing that pulled me into Asian cinema was how un-Hollywood it was; you saw things in those films that you just didn't see elsewhere. Give me an example of a film that has as much heart and firepower as "The Killer", as much joie-de-vivre as "Chungking Express", as much excitement as "Police Story". Nothing compares to them. But if you ask me to give an example of a film that compares to "Shiri", well, I hope you have some time because we'll be there for awhile.

When an infamous female sniper assassinates one of the biggest arms smugglers in South Korea, Special Agents Ryu and Lee are called in to try and uncover her motives. Around the same time, a large quantity of a newly developed liquid explosive is stolen and all clues seem to indicate a possible connection. As the situation begins to unfold it becomes clear that a North Korean terrorist force is responsible but they seem to anticipate the Police's every move, making it even harder for our heroes to get any kind of foothold on the case. Will Ryu and Lee be able to locate the explosive before something goes bang or will the sniper get to them first?

It's always obvious that 'Shiri' really wants to get it's point across in regards to the differences between the North and South by showing the divide in such a prominent way (mainly the economic differences) which could so easily have polluted the movie with political rantings but thankfully it never becomes too congested by it's arguments. Maybe this is down to the thorough grooming that it was given by the Korean government so as not to appear proactive towards either territory or maybe it's the subtle and succinct directing but whatever it is, you do come away with an understanding of the reasoning for both sides' involvement. Perhaps, for me, this was the most effective area of the movie of all as it really offers an insight to the country's dilemma without ever having to pummel you with long winded facts and figures which is an incredible accomplishment in itself.

For the action, it's noticeable that 'Shiri' has had many inspirations ('Hit Team' and 'Purple Storm' spring to mind) but it brings it's own ambiance to each sequence that gives them an excitement all of their own. Most of the gunplay hinges on the film's core idea of realism with plenty of blood but no room for the kind of bullet ballet that we have come to expect from today's Woo inspired choreography and (amazingly enough) the main characters also have the brains to bring back up! This comes in the form of a very professional Special Forces Unit which adds a nice degree of background distraction whilst we follow the 'Saving Private Ryan' handheld camera towards our heroes' intended targets.

All in all, what I really liked about 'Shiri' the most was the complete package that it offers. It successfully manages to blend several much seen genres to create a film that comes across as a more stylish and meaningful movie than anything Hollywood is churning out at this time. On the evidence of this it would appear that Korea is very capable of bringing some real heavyweights to the big screen and, with similar international recognition from films like 'Bichunmoo' and 'Musa', hopefully these are only the beginnings of another thriving movie industry that will offer audiences an alternative cultural slant...

But that was okay. While America force-fed itself a steady diet of Rambo and Steven Seagal, dedicated action fans needed only to turn to Hong Kong, where the whole concept of action films was being reinvented by guys like Tsui Hark, John Woo, Sammo Hung, and plenty of others. What America had lost -- that human quality, the thrill that comes from seeing people instead of special effects at the forefront of the action -- Hong Kong now offered up in spades. And much like Italian and American films of the decade before, Hong Kong films during the 1980s were unique and will probably never be matched again.

Enter the 1990s. For various reasons, the Hong Kong film industry started to collapse. As older stars found themselves unable to perform the wild stunts the fans demanded of them and newer stars refused to undergo the horrific training required to pull off the stunts of yesteryear, action films faltered. Like American films, they began to focus less on the human aspect of a stunt and more on the technical aspect, things like big explosions and jumpy editing. Where many of the films had once relied on the style of breakneck martial arts action pioneered by Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, and Jackie Chan, the new crop of stars didn't have the dedication or the backgrounds to pull it off. A lot of the older stars, like Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh, suffered pretty harsh injuries as well, meaning that by the middle of the 1990s it was getting pretty hard to find a martial arts action film that didn't relying heavily on wires, camera tricks, and undercranking. Rather than covering up for the weaknesses of the stars, with few exceptions it only reminded people of how lame the new bunch was turning out.

