Silmido (2003)

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General		Extras
Category	Action	Main Menu Audio & Animation Featurette-Making Of Theatrical Trailer Gallery-Sketches Gallery-Stills
Rating
Year Of Production	2003
Running Time	129:45 (Case: 133)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (43:05)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Woo-Suk Kang
Studio Distributor	Cinema Service Madman Entertainment	Starring	Sung-kee Ahn Kyung-gu Sol Jun-ho Heo Jae-yeong Jeong Seong-jin Kang Won-hui Lim Shin-il Kang Jeong-heon Lee
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$29.95	Music	None Given

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	Korean Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.20:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    In many ways, South Korea has taken the reins from Hong Kong as the leading filmmaking nation in Asia in the years since the reunification of Hong Kong with China. One of the aspects that is putting South Korean films ahead of the pack, as well as universally high production values, is the diversity of what is being produced. Silmido lives in the action blockbuster end of the spectrum, and a blockbuster it certainly was. Upon release, it quickly became the highest grossing film of all time in South Korean, attracting more than 10 million viewers (around 20% of the country's population). That record has been surpassed only four times since.

    The story of Silmido is loosely based on history, but a very shadowy point of South Korea's history that remains only partially explained to this day. In 1968, in response to a failed attempt by North Korea to assassinate the president, the air force begins top secret training of a group of 31 convicted murderers and thugs - Unit 684. They are being trained for a retaliatory assassination attempt, scheduled to happen as soon as the team are ready. Over the course of two years these men are trained to fight, endure pain and are generally dehumanised. They are effectively kept as prisoners on the island of Silmido throughout this time and unaware of what's going on in the outside world. Over the years Unit 684 have been in training, the political climate between North and South has changed considerably and, as they finally set out on their mission, the order comes through for them to stand down and wait. Wait they do, for another year, before far less honourable orders come through that may lead to a grisly end for Unit 684.

    Silmido caused a bit of an uproar when it was released as the Dirty Dozen aspect of the movie was apparently all made up. The families of the real Unit 684 were quite angry that the film painted the unit to have been made up of society's scum, whereas the families insisted they were elite South Korean special forces troops. Accounts vary considerably, but none have been conclusively proven as records about the men have allegedly been destroyed.

    As far as the film goes, the action side of Silmido is excellent, but the dramatic side quite weak. The film is beautifully shot and directed, but the acting is too over the top. The acting fits in well for the action sequences, but is too wooden to carry the dramatic leg of the film. The action sequences are great to watch, although few are particularly memorable (although the finale certainly is). Silmido is certainly a film worth viewing, but try before you buy.

Video

    The film is presented in a 2.20:1 aspect ratio that is 16x9 enhanced. The original aspect ratio for the film is 2.35:1.

    The image is generally quite sharp and quite clear, but some night time scenes are quite grainy (although far from unwatchable). One particular segment of the film that takes place at night, from 95:30 to 107:47, is significantly grainier than the rest of the film. The level of detail in the darker scenes is still good, despite the grain levels.

    The colour of the transfer is a little on the dull side, not enough to really detract form the film but it does prevent the images leaping from the screen as a bolder colour balance would have.

    The are no noticeable film artefacts throughout the film. The compression of the video is generally very good. The only noticeable compression artefact occurs at 110:49 when there is visible macro blocking on the tyres of a bus grinding to a halt.

    The English subtitles are both well translated and easy to read (bright yellow).

    The layer break occurs between scenes at 43:05 and was not noticeable on my equipment.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    One audio track is present, Korean Dolby Digital Surround 2.0 (224 Kbps) - not Korean Dolby Digital 5.1 as the packaging states.

    The audio is quite clear and levels are well mixed. Dialogue is clear to distinguish and appears well synchronized to the video. The score is quite a fitting over-the-top orchestral piece that suits the movie.

    There is limited use of the surround channels throughout the film, but not as much as would usually be expected from an action film. A disappointingly flat mix for an action movie.

    The subwoofer gets almost no use, even when it is supporting big explosions. As this is a 2.0 soundtrack, there is no dedicated LFE information for the subwoofer so it only picks up the bottom end of the basic soundtrack, but that isn't much even for a 2.0 track.

    Ultimately, the soundtrack is adequate but rather disappointing.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Main Menu Audio & Animation

    Top marks for the stylish background animation and music in this menu. Though it is little more than assorted footage from the film, it is filtered and presented in a manner that captures the military nature of the film.

Featurette-Making Of (47:14)

    A fairly thorough Korean making of documentary that covers a wide variety of aspects of the film's production. It is presented in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio and has high contrast yellow English subtitles available (although there are a few typos in them!). The picture quality varies considerably throughout. There are numerous artefacts throughout, particularly in the on-set camcorder footage that makes up much of the featurette which is comparable in terms of quality to home movies.

    This featurette has a lot of interesting material, particularly the aspect on how they essentially tried to make a Hollywood movie with a Korean budget and the globe-hopping this involved, but tends to repeat itself. It does occasionally turn into the kind of self-adulation-fest that many have grown to loathe, but those parts are (thankfully!) brief.

Theatrical Trailer (2:17)

    A fairly generic theatrical trailer.

Gallery: Production Sketches

    A short series of production sketches that focus on set illustrations and costumes.

Gallery: Stills Gallery

    15 generic promotional stills.

    Silmido is unavailable in Region 1.

    There is currently a 3 disc NTSC version of Silmido available in Korea Region 3 that has Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, is presented in the correct aspect of 2.35:1 and has a slightly larger extras package than the local release (not to mention comes in a fancy Digipak). I have been unable to ascertain whether the extras have subtitles. The extras listed for the Region 3 version are:

• Audio commentary with Director & Cast
• Pre-Production
• Making film
• All Process of Making Sil-Mi-Do
• Interview with Marketing Crew
• Interview with Critics
• Artworks
• Photo Gallery

    There is a 2 disc Hong Kong Region 3 version available from Universe that has both DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1.

    I would favour either Region 3 version for their soundtracks and correct aspect ratios, although the high quality of the subtitles for the Region 4 version is worth considering if you were to decide for yourself.

    A solid Korean action/drama that has "blockbuster" written all over it.

    The video is good, though slightly incorrectly framed.

    The audio is disappointing.

    The extras are quite satisfying.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall