Emergency Deceleration(비상선언) Korean Film Thoughts(2022)

 

    Emergency Deceleration is a 2022 South Korean film that was directed by Han Jae Rim. The film has an all star cast of actors and actresses that have been in Korean cinema for years. I don't even need to list their names at this point.... More than a million admissions were made for the film, making it into the eight highest grossing film in 2022 for South Korea. 

    A terrorist boards a plane of a hundred and fifty people with a virus that infects everyone within reach. Now, the Korean government and the plane's staff must race against time to save everyone. 

    This film wasn't what I thought it would be. My first expectation was that the plot would have the same theme throughout the entire film. Nope. Plots start to diverge off into sub-stories, with the passengers on the plane being the main focus. One could say that this method might have been compelling if told in an exciting way. Instead Emergency suffers by doing too much at once. A killer going on a plane to unleash some virus on people with a bit of plane terror scenes would have done this film wonders. Honestly, it was that simple. Maybe the first hour of this film is interesting because this kind of action is what people really came for... After the main villain is moved out of the way, only thing that's left is the same old melodrama formula that South Koreans love to waddle in. The script loves to hear it's self be heroic so much that the last some odd minutes over stays it's welcome. Certain parts of this film were great however, other parts could have been replaced with better storytelling. That very last scene was overkill too. The second to the last scene should have been the final scene. 

     Performances were anything that could knock a fish out of the water. All the casting choices made sense. I do want to give an honorable mention to Yim Si Won. He did an outstanding job here and it was sad that he wasn't in around longer. He should have been in the film til the end or at least close to the end. 

   I believe that there will be people who like Emergency Deceleration. There's stuff to like. Just be aware that this film is very flawed as well.