Interest in Hong Kong action films waned, and action fans soon found themselves lost once again. Sure, over in Japan Takeshi Kitano was revolutionizing the genre and doing things unlike anyone had done before him (or, of course, would ever do again), but one man could hardly support the genre for the entire world. It seemed that the well, for the most part, had run dry. Oh yeah, some people were swearing up and down that the latest crop of Bollywood actioners from India were real ass-kickers in the spirit of early John Woo action films. This claim never really held up to inspection, though. Despite the desire to seem action-packed and dark, the bulk of Hindi action films just couldn't stop themselves from including the musical numbers, and nothing will kill the intensity of an action film quite like singin' and dancin' that ain't done in a seedy nightclub or strip bar. Perhaps it was simply time to go into hibernation, or spend time acquainting oneself with the impressive back catalog of worthy action films the world has to offer.

The along came Korea.

The Korean film industry has yet to get the attention that the cinema of China, Hong Kong, and Japan received overseas. An arthouse film would pop up every few years, but for the most part, even your above-average film fan in the United States knew little about Korean pop cinema. It just didn't have the trendy ring of other Asian countries. But a cursory look at where Korea stands right now will show that's in very much the same situation Italy, the United States, and Hong Kong were in when they were at the top of their game.

Both Italy and the US hit their action film stride in the early-mid 1970s. for the United States, it was a period when the Vietnam War was still raging, the country was trying to hold itself together, and everyone on either side of the fight just felt disillusioned and exhausted. In Italy, it was the Arab-Israeli war and the dramatic rise in terrorist activity and crime that tore the country to shreds. Out of these boiling cauldrons of chaos emerged some of the greatest, grittiest films of all time. Intense times breed intense films. In the 1980s, Hong Kong was really coming into its own as a force to be reckoned with, and at the same time realized that the 1997 hand-over date at which time they would rejoin the Communist mainland was no so far off as it once was. Mix that anxiety in with an explosion in the power of triad gangs, and all of a sudden you have an island full of nervous, uncertain people. That fear and uncertainty got channeled in many ways into energetic films and artistic expression. If nothing else, directors were betting they might not have has much freedom come 1997 so they better pull out all the stops before then. The results were, of course, amazing.

When 1997 rolled around and turned out to not be that big a deal, the industry found itself spent. Gangsters had bled it dry behind the scenes, VCD bootleggers had demolished the box office returns, and most of the old stars were retiring, seeking their fortunes elsewhere, or simply couldn't perform like they used to. Hong Kong settled back into a period of relative stability and complacency, and the raw intensity of the films from the 1980s was lost.

And now we have Korea. I'm going to assume that no one needs me to give them a lesson on the past and current state of Korea. The United States fought a little war over there we creatively call the Korean War. You can watch MASH for the low-down on that. The war was historic for many reasons, not the least of which being that America, still high off their big World War II win, was in for a rude awakening pertaining to our military might. The United States has never been successful with wars in Asia. The Japanese ran circles around us and just would not give up during World War II. The ground battles in the Pacific were some of the most intense and bloody American troops have ever fought -- my grandfather's ear will attest to that if you can find it. He left it back in Guadacanal somewhere. Eventually, we just had to drop a couple atom bombs on Japan to get them to surrender.

Korea didn't go much better (and I won't even bring up Vietnam and Cambodia). When the country went into civil war, the United States immediately jumped to the aide of the democratic South. What we didn't count on was the Chinese leaping to the defense of the communist North. The war raged for years and never amounted to anything more than a stalemate. Eventually, everyone just got tired and signed a cease fire agreement. The war was never actually declared over. Officially, it's still going on today.

Like just about every communist country started finding out in the 1990's, there are some basic problems with a government that is totalitarian and isolationist. Communist North Korea simply started running out of money, then they were not so simply hit with a number of bombshells. Crop failure and severe flooding resulted in mass starvation. Just about every communist country in Asia began moving toward an open market economy. Where North Korea could previously rely on China and Russia for aide, that aide was gone as those countries found themselves with their own load of problems. Both leaders in the communist world began making ovetures toward the formerly evil democracies of the West. Before North Korea knew it, Russia dropped Communism and China started to (but just couldn't let go of that whole torturing of political dissidents thing). Kampuchia changed its name back to Cambodia and overthrew the Khmer Rouge. Vietnam loosened the grip somewhat and started marketing itself as a great spot for vacations. Korea's communist allies were suddenly few and far between.

There was no way an impoverished, isolated country like North Korea could deal with the natural disasters that crippled its economy and crushed the people. They had to look for help, and the only places that were doing well were the United States, Japan, and South Korea. Maybe it was time to resume talks with their brothers and sisters from the South.

The notion of a reunification of the two countries has been kicked around a lot in recent years. It worked for Germany. But then, it's still a wildly complicated situation. Decades of separation require years and years of work before reunification can ever be a viable, lasting solution. The countries started down that road when North Korea simply stood up and said it needed help. Japan, South Korea, and the United States obliged. If the bitterest of enemies (there is no love loss between many Koreans and Japanese) could put aside differences to help people in need, then maybe healing the wounds wasn't such a crazy idea after all. Talks began, and just like in Italy, The United States, and Hong Kong, feelings of hope, fear, anxiety, and confusion emerged.

It's from these tense but hopeful times that Shiri draws its power. It draws its title from a fish that is native to the waters around the demilitarized zone between the two countries. The symbolism is not lost on the viewer, and in fact fish play a major role as symbols in this film.

Shiri opens with no holds barred, as a group of North Korean special operatives train under merciless conditions that include practicing your killing on (temporarily) live prisoners. The intro is alternately beautiful and grotesque. It holds nothing back when it comes to gore and bloodshed. In fact, as a whole Shiri is one of the goriest action films I've seen in quite a long time, right up there alongside War Dogs and the violent outbursts in a Takeshi Kitano film. At the same time, while people are being gored on bayonets and flayed alive, the entire thing is shot beautifully, set primarily at night in the rain with lighting and angles that remind me a lot of the rainy night fights from Tsui Hark's The Blade.

The star member of the team is a woman named Lee Bang-Hee. She kicks ass at everything, but shines as a marksman and sniper above all else. Choi Min-Sik stars as the leader of the group, a dedicated soldier named Park Mu-young. The grueling training sequence ends with the group seemingly hatching some sort of plot. Lee Bang-Hee then departs to carry out some mysterious task.

Skip ahead several years and a little further south, where we meet two star members of South Korea's special anti-terrorist police force, Ryu (Han Suk-Kyu) and Lee (Song Kang-Ho). The two of them have spent the bulk of the past couple years attempting to thwart the plots of the North Korean terrorists lead by Lee Bang-Hee and Park. Bang-Hee seems at least to have disappeared in the past year and stopped assassinating people. Well, that doesn't last long, as the story picks up as she comes out of retirement to play a major role in what is apparently going to be a major scheme. A film about an assassin who doesn't kill anyone wouldn't be very interesting.

Lee and Ryu realize that she's come out retirement when they attempt to meet with an arms dealer who wants to give them information about something she and her North Korean cohorts attempted to purchase from him. Unfortunately, he winds up dead before he can say much of anything. Lee and Ryu know now that Bang-Hee is back, she's trying to buy something serious, and that's about it. On top of all that, Ryu is struggling to build a life with his girlfriend Hee (Kim Yoon-Jin), a recovering alcoholic who runs a fish store. The fish symbol is played out again as she gives him a pair of kissing fish, explaining that if one dies, the other will die shortly thereafter of loneliness.

Ryu and Lee eventually figure out that the terrorists are going to try and steal a new type of liquid explosive that is far more powerful than plastique or any other sort of bomb. When they realize they are constantly being thwarted and outsmarted in ways that are impossible, it becomes evident that there's one more problem to deal with: someone in the office is a spy. Ryu and Lee suspect their own boss at first, and eventually turn their suspicions on each other. Meanwhile, Park leads the rest of the squadron over the border into South Korea and sets up the plot to steal the liquid explosive.

