Review: Joint Security Area (C-)

Joint Security Area (2000)
Directed by Chan-wook Park
Starring Yeong-ae Lee, Byung-hun Lee, Kang-ho Song, Tae-woo Kim
MPAA: UR
Grade: C-

Review by Bobby Nashville

I am not big on military thrillers, so I went into Joint Security Area with low expectations. Unfortunately, I was still disappointed. JSA features bad dialogue made worse by poor acting.

In the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, two soldiers have been killed. An investigation into the murders is led by a Swiss/Swedish team that is convinced of a cover up. Most of the drama is centered around the border guards and their roles in the cover up. Cliche? A little. The dialogue is also stilted and the acting is subpar. Most of the scenes are shot at night and the film has a dark, brooding look that just got tedious at times.

Joint Security Area is your standard military thriller, with mediocre dialogue and subpar acting. It's worth a rental if you are interested in North/South Korean politics, but otherwise, there's not a lot to crow about here.