Many of the reviewers here seem to take this movie seriously, as though it matters whether it's history or propaganda. I think they are missing the point.
There are movies for which these sorts of questions matter, but this is not one of them! It exists in the same sort of space as a Tarantino movie, like Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, or Inglorious Basterds.
For these movies, history is not the point; homage to a certain type of earlier movie is the point. Your villains were bad? Well my villains are worse! Your action was extreme? Well my action is over the top! You used a trope without realizing it? Well I use 50 tropes and am aware of every single one of them!
There are even the usual Tarantino-esque scenes playing with language, in this case an otherwise bizarre scene where the different soldiers all ruminate on their different dialect words for potato.
Given this, does it work as a Tarantino'esque movie? Yes, but... It manages to hit most of the Tarantino notes but I found the wordplay to work less well than in a Tarantino movie, and the storyline+action to be a lot more confusing. Both of these may reflect the fact that I don't speak Korean (so I'm relying on the subtitles) and know pretty much nothing about the country except the basics, so the names and place names meant nothing to me; perhaps to a native Korean these elements fit together a lot better?
Overall I think it's an interesting watch in terms of seeing how other filmmakers are taking and adapting American techniques.
There are movies for which these sorts of questions matter, but this is not one of them! It exists in the same sort of space as a Tarantino movie, like Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, or Inglorious Basterds.
For these movies, history is not the point; homage to a certain type of earlier movie is the point. Your villains were bad? Well my villains are worse! Your action was extreme? Well my action is over the top! You used a trope without realizing it? Well I use 50 tropes and am aware of every single one of them!
There are even the usual Tarantino-esque scenes playing with language, in this case an otherwise bizarre scene where the different soldiers all ruminate on their different dialect words for potato.
Given this, does it work as a Tarantino'esque movie? Yes, but... It manages to hit most of the Tarantino notes but I found the wordplay to work less well than in a Tarantino movie, and the storyline+action to be a lot more confusing. Both of these may reflect the fact that I don't speak Korean (so I'm relying on the subtitles) and know pretty much nothing about the country except the basics, so the names and place names meant nothing to me; perhaps to a native Korean these elements fit together a lot better?
Overall I think it's an interesting watch in terms of seeing how other filmmakers are taking and adapting American techniques.