Despite all their careful planning, Ryu and the special forces are dealt a serious blow when the terrorists successfully hijack a convoy transporting the explosive. Ryu convinces himself that his partner and best friend Lee is indeed the spy, while Lee has come to the same conclusion about Ryu. Park begins threatening to blow up a variety of important spots throughout Seoul, promising that he will even tell the cops where the bombs are -- making sure to do so that no matter how fast they move, the cops won't be able to diffuse the bombs before they go off. The first explodes in a huge shopping mall -- a little strike against capitalism, there. Ryu knows that as long as someone is leaking information to Park's group, there's no chance the special ops unit will be able to capture them. He devises a plan that will trap, he hopes, both the rat and sniper Lee Bang-Hee.

It's necessary from here on out to be a bit vague about the particulars of the plot. I firmly believe that a great film cannot be ruined by knowing the end, and that you can't spoil something if it's effective, but I'll defer to common courtesy and keep a number of things secret. The trap almost works, but winds up leading to a huge shootout between the special forces and the terrorists. The action in Shiri is intense. Most of it is shot at a frantic pace with lots of movement, as if the camera was a member of the special ops team. And as we already said, the shootout are incredibly bloody. When people get ripped apart by automatic rifle fire at close range, they get ripped apart.

The best thing about the action isn't how much of it there is or how wild it is; it's how real most of it is. After years of watching John Woo and his many imitators send people sailing through the air in slow motion with two guns blazing while they cross their arms so they can, for some inexplicable reason, shoot left with their right hand and right with their left, it was good to see a film that handles most of its gunplay as if actual guns were being used. No sideways guns, no double-fisted guns. When they shoot, they hold the gun with one hand and steady it underneath with the other -- gee, the way guns are actually supposed to be fired so you can aim and shoot without shattering your wrist bones. Stylish, outlandish violence and gunplay is fine, but it's also nice to see a film that finally pays a little attention to detail and realism. In fact, among the many awards Shiri received in South Korea was one from the actual special forces unit. It was for realism in depicting the use of weapons and the way in which the team operates.

Ryu and Lee figure out that the bombings are little more than a red herring. The big target is a packed stadium during a soccer match. As part of the process of reunification, the leaders of North and South Korea decided to have their two teams play one another before uniting to play against teams from the rest of the world. It may seem like blowing up a soccer game isn't that great, but remember that the game is packed -- including the presidents of both countries -- and sports have actually played a major role in diplomacy in the past. I'm not a big organized sports fan, but only a fool would fail to see what an impact they've had on politics. The best example is the relations between China and The United States. Richard Nixon gets lots of credit for being the man who opened up dialogs with Communist China and began creating bridges between that country and the US, but the real pioneers were actually members of an American ping pong team.

Ping pong is serious business in China. If you've ever watched their Olympic ping pong team, you know this is an entirely different level of play then what you see in rec rooms across America. In 1971, the U.S. Table Tennis Team paid a diplomatic call to China for a friendly game of ping pong. The photo of a shabby, goofball looking hippy member of the American team surrounded by giggling Chinese kids is a famous picture. So famous and effective was the visit that the entire process of creating ties with China became known as "ping pong diplomacy."

A few years ago, a similar event happened when American Greco-Roman wrestlers traveled to Iran for a bout with the national team of our long-time enemy. Just as The US saw China's border dispute with the Soviet Union as a way to get in good with China, so too did we see Iran's constant battle with neighboring Iraq as a sort of "common enemy" way of establishing some sort of diplomacy with a country we'd hated previously. Once again, the first diplomats were athletes.

One of the most striking images from the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney came during the opening ceremonies when North and South Korea walked into the stadium under a unified flag and as a single team. They competed separately, but for that one night, there was no North or South; there was just Korea.

So sports can actually have a dramatic impact on things, and it's because they are something people have in common. A photo op of Mao and Nixon sipping mai-tai's is all fine and dandy for a history book, but how many everyday people relate to the staged posing of heads of state? How many relate to being enthralled by a good game? Sports speak to people on a common level that exists apart from ideology and politics. Sitting in the arena in 1971, there were no Communists and Capitalists. There were ping pong fans.

