Yunjin Kim (Sun from TV's Lost) stars as tropical fish seller Myung-hyun Lee, who, unbeknownst to her counter-terrorist fiancé Jong Won Yu (Suk-kyu Han), is actually undercover assassin Hee, member of a special forces group that has hijacked some high-tech explosives as part of a desperate plot to re-unify North and South Korea.The quote on the front of my DVD claims that Shiri is 'a mix of Nikita and Die Hard', which, to be blunt, is a crock of s**t. Apart from one of the main characters being a female killer and an awful lot of gunfire, this Korean flick bears very little resemblance to and is nowhere near as good as either of the aforementioned films. What we actually get with Shiri is a fairly mundane bad guys versus good guys thriller in which lots of people get killed (although who is shooting at who and why is often hard to keep track of), with an overload of shaky camera-work and some nonsense about tropical fish thrown in for those icthyophile action fans in the audience.Funniest part: when a cornered female terrorist kills herself by swallowing a small explosive that blows her head apart. Most ridiculous moment: an agent discovering a bugging device hidden inside one of the tropical fish in his office (not only are we expected to believe that successfully performing such an operation on a fish would be feasible, but we are also supposed to accept that such a device would pick up sound from inside the creature submersed in a full tank of water).

Nevertheless, the approach is catchy and thrilling, there are multiple well exercised action and chasing scenes, and foreign viewers obtain additionally an overview of daily life and habits in South Korea (by the way, the country has higher standard of life than in many EU countries). True, the filmmakers have their paragons in Hollywood and Hong Kong, hence some unreal elements and protracted romantic scenes are included to please the viewers, to broaden the audience. The actors/actresses are yet credible and versatile, although the faces of supporting actors seemed identical to me at times... Anyway, the film is recommended to all those fond of Hollywood without its actors.

This movie is more than an action flick, it highlights the relationship between North and South Korea. If you know anything about their pasts and their present than you can see why this is a movie by Koreans for Koreans. The actions scenes did not impress me, I saw this movie in 2006...after watching such movies as MI3, but it wasn't too shabby for a non-Hollywood pre-new millenia movie.Okay so about the movie itself...I don't like the opening, too dramatic and over the top, I was never a fan of Roman decimation and I will never be a fan of this kind of training method. However, once it gets to the actual story then the clues and hints are laid out and you see how everything comes together in the end. You can probably guess the entire ending after some time. The romance is small, about what you expect for an action film. The chemistry is okay. It is really more of a thriller than anything because you're usually puzzled as to how the hero is going to catch the bad guys since he keeps on failing initially.The actors did a fairly good job. The action sequences are okay, they're shaky at times, I don't like how the South Korean SWAT teams can't hit anything despite perfectly planned traps and outnumbering the bad guys 50:1. Maybe they should get plastic surgery to open their eyes? It was a so-so movie, but because of theme and background I'll put it above the the average, it could be used to do more than simply entertain. It is simply outdated now if you want a really good action film.

Having been led to believe that Shiri was a good example of a recent burst of Korean action films I started it with high expectations. After all, if Hollywood is so conservative, shouldn't non-Hollywood, and particularly foreign films, offer an original alternative? Seems logical.The story has to do with a deadly female assassin from North Korea, who had fallen out of circulation for a while in South Korea after being identified. With a bit of help from a rogue North Korean special forces unit, she is about to be reactivated. Sound familiar? If the general idea sounds standard action-film fare, just wait till you get to the details of the laughably cliché-ridden plot and characterisation. These are a few of the numerous clichés that sprang to mind.***Major spoilers ahead. Don't read until after seeing the film***If there is a chase on foot, both the baddies and the police should knock over lots of people, especially those carrying baskets. They also upset food stalls. If possible they also go the wrong way down escalators. The hero's partner is killed. Bombs always have red LED countdown displays. A super-powerful secret weapon is stolen from a government laboratory. The super-powerful weapon is be hidden in a sports stadium. Baddies frown a lot so you can tell they are bad. Sniper's rifles should be carried in cases with molded foam compartments inside. Bombs should not be deactivated until there is less than .1 second left on the timer If the baddie is a woman, she will fall in love with the hero and find herself unable to shoot him when the time comes. The female baddie and the hero will nevertheless find themselves aiming at each other in the last minutes of the movie.When it looks as if the hero is about to be shot, one of his colleagues will enter and gun down the baddie just in time. Baddies dress in police or army uniforms at least once during the film. Rooms in which there is an unusual amount of glass are the best place for shoot-outs. (Aquariums stores are obviously first choice). The main baddie cannot be shot until the end of the film, no matter how many rounds are discharged in his direction until then.***End of spoilers***This aside, there really isn't much left to discuss. The acting was suitably standard for this kind of fare (I can't take the suggestion seriously that these leads are the Korean equivalents of DeNiro and Pacino). The camera work was lively, with plenty of cuts, probably intended to give the impression of dynamism, but really just covering up for a startling lack of inspiration and originality. The current situation of a divided Korea is mentioned, but not in a manner than is informative beyond showing a general dissatisfaction with a divided motherland and the comparison of abundance versus starvation. I really can't recommend this one, except to those interested in compiling lists of action-movie clichés, which is about the only joy a viewer will derive from this film. At 2 hours long, the director has given himself enough time to pack this film to overflowing with them. It's not even original enough to be a true turkey in the classic mold. It's just boring. See Joint Security Area instead.