12.12: The Day

Adam Putra4.0

When we let evil win, nothing will ever be the same. This is more to a horror film than political thriller to me. Everything is connected to this deranged tragedy. But to understand it thoroughly, we kind of need to have a little bit of research to understand the political situation back then to avoid misconnect storytelling. 12.12: The Day captures the horrifying day in Korean history. It also captures the greed of power and betrayal, it basically is in every film but the scenario is bold and brave and the sequences are executed with power and excellent care. This is something suspenseful, surprising, fascinating and technically dazzling. Over 140 minutes that genuinely fly by, Kim Sung-soo crafts a highly atmospheric and emotion-charged movie experience. Hwang Jung-min and Jung Woo-sung are excellent and the film is a consistently entertaining, thoughtful, and high paced ride.

Rafael "Mister Movie" Jovine3.0

ACTION! - THE SOUTH REMAINSAs a history buff and someone who enjoys his good dose of political thrillers and period dramas, I was pretty excited for this film.And to be honest, it delivers on a lot of the good stuff. There’s definitely some solid thrills and a lot of drama, especially towards the end. The performances are all around great, from our leads to the supporting cast. The cinematography is also great, with some pretty good stunning shots. The scale and scope are very present. And the score does a good job of heightening the tension and suspense in a way that never feels intrusive.My biggest problem with the film -and it seems to be the case with many—is that there are way too many moving pieces in here that I often found myself losing the narrative thread and figuring out who was who. It also didn’t help that sometimes the copy I got forgot to sub some of the text on screen; many of them, I am guessing, told us the rank and who the person was. Because of this, the film felt a little too convoluted.All in all, this is one of those films people seem to truly enjoy, so if you are a fan of history and political thrillers, I’d definitely give it a shot. Just make sure to watch it and pay attention very carefully.ACTION! - THE SOUTH REMAINSLISTEN TO THE OFFICIAL'S K-GUST MUSIC PLAYLISTTODAY SCHEDULEA Rose Reborn12:12 The DayMine

Rhythm Zaveri4.5

Directed by Kim Sung-soo, whose last film was (for lack of a better term) the fucking excellent “Asura: The City of Madness”, and starring Jung Woo-sung and Hwang Jung-min, “12.12: The Day” directly follows the events depicted in “The Man Standing Next” or “The President’s Last Bang” and tells mostly of the events that ensued on the fateful night of December 12th, 1979 when Chun Doo-hwan ceased power via a coup d’état, effectively establishing himself as military dictator, changing the course of modern Korean history forever.South Korean cinema has excelled at depicting the key moments from its recent history, specifically its political scene in the 70s and 80s and this is yet another fantastic feature in the same vein. It may be a story that is more familiar to a Korean audience but so have a lot of similar films and Kim manages to make it very, very exciting and engrossing, even edge-of-the-seat at times. The kidnapping scene by itself is a masterclass in tension. The acting really is what makes this one a lot better than it has any right to be! Chun Doo-hwan was arguably a far worse replacement for the assassinated Park Chung-hee (whose end was shown in the above mentioned “The Man Standing Next” and “The President’s Last Bang”) and is a man universally hated in Korea but Hwang Jung-min does the impossible and makes the audience hate him even more. What a fantastic performance! Someone really needs to have a word with Kim Sung-soo because he really do be casting Jung Woo-sung as his leading man and then lets Hwang Jung-min run away with the film. 😅 That’s twice now (not that I complain at all, mind you).So yeah, long story short, if you’ve liked Korean historical political thriller like “1987: When the Day Comes”, “A Taxi Driver” or “The Man Standing Next”, chances are you will love this one too. It is very well written, well made and superbly acted.