Ryu and Lee both know that if Park succeeds, it will be a crippling blow to the process of reunification, but the viewer may be confused by the fact that before every action, the terrorists say, "For the reunification." If they are in favor of reunification, why fight so hard against it? That's explained as part of one of the film's many strong points. The terrorists are not just terrorists. They are human characters. Their motivations, emotions, and beliefs are made very clear, and it becomes difficult to simply dismiss them as evil. They avoid the one-dimensionality that plagues most other bad guys in action films. Park in particular has a powerful moment when he confronts Ryu and talks about how SOuth Korean people have been lounging around in shopping malls and fancy stores while North Koreans have been left to starve and suffer and die. In his eyes, the biggest roadblock to reunification is the squabbling, petty, egomaniacal leaders of the political parties who leave people in misery while they sip cocktails and talk diplomacy in posh apartments.

It's hard not to sympathize with Park. He's a common type of character -- an everyman who sees people die in the name of political posturing. Choi Min-sik is superb in the role, as subtly powerful as Takeshi Kitano at his best or Chu Kong in The Killer as Sidney Fung and Kuo Chui as Mad Dog in Hard Boiled. While he's not the main character, he definitely emerges as the most interesting because he has so much depth. During one of their many bloody and intense shootouts with the police, there's a striking contrast between he and Ryu. While whole slews of cool looking anti-terrorist guys in their fancy uniforms get blown away, Ryu dashes past intent on catching Park. Conversely, when one of the terrorists is shot, Park's primary concern is for his team. He even puts himself in an inescapable situation because of his attempts to save his fallen comrade.

You may notice that I haven't said too much about assassin Bang-Hee despite her being central to everything that happens. Suffice it to say that when Ryu finally catches her, he's in for one hell of a revelation. You'll probably figure it out pretty easily, and to the film's credit that doesn't lessen the emotional impact. I firmly believe that I could detail every little plot point for you and it would still be a blast to watch.

After Ryu's trap backfires and Park is rescued from a nasty predicament by by Bang-Hee, Ryu manages to trail Bang-Hee as she retreats to her hideout to treat a wound. Ryu nearly loses it when he finds her hideout is his girlfriend's fish shop. At the same time, Lee finally figures out the mystery of the leak inside police headquarters. Months ago, Ryu's girlfriend Hee gave him a fish for his desk, and as a way to pretty up the place, the department bought several other fish from her. They had a problem with them dying, which they attributed to the fact that Lee thought they'd like to eat things like cookies and hamburgers. Lee has a revelation about this however, and when he cuts open a dead fish in his office aquarium he finds a tiny transmitter inside. He realizes then, just as Ryu realizes it as he watches Bang-Hee remove a wig and disguise: Hee and Bang-Hee are one and the same.

The year or so Bang-Hee was retired was spent in Japan receiving plastic surgery. Ryu is devastated to say the least. He has no idea what to do or how to feel. At the same time, Hee is tortured over the fact that she actually does love Ryu as much as she says, and her relationship with him goes far beyond a mere easy road into police headquarters. Lee is less indecisive, however, and immediately calls out the troops to capture her. It doesn't go as planned, of course.

In the end, it comes down to Ryu facing off against Park and his soldiers in the stadium while Hee waits as a back-up plan. If the bomb doesn't go off, she'll open fire on the two presidents. The final shootout is amazing, not that everything up to this point hasn't been equally amazing. It ends as we expect it will, with Ryu forced to confront Hee before she assassinates the presidents. The final scene between the two is silently powerful. They exchange no words, but the emotion conveyed is overpowering. And it only gets stronger in the following scene. When Hee refuses to relinquish her weapon and takes a potshot at the presidential limo as it passes, Ryu shoots her in the head.

The next scene sees Ryu returning to the fish shop. His mission was a success, but he's lost everything. On the answering machine he finds a message from Hee. In it, she details every aspect of the plan so Ryu can successfully foil it. Her only request in exchange for the information is that he not be the one to go after her. Send someone else, anyone else, but she couldn't face Ryu again. It's a staggering scene, one that perfectly illustrates the depth of Ryu's loss.

Even among the tough guys, nary a dry eye is to be found as the movie draws to a close.

