Ashfall (2019)

the story is nothing new, the process and the overall flow was too common that it got boring and hard to focus on the side plots, and I felt like we needed a little more drama on Kang Bong Rae and Jeon Yoo Kyung's side of things instead of the long chase.

it was kinda too long that I dozed out a little, but tbh they could've just bought the nuclear bomb, and the whole "stealing" kinda felt ridiculous. like the idea of "we bought the bomb to save our country from a natural disaster" feels like a more normal approach than "we stole the bomb to save over selves" becasue at the end of the day, they stole nuclear bombs and just because they didn't use it on another country or for war doesn't lesson that thieveryness?

anyway, I really loved the acting and the unexpected bromnace, and though the ending was clear from the start, the last scene made me tear up a lot ;)
I also shipped Kang Bong Rae and Jeon Yoo Kyung ;p

I never rewatch stuff and the ost was basic

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The Korean peninsula hangs in the balance when a volcano on the Chinese border threatens to blow everything sky high! Luckily, for both Koreas, Ha Jung Woo and Lee Byung Hun are on the job!

Ashfall is an entertaining disaster and spy thriller flick that doesn't try to take itself too seriously. It has all the characters one would expect in a catastrophic volcano movie. Ha Jung Woo plays The Hero who is supposed to be retiring from his EOD squad (Explosive Ordnance Disposal), instead he's leading a group into North Korea to steal a nuclear bomb to stop the volcano from making rubble out of Korea. Along the way, he has to pick up a North Korean agent/double agent/triple agent?, the always cagey Lee Byung Hun, as The Anti-Hero, who has been jailed in a NK prison. Easy peasy, right? Back home giving them support is, Ma Dong Seok, going against type as The Scientist Who Warned Them All and Jeon Hye Jin as the Politico Who Gets It. Bae Suzy also throws in with the scientist as The Hero's Resourceful Pregnant Wife.

Ashfall actually feels more like a spy thriller film with a cranky volcano in the background. Our plucky band has to deal with betrayals and comes under fire from various political powers that don't want them getting their hands on a nuclear bomb for ANY reason and disturbing the power balances regardless of the fact that both North and South Korea are about to be wiped off the map.

The action is non-stop, almost from the first frame and never lets up whether it's fire from the sky or fire fights. As with most disaster movies, you have to let go of reality and just enjoy the ride as nearly everything that happens is implausible.

The heart of the movie is the bromance that develops between The Hero and The Anti-Hero. Lee Byung Hun's character development and the friendship he grudgingly develops with Ha Jung Woo's character brings out the humanity this movie needed as everyone is moving at breakneck speed.

If you are expecting a rational approach to a cataclysmic tragedy in the making, not only for the Korean Peninsula but having an effect worldwide with scientists and world leaders joining hands and acting altruistically and quickly, you're going to be disappointed. If you are expecting vehicles, people, and the starring volcano to obey the rules of nature, you might want to skip this. This is an entertaining, if at times ridiculous, thriller disaster movie set on high drive with a little bit of heart to make it not instantly forgettable.

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