It's 1950 Korea. The South and their allies have retreated to the Nakoong River. Under General MacArthur's plan, the allies are to retake Incheon to drive the North back. A ship carrying 772 student soldiers head for the beaches of Jangsari a day before the Incheon landing in a diversionary attack.
The movie starts with a reasonable amount of war action. There is actual tension. It's a promising start but two things immediately becomes noticeable. The section with Megan Fox and George Eads is utterly unnecessary. By the end, they are cringeworthy. Megan has never been a great actress but the dialogue is impossible. Even Meryl Streep wouldn't be able to deliver it. It is some of the worst writing ever. They're probably there to sell the movie to the west. It's a fool's errand. The second thing is the injection of bad action and melodrama. This one happens slowly. At first, it's the soldiers bunching up. It's a classic mistake. Filmmakers think that more people equal bigger action. If they're bunched up in a tiny space, it looks like a cheap production trying to maximize its budget. Then the melodrama starts happening. The characters' stories starts getting more outlandish. There is a Mulan. There is a cousin killing which requires a bad character making illogical reasoning. There is bad attempts at humor which destroys the tension. This has elements which worked but the stuff that doesn't work really doesn't work.
The movie starts with a reasonable amount of war action. There is actual tension. It's a promising start but two things immediately becomes noticeable. The section with Megan Fox and George Eads is utterly unnecessary. By the end, they are cringeworthy. Megan has never been a great actress but the dialogue is impossible. Even Meryl Streep wouldn't be able to deliver it. It is some of the worst writing ever. They're probably there to sell the movie to the west. It's a fool's errand. The second thing is the injection of bad action and melodrama. This one happens slowly. At first, it's the soldiers bunching up. It's a classic mistake. Filmmakers think that more people equal bigger action. If they're bunched up in a tiny space, it looks like a cheap production trying to maximize its budget. Then the melodrama starts happening. The characters' stories starts getting more outlandish. There is a Mulan. There is a cousin killing which requires a bad character making illogical reasoning. There is bad attempts at humor which destroys the tension. This has elements which worked but the stuff that doesn't work really doesn't work.