After I finished this film, I sat in quiet, stupefied awe for a while, then immediately watched it again. The movie got a lot of hype at home, and I think it more than lives up to it. It's one of the most action-packed, exhilarating, emotional films I've seen in decades. It has the emotional impact of The Killer but avoids being as melodramatic. It's an incredible, draining experience. And the action is simply incredible. Shiri eschews the bullet ballet of heroic bloodshed while maintaining the emotion, and goes for a grittier, realistic approach while at the same time still remaining highly stylish. It's like a mix of 1980's John Woo with films like Heat. In fact, this movie reminds me of Heat in several ways, including the flawed cop and the well-developed criminals as well as several stylistic aspects.

Upon its release in South Korea, Shiri was a blockbuster. It knocked Titanic out of the number one spot and quickly became Korea's highest grossing film. With the collapse of the Hong Kong film industry and everything about Japan these days being lukewarm at best, South Korea has the only domestic film industry that regularly out-gross American imports. With this much hype surrounded it, I was sure there was no way Shiri could deliver, at least not at the level that was being claimed. I'm happy to say I was dead wrong. The film is fantastic, breathtakingly paced, and exquisitely structured.

I don't get wildly excited by movies that much anymore. I've seen just about everything at this point, and as I've said before it may not take much to please me but it does take a lot to wow me. Shiri is the type of movie that reminded me of why I developed such a passion for the cinema. It has everything and executes its game plan without flaw. Whether or not South Korea can keep it up remains to be seen, but other recent action films from that divided nation look promising. In the wasteland that is the modern action film genre, Shiri is the only movie that can go toe-to-toe with the films of the past or the films of Takeshi Kitano.

The lead cast is superb, and the supporting cast is great as well. Particularly cool is a young cop who is treated as sort of the office nerd throughout most of the film until he showcases his talents at the end and becomes one of the central players during the final confrontation between the Special Ops and the North Korean soldiers. I've already covered how amazing Choi Min-sik is in this film, but let's not leave out Kim Yoon-jin as Hee. She is remarkable, though she needs to brush up on pretending to take a drink from a bottle. She brings an emotional depth and spiritual/physical strength to her character that is almost never found in a female in an action film. Most of the time, the action film idea of a strong woman is just to have her beat people up same as the guys. Hee is a different type of character, though. Total and absolute bad-ass, no doubt, but it's the depth of her character and the sacrifices she forces herself to make that make her truly memorable as one of the most powerful female characters in action film history.

While the politics and symbolism are not exactly subtle, they also manage to avoid being heavy-handed. There is never any, "This is right, this is wrong" proclamation the way you see in American movies that attempt to have a message (Traffic being a notable exception). Instead, the politics serve to add extra electricity to the film, just as they did in the 1970s in films from the US and Italy. shiri reminds us that action films can still be good, and films can still be political without being preachy and condescending. Are you listening, Susan Sarandon?

The gore will no doubt turn some people off, just as I'm sure it will attract others. It's pretty graphic stuff, but I'm one to say it's actually positive to see the negative aspects of violence. When people get shot, they bleed. They bleed a lot. It's not something that is clean. American action films love to up the body count while lowering the actual amount of bloodshed, thus making the violence far more cartoonish and far more inviting. Watching some poor cop get his kneecaps blown off in Shiri will not make you want to pick up a gun.

Speaking of which, man alive do a lot of cops die in this film. The uniform with all the packs and the hood and the goggles and the neat guns may look ultra-slick, but you might as well be wearing one of those red shirts in the old Star Trek series. Like I said, in at least one part of the film it's used to great effect.

I really can't say enough great things about Shiri. It made me feel like I was discovering something for the first time. If this film doesn't obtain the same sort of lofty cult status that movies like The Killer and Hana Bi have obtained, then the world truly is obtuse. If you are in search of the best action films in a decade, then you need look no further than Shiri.

IMPRESSIVE high speed action thriller from South Korea with chases, a lot of guns, a high body count and the added novelty of some intelligence...

Opening with the bloodthirsty training of a crack military intelligence unit in communist North Korea, we soon move on to Seoul, 1998 where two South Korean cops are trying to track down a skilled and merciless female assassin against a backdrop of Korean reunification. Tensions increase when a fabulously ridiculous new explosive by the name of CTX is stolen from a government research facility, the killings start getting closer and the clock is soon ticking for our two heroes...

