Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War

In terms of realistic, brutal, relentless depiction of battle, Tae Guk Gi far surpasses Saving Private Ryan or any other war movie I can think of. The astounding production values are on par with any Hollywood multi-bajillion dollar blockbuster. Unfortunately, the film is hampered by a lack of subtlety and sappy, overblown melodrama. It's like Kang took the best and the worst of Spielberg.

Interesting point of view for a war Movie.Some real heavy fighting scenes & very good actors make Tae Guk Gi to one of my top War Movies ever.Great

Along with being very ''Hollywood'', this film looks quite plain and hard to believe. You can't even care for characters. And they always talk in order to tell the story. It's disturbing and stupid.

Some great action scenes but the concept that war turns brother against brother and changes people beyond recognition is beaten over the viewers head to the point of ridiculousness. It's far more of a melo-drama than a historic war film.

Big budget, sure...but corny as hell. Just because this is foreign doesn't mean its good. The amount of fist fights on large battle fields was ridiculous.

Over the top, overacted, overly pretentious, overly everything. I find this movie's plot hardly believable and twists are insulting my intelligence. Oh yes, absolutely overrated. If you wanna watch something about the Korean war that actually makes sense and has a human touch, I'd recommend JSA

The 'Hollywood Ending' of this Korean War film didn't detract from the score I gave it. It's no 'Saving Private Ryan' but it was still a great war film.

Blows Saving private Ryan out of the water. Equally stunning and shocking battle sequences combined with far more powerful story.

Slightly derivative film about the Korean War, and a pair of brothers who end up fighting on opposite sides, but the action is awesome and the acting is all pretty good. Solid entertainment if somewhat melodramatic.

If it's well done enough even the most predictable drama can work and this is a prime example. From the start you know the outcome and the surprises are mild but it's so ruthlessly effective in the execution that it got to me completely. The other part is the war film which is relentlessly brutal and effective at showing the horror and tragedy of war.

Basically, this is the Korean "Saving Private Ryan," the same gritty realism is there, awesome effects, intense battles. It's a little on the dramatic side, but the Korean war warranted a little drama, considering it was essentially a civil war. It's hard to find movies about the Korean war, to find one so completely and utterly awesome was an incredible catch. This one is heavier on the story than some war movies, leading to some variation in intensity and scenery. A must watch for war buffs.

It's a big scale, first league war film with all that it means: big budget, big crowds of actors and extras, professional camerawork, acting and directing, and, of course, a Meaning. Unfortunetly, unlike 'Saving private Ryan' this film is compared to, it doesn't suffice to miss the very begining and ending to avoid the kitsch. The whole script is so schematic that the cliche almost physically hurts.

Crap. With all due respect to the South Korean's nationalist pride, this film would've been a whole lot better if it actually had been about South Koreans fighting the good fight instead of solely focusing on just 2 brothers, one of which you actually wish a couple of times would step on a mine and the other who, in the course of just one battle, takes out half the opposing army and rest of the time plays chicken with machine guns and jets without usually getting a scratch. Avoid.

Tragic story about two brothers in Korean war

Bad A. I saw this around the same time as Oldboy, and if Korea keeps it up, I one day may take the time to find where they are on a map.

A good war movie overall but the dramatic "Hollywood" scenes were too much after one point. They kept crying and crying and tried to make us cry which got kinda' boring after a while. War scenes were extremely good, except the last one where it was really hard to understand who, what and when..

A great film about the Korean War and the separation of one nation into two. Spectacular battle scenes, solid acting and a touching finish. There are echoes of Saving Private Ryan in this film, and that's a very good thing.

Someone say here about this movie something like this "but the concept that war turns brother against brother and changes people beyond recognition is beaten over the viewers head to the point of ridiculousness" but what he does not uderstand that it was civic war. Anyhow this movie is must be for generals, politicians and everyone who think that is war some solution.

One of my favorite war movies. The battle scenes are incredible. Some of the drama is on the sentimental side, but I was engaged and enthralled through-out. It really is a must-see, and Je-gyu Kang's 'My Way' is pretty great, too.

A powerful moving addition to the cannon of great (anti-)war movies.This is one of the most brutal and unrelenting depictions of war I've seen.It really drives home the fact that war is a horrific affair for the participants.The way the brothers relationship change over the course of the film is done very well.The final 50 minutes of this film is very emotional and brings this film to a satisfying close.Two Thumbs Up.

Boring story of two brothers in the Korean War. The elder is the kind of unbelievable character you get in very poor war films - he's a walking talking Korean superhero who is impervious to the bullets and shells that affect mere mortals. The younger brother spends the whole film whining, which grates pretty quickly.He is also supposed to be someone of intellect but he comes across as a total drooling simpleton. I'd rather fight in the Korean War than watch this bilge again.

Pretty good.

This screens a lot like a blockbuster American movie. While it's overly sentimental in places (that awful score certainly doesn't help), I still found the story moving and I would recommend it. Plus, it's sometimes nice to see a war film from the perspective of someone other than the Americans.

Overly melodramatic (like most asian cinema), but still a decent, simple story at its core, and well-presented, at that.

Amazing except the blood pieces on the camera

An interesting look at The Korean War told from the perspective of South Koreans. An interesting story and decent action that reminded me of battle sequences in Windtalkers; A little over done and polished possibly the result of editing. The plot is also a tad far fetched at times. However, my assesment may be a little too harsh.

This is a very shaky cam heavy movie, most of the time it works and helps the film but there are a few times where I found that it hurt the scene. Won Bin was great in this but Dong-gun Jang is by far the best part of this film. The ending was a bit rushed but overall this was a very harsh and at times moving war film.

Extremely melodramatic and incredibly corny, but the action and violence was pretty brutal which makes everything alright again.

Incredibly cheesy plot and CGI but it was oddly likeable.

Impressively mounted battle scenes are the only article of distinction about this heavy-handed, mawkish melodrama.

Freaking stupid.

an epic scale

Massively impressive war scenes, the plot goes a bit overboard at times, but still, quite good

Mouch Lower than Expected!!!

Two brothers are forced into the Korean war. Brotherly love is displayed prominently in this story. Charismatic actors. It has several unexpected turns of events. The acting performances were good and the battle scenes and special effects were very realistic. The line between honorable and evil was tested by the horrendous circumstances. It was engaging, entertaining, and sometimes exciting. It was a bit melodramatic at times, but worth watching.

Very Nice

Excellent war movie with lot of similarity's with Saving Private Ryan. CGI effects were a bit ugly and there was more tiny issues. For true war movie lovers.

mukemmel býr fýlm...

Has a good story. I wouldn't have minded the kitsch so much, if it wasn't for the ridiculous and unnecessary last act. Why not let the movie end on a "fascism sucks and everything was nice before the war, because it drives people apart and makes us do shitty things and look how not nice things are now" note... Because oh no, we still need another fist fight (during a battle :D :D :D), overly emotional screaming and another ridiculous character-completely-changing-his-ways-in-one-second-moment.

Despite the somewhat clichéd and overly melodramatic narrative, it's always interesting to see tales from parts of history, you (I) didn't know a whole lot about.

A very watchable film. Just too damn long to make its point.

A brutal take on the horrors of war. Civil war, neighbour on neighbour, brother on brother. The sibling relationship being the microcosm which humanises and emotionally connects the viewer with the reality of conflict.