THE BATTLE OF JANGSARI is a typically emotional and melodramatic war movie from South Korea, not as good as previous films in this genre but still worth a look. My only complaint is that not enough time was spent on the action; there are only three big battle sequences here and even they aren't particularly big, but more moderately-sized. The whole sub-plot involving Megan Fox's reporter reminded me of the need to have token Americans in the old kaiju flicks back in the 1960s, and yes, Fox is just as wooden as Nick Adams et al ever were. The action is handled superbly, particularly the mid-running time set-piece involving a tunnel, and the characterisation is solid if predictable. If you want even better similar movies, check out the likes of BROTHERHOOD, 71 INTO THE FIRE and THE FRONT LINE.

It's 1950 Korea. The South and their allies have retreated to the Nakoong River. Under General MacArthur's plan, the allies are to retake Incheon to drive the North back. A ship carrying 772 student soldiers head for the beaches of Jangsari a day before the Incheon landing in a diversionary attack.

The movie starts with a reasonable amount of war action. There is actual tension. It's a promising start but two things immediately becomes noticeable. The section with Megan Fox and George Eads is utterly unnecessary. By the end, they are cringeworthy. Megan has never been a great actress but the dialogue is impossible. Even Meryl Streep wouldn't be able to deliver it. It is some of the worst writing ever. They're probably there to sell the movie to the west. It's a fool's errand. The second thing is the injection of bad action and melodrama. This one happens slowly. At first, it's the soldiers bunching up. It's a classic mistake. Filmmakers think that more people equal bigger action. If they're bunched up in a tiny space, it looks like a cheap production trying to maximize its budget. Then the melodrama starts happening. The characters' stories starts getting more outlandish. There is a Mulan. There is a cousin killing which requires a bad character making illogical reasoning. There is bad attempts at humor which destroys the tension. This has elements which worked but the stuff that doesn't work really doesn't work.

Entertaining War movie which for a nice change highlighted heroes from a non western country

Main characters were very engaging and the battle scenes were well done