Named after a fish found only in central Korea, Shiri is an impressive monster of an action flick. Blood spills in impressive quantities, there is no shortage of big explosions, SWAT teams and extended gunfights with double crosses aplenty. In fact it's probably down to the big bangs and the red herrings that this has been so well received making it "Korea's biggest money maker of all time". The film certainly lives up the hype and, particularly after we are past the initial background scenes, is fast paced, very dark and includes infinite nods towards classics of the genre particularly Nikita.

Interestingly this is one of at least 3 films showing at EIFF 2000 focusing on communism and reunification (see also Sun Alley and Marshall Tito's Spirit) though here the hardships of the regime in the North are never actually shown. However they are described with some fervor, and the South is made to look bright, hi-tech and decades ahead of the North, with added emphasis given to the differences with the music used in each segment, with the pulsing score ably building the tension up for the later scenes. The film also looks fantastic, the obsession with fish is a nice touch which helps the visuals remain unique as we find big beautiful neon tanks all over the film thanks to one of the cops having a girlfriend who runs a fish shop.

Although the final segment is perhaps a little over-extended, this is a minor quibble with an excellent romp that boasts both a heart and a mind. Although it borrows heavily from an American-dominated genre, Shiri is easily more stylish and rather better written and performed than any of the recent crop of Hollywood action/thriller flicks.

Named after a tiny freshwater fish native to the Korean Peninsula, Shiri beats popular Hollywood films like Titanic fins down.

Just look at the splash it made in Korea alone. It has captivated 6 million viewers, making it the most watched movie in Korean history, holds the title of Korea's most-sold film overseas and has garnered more foreign press coverage than any other Korean film.

Small surprise. This gilled wonder has it all: Riveting action moves, slick special effects, and a tragic love story to send you dabbing at your eyes.

The story revolves around the subject closest to South Korean's hearts: North Korean spies are in their midst.

And these spies are trying to get their hands on South Korea's top-secret liquid bomb - CTX which is "12 times more powerful than any other bomb" to blackmail the South Korean government.

Their goal is to set off the bomb in the soccer stadium where North Korea and South Korea are having a friendly soccer match and kill South Korean leaders.

Understandably, South Korea is desperately trying to stop the coup. At the forefront of its defense are 2 top secret agents, Ryu and Lee. Their investigation leads them to suspect Hee - a top-notch sniper from the north who has killed many government officials.

When Ryu and Lee's investigation keeps getting foiled, they get suspicious, and even start suspecting that the other is the mole.

As Ryu's professional life comes under severe duress, his private life proceeds in the other direction. Had it not been for the impending disaster, Ryu will be perfectly happy - he is going to marry his lover, Hyun, soon.

His bride-to-be even gives him a pair of kissing fish to symbolize their relationship. For the uninitiated, these kissing fish cannot live without each other. If one kissing fish dies, its partner soon follows.

You may take this as a striking parallel to the characters in the movie, or better yet, take it as a stunning revelation of the film's message about the divided land.

Besides the stylish moves and sleek technology, what's most compelling about Shiri is its delicately shaded picture of North Koreans.

For years, they are portrayed in the Korean media as comical buffoons, raving fanatics or cold-blooded murderers. The last director to humanize the enemies - Lee Man Hee - was jailed in 1967.

Yet in this movie, we are made to feel sympathetic for Hee, the markswoman who has to pit her love for a man against her love for her country, and the slippery Park, head of the enemy's taskforce.

"I have seen parents eating the flesh of their dead children," the embittered leader says when confronted by Ryu at the soccer stadium. "How can you, who grew up eating Coke and hamburgers, understand that?"

How indeed, has this sentence made its way into the Korean cinema screens, given the strict censorship Korea has always imposed regarding its northern counterpart?

Even more amazing is the fact that the Korean government is considering screening this movie to motivate troops.

Which just goes to show that in all areas, commercially, politically, artistically or otherwise, Shiri just can't help coming up on top.