Writer-Director Kim Bong Joo teams up with Sun-Hyun Joo (Korean Liam Neeson :P) for a time loop action fantasy thriller. After the murder of Jo, Ko was drowned in vein and was unable to keep the pieces. And after one year of Jo's murder, he starts to rebuild his life and career receives a call from his wife. He realizes that she is calling from the past and warns her about the murder and tries to find the murderer. Movie's script was okay (even though i have watched a similar themed movie long time back, didn't remember) and the fast paced narration along with the brilliant musical score kept the movie a thrilling one. Action choreography was okay. Some of the scenes were clichéd but it was also an okay experience. Camera-work and Lighting was good but not the best. Sun Hyun Joo's performance was okay. Uhm Ji‑won played Jo and she was okay. Bae Seong-woo was okay, but could have been better. A good thrilling experience My rating 7.3 on 10
Plot summary
Since his wife has been murdered, Dong-ho has lost the light in his life. The successful businessman is broken and falls into depression, though he tries to continue with his life. But as long the killer is still out there, Dong-ho can't come clean with his loss. Then one day he gets a call and can't believe his eyes: he is talking to his dead wife! First he believes this must be a bad joke, but the woman knows things only his wife can know. Dong-ho can't believe his luck, because now he has the chance to safe her life, but he has to be as quick as possible. He thinks a magnetic field anomaly allows him to talk to his wife. Which means that he has to identify the killer and warn his wife before the anomaly disappears again.
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Movie Reviews
A good thrilling experience
Decent thriller covering similar territory to Frequency
The Phone is a perfectly decent watch. Son Hyun-Joo is the businessman who by going on a drinking session with his work colleagues is unable to stop the brutal murder of his wife. It also happens to be a day when there is extremely unusual solar activity which interferes with mobile phone communication. Fast forward 12 months and Hyun-Joo is beginning to put the pieces of his life back together and return to his job as a lawyer for the first time since his wife's death. Again there is unusual solar activity and on his way to work he apparently receives a phone call from his dead wife; dismissive at first he comes to realise that he is actually speaking to his wife on the day of her death. Hyun-Joo then desperately tries to convince his wife that her life is in danger in the hope of changing the course of events. This also has an impact on events in the present as history is constantly rewritten to take account of every change in the past. It is now not only his wife who is in danger; her killer is also aware that history is in danger of changing. The film moves along at a pace and certainly kept my attention; there are some similarities to the Dennis Quaid / Jim Caviezel film Frequency; not just the explanation for the ability to communicate across time, but also in the way that current events literally change before ones eyes as the past is rewritten. It is a stylish film which i hope gets a chance for some attention outside of Korea. Well worth a watch.
Interesting enough action thriller.
Interesting concept, but nevertheless very confusing, no matter how well they try to explain it. The film plays in two time periods at once, so you have to pay attention to not get confused. Unfortunately, I just didn't find it believable enough, as with films of this genre. 'The Lake House' is probably the best example, which I didn't enjoy.
'The Phone', however, is much more entertaining than 'The Lake House' and certainly much better. There are a few good action scenes and the suspense is well set-up, together with very good acting. Ji-won Uhm won the Best Actress award.
Is it a film I'd watch again, though? I doubt it.