Emotionally gripping for me to watch this because I tend to be overwhelmed by what happened to the characters in war-plot movie. The casts were all great and wonderful in their roles, each bringing out one another's best aspects and molded their chemistry throughout the journey in this movie. There were various themes on humanity being touched and carried on as the key to this movie while you are brought into an existential reflection of what if you are part of it in that war-era period, what would you have done to stay alive and what would you have chose to do. Watch this movie without getting too hung up on the political facts but more on being in the shoes of those who had to plough their way for survival. I also like the cinematography of the scenes when everyone trying to escape and working together towards it although I must say the ways certain gun shots shown just a bit hard to comprehend how certain people so easily died while certain just survived.

THE BATTLESHIP ISLAND is another exemplary slice of filmmaking from South Korea, with the kind of perfect direction that rival Hollywood directors can only dream about. The setting is the grubby tail-end of 1945, where miners work in a Japanese-controlled prison camp and the Koreans must contend with corruption, betrayal, rivalry and resistance fighters spurring escapes and break-outs. It's epic film-making with fine production values throughout and intelligent scripting which weaves together various sub-plots and characters into a satisfying mix. There's action, emotion, tragedy and careful character work, all of it handled deftly by an experienced cast and a director who knows exactly what works. Things build to the kind of rousing climax that delivers everything you want, and more.

From all the Asian countries Korea has the best movies. I don't know why that is, but it's just a fact. I saw enough Asian movies by now to come to that conclusion. Gun-Ham-Do is certainly not the best Korean movie I ever watched but it's well made and worth a watch. As usual it's very loud verbally, like almost all Asian movies. I don't know why but they seem angry all the time when they talk. In this movie they could be though as it is a war movie about Hashima Island, more a concentration camp than a work environment if you ask me. There are some really good battle scenes, especially at the end. It clearly shows they put some effort in this movie. I wouldn't say all the actors are great actors, because for that some extras looked too fake in their expressions, and that's the case for most Asian movies. It seems they like to exaggerate a bit. And for that I score this movie lower. The story is interesting though, with good visual effects. If you like Korean movies give this one a shot.