Movie: The Berlin File (15)Rating: 4/5South Korean action thrillers are quite interesting to watch. Indeed I prefer watching mostly and rather, only action, drama and thriller films. So when I came across this action thriller THE BERLIN FILE starring one of my favourite actors Ha Jung-woo, I couldn't resist myself from watching it, and that too in high quality. However, I felt quite confused at times due to the script being convoluted to a great extent. What keeps you engaged is the brilliant action. THE BERLIN FILE has really brilliant action sequences, and that's a major reason why one finds it somewhat easy to ignore the flaws. Visually, the film is a gem. Story wise, it's a masterpiece. Execution wise, it's great but not excellent. Ha Jung-woo is extremely amazing in the role he plays. He's simply the best thing about the film. Just watch him in the action sequences and in the climax: his performance literally will blow your mind. Jun Ji-hyun is decent, and so is Ryoo Seung-bum: he's a firecracker when it comes to his act which he handles perfectly, and that's something which makes his character realistic.The director Ryoo Seung-wan does a decent job by handling the screenplay and direction well. The editing too is fine. But as said before, the execution is the only thing which needed to be better as in the beginning, after the first scene, it's difficult to follow the story as it keeps getting convoluted and things get more complicated when scenes end without much explanation. However, the film never loses its focus and manages to entertain you, leading to a thrilling climax which makes you forget rather every single flaw.THE BERLIN FILE is a powerful, breathtaking and intense action thriller which is a must see for the lovers of this genre. For others, I can easily recommend it, though they won't be easily able to follow the film in the beginning. Still, watch the film because the kind of action it offers is the one you won't have seen before.

"The Berlin File" is a South Korean version of action-thrillers with conspiracy and spy elements and twists in the key of "The Bourne Identity". The entire movie takes place in the German capital Berlin which gives the whole thing a more international flair even though some parts were clearly filmed in Latvia's capital Riga which feels a little bit goofy. The strongest points of the movie are the action scenes and in particular the brutal hand to hand combats. The special effects are also decent. The fast paced fighting sequences, the intriguing locations and the overall rather dark atmosphere of the movie quickly get you hooked.The acting is of an average quality. While the actors are good, the characters lack depth due to an average script quality. My favourite character is the evil North Korean agent because he really incarnates an unpredictable psycho that has a unique way to act and talk. The two main characters including a loyal North Korean agent and a rather straight South Korean agent are rather faceless on the other side.The weakest part of the movie is the conspiracy plot. The first thirty minutes of the film are pretty much confusing and introduce us to too many random different characters and stereotypical organizations: snobbish CIA agents, corrupt German politicians, brutal and closed- minded Islamist terrorists, intimidating Mossad agents, emotionless, loyal and silent on one side and loyal and pitiless North Korean agents on the other, bitter anti-communist agents from South Korea, Russian arms dealers and so on. The high amount of characters hides the fact that there isn't all too much going on concerning the story itself. The first half of the movie seems really promising but especially the last forty-five minutes are rather weak and mix overlong chasing and shooting scenes with wooden tearjerker moments. In the last five minutes, the movie pulls out a twist like a rabbit out of a hat. Usually, I like twisted endings and especially the South Korean cinema has come around with some promising closures in the past. This one here feels pretty much constructed though and only seems to be there to give some room for a possible sequel. I hope South Korea won't go this stretched Hollywood way. In the end, I expected a much more original and twisted conspiracy thriller from a country that has come around with the world's most innovating movies in the past fifteen years. "The Berlin File" is though only a good average to good action-thriller that can't mess with the status of the James Bond or Jason Bourne series. The clash between North and South Korean agents has been portrayed in more detailed and convincing ways in movies such as "Shiri", "Joint Security Area" and "Typhoon" for example. These three films are all above the quality of this one. I would still recommend this movie to faithful fans of international action-thrillers but this film had the potential to be much more than just easy entertainment. My final rating would be situated somewhere between six and seven points.

After an arms smuggling deal goes bad, North Korean agent Pyo Jong Sung finds himself and his wife, translator Ryeon Jung-hee under a cloud of suspicion and tries to uncover the real culprit. North and South Korean, Russian, U.S., Israeli, and Arab agents are everywhere, to the point where it seems it's only slightly more likely to see a German citizen on the streets of Berlin than if the action took place in Seoul.Once all of these players are introduced, the movie does a good job of sorting them all out, as Jong Sung investigates who is responsible. There are a number of very effective action sequences throughout the film to keep things moving.The relationship between Jong Sung and Jung-hee is central to to plot. For an action movie, the characters are very well presented. But fans expecting a repeat of Jun Ji Hyun's delightfully over-the-top performance in The Thieves will be disappointed. Her role as Jung- hee in The Berlin File rarely goes beyond that of a typical damsel in distress.The movie is exceptionally well filmed to reflect a tense, somber mood. There were some shots that looked almost as if they were filmed in black and white to harmonize with the prevailing tone.The end of the movie strongly foreshadows that a sequel is in the works. Of course that typically depends on how well the movie performs at the box office. By all reports The Berlin File easily did well enough to justify a sequel. I'll be looking forward it.

This spy movie had me on the edge of my seat many times. This is a good fast-paced action, thriller, and drama with subtitles. The fight scenes were excellent, the stunt driving was top-notch; there was so much that was great about this movie. What I found so refreshing in this Korean movie, was the lack of blood and gore that Hollywood uses by the truckload. The subtitles sometimes moved too fast though. Ten lines of text about a movie is too much to say about a movie especially since one will give spoilers away. I choose not say what is in the movie but to say it was good. If one knows ahead of time what one will see then it will no longer be a surprise. That is wrong with all of the movie trailers because they give the movie away before we even pay to see it.