My Way (2011)

War films are released left and right, but usually all feel like another rehash with little to nothing new to them. With the Asian film market they are well-known for their epic period pieces and have delivered some really well done war films. The latest of this genre My Way coming out of Korea takes a unique take on the war film. While they have proved the ability to make a great