This movie is pure magic. The best war film I have ever seen and ever will see. This is the first movie to ever make me cry. Special effects and characters are great, Beter than most Hollywood actors. The fight scenes are very intense and have you on the edge of your seat the entire time. Bravo.

There's a chaos that surrounds the film - this is a war movie that revels in the insanity and confusion of battle - but the chaos strikes hardest in the first half hour. It's here that the locals, caught off guard by the invasion, are shuffled into refugee status in what plays, rightfully so, like a nightmare. The nightmare only grows when soldiers drop by and force all men of the proper age to enlist, no exceptions. The film grips us hard in these scenes, these terrifyingly real scenes, and our heart breaks as we remember that the army doing the forced draft is on our side. Just as American movies have at times reminded us of the dark pages in U.S. history, so now does Tae Guk Gi remind us of the darker actions of the Korean War.From here, the plot places itself on the brink of meandering for two more hours, and yet while the movie pushes its epic length with no clear ending in sight, it's a meandering that's kept well in check; there's not a scene here that drags. Even with the screenplay pushing out your usual war movie cliché's - some unfortunate sap shares pictures of his family, never a good sign in such a film - there's such a gusto behind the project that even the most familiar of characters holds steady. Yes, this is a story about two brothers sharing the experiences of war (a literal 'band of brothers'), but the paths the plot takes stretch the limits of the formula in exciting, compelling directions.Carrying the film through are two dynamic performances. Jang Dong Gun (sharing more than a passing resemblance to a young Chow Yun Fat) is quite remarkable as Jin-Tae, the young man who grows colder as the war rages and he evolves into an exemplary soldier. And as Jin-Seok, Won Bin provides the right mixture of confused youth and troubled brother. Both leads are quite memorable, helping solidify the story, keeping the sheer weight of the movie from bearing down too hard on the viewer.

Hi! In case you haven't read up on your World History, we're still at war with North Korea. We basically signed an Armistice Treaty, back in 1953 to stop shooting each other point blank in the face and on the news of current events. This Instant Classic War Movie, TAE GUK GI (The Brotherhood of War) succeeds in showing us the "true grit" of what urban open head exploding (like watermelons) street by street warfare looks like. Directed by Kang Je-Gyu, this bullet loud numbing graphic war celluloid piece freely tells a heavy one sided story from a South Korean point of view (the North Communists are seen mainly as a small but evil empire). I'm painfully reminded (as an American), in the major scene where the Chinese Army joins the bloody fray with North Korea, that this force multitude of hundreds of red enemy assailants scouring over a hill like army ants, must have been dead similar to what the lone guard Brave Texans (standing tall next to the likes of Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie) saw coming at them while defending The Alamo in 1836 against Gen. Santa Ana's 3000 plus Army.TAE GUK GI focuses it's blood smeared camera lens on two Brothers Jin Tae and Lee Jin Seok. One struggles to maintain his humanity and sense of universal justice, in the midst of battle, while the other Brother mentally transforms himself into a fear-no-bullet "Super Saiyan" (like Dragon Ball Z) on the battlefield, in a desperate bold plan to get his younger Brother sent home early (to help survive the Family Name). Other talented Supporting Characters "fly in and fly out" like rice thrown in your face, but they stick in your memory, with their longing eyes, funny remarks, and cold blooded commanders. The Mom, the Wife to be, the soldier comrades, the wry weary Captains, and the Kids, all evolve and revolve around the two South Korean Brothers.On a technical military note, it was interesting to see propeller driven Pre-Jet Age Allied Aircraft "raining down death" with their WWII mounted machine guns (probably still oiled up from fighting the Japanese approx 5 years earlier). And you don't even see the American Allied Army until 2/3rds into the action. What we're fed here is a steady dose of humane mental anguish and desperation to stay sane while absorbing the fateful costs of hunger forced made decisions. All of which bring us to today's Armistice with North Korea. We still look at each other, everyday, with loaded modern guns on each side of a barbed wire fence at the 38th Parallel. How many lives would change, in this generation, between Brothers, Family, and Friends, if one side decides to "open fire" all over again?

Firstly, I have seen most of the so called greatest movies ever, which includes war movies as well. But only this movie shows one of the best, most realistic and emotional war scenes ever filmed. And YES, Saving private Ryan is not even 10 percent of a good movie when compared to this, if you think that's the only good war movie. This film shows the war scenarios in the most amazing way. You don't have to believe my words for it, just watch it one time and then you gonna remember it forever. Its a fools illusion that only US made films are good, come on US, try and learn some true human feelings from this, because you need it. Love to the team who made this Epic !!