Shiri (1999)
Review by Doc Ezra
Film:
DVD:

Written by Je-gyu Kang
Directed by Je-gyu Kang
Starring Suk-kyu Han, Min-sik Choi, Kang-ho Song, and Yun-jin Kim

Features:

• Making-of documentary
  
• Music video
  
• Trailers
  
• English, French, and Korean audio
  
• English, French, Spanish, and Portugese subtitles
  

Rating: R

Anamorphic: Yes

My advice: Own it.

A mysterious assassin has been picking off South Korean intelligence officers, and has become the focus of a full-scale investigation. The lethal North Korean female assassin known only as Hee seems capable of picking off every lead the investigators unearth, before any information can be gained, and then vanishing into thin air before she can be apprehended. The lead investigator, special agent Ryu, and his partner Lee are at the end of their respective ropes, frustrated by the mounting body count and their complete lack of hard leads.

The stakes are raised drastically when an elite team of North Korean commandos steal an experimental explosive called CTX. The explosive is a liquid in its natural state, colorless, odorless, and tasteless. Only by the application of light and heat can the substance be primed, but the resulting explosion is nearly 100 times as strong as an equivalent mass of TNT.

As the bodies pile up and the partners are drawn deeper into the North Korean plot, it becomes plain that the mysterious Hee is getting help from inside the South Korean intelligence office, and therefore stays one step ahead of them at every turn. Evidence also begins to suggest that the plot goes much further than any of the investigators thought possible, with ramifications that could lead both the North and South to total warfare. Ryu’s personal life gets some complications of its own, as his fiance’s mysterious past raises questions of its own.

Shiri was a record-breaking hit at the Korean box office, sporting the largest budget for a Korean-made film ever, and outgrossing Hollywood hits like Titanic. With production values that were light years ahead of anything else produced domestically in Korea, it was a breakout film made to prove how far their national cinema could aspire. By Hollywood standards, the film’s $5 million budget is a drop in the bucket for most action flicks, but director Je-gyu Kang stretches that money into a clever, slick, and fast-paced gun drama to rival the best in the field, East or West.

In addition to the feature, the DVD contains a making-of documentary longer than any paltry “featurette” included on other discs. At nearly an hour long, the documentary covers every aspect of the production, including getting the budget, casting the leads, and renting nearly $50,000 worth of gun props from a Hollywood production supply company. Lengthy interviews with cast and crew, as well as coverage of the press junkets and record-breaking box office success, round out the documentary. It’s a fascinating look into how the film industry operates anywhere but Hollywood. For other extras, there’s not much--just a theatrical trailer. A commentary track would have been nice, to hear more about the difficult production of the film (including a guerilla shoot at a soccer match for the film’s climactic scenes).

Shiri is a must-have for fans of the Hong Kong bullets-flying school of action flicks. As solid as many of master John Woo’s films, it puts forth a tightly-plotted story with lots of drama, solid characters, and no shortage of spent brass and dead bodies. People adverse to a little of the old ultraviolence will want to steer clear, but those that can stick it out will be well-rewarded for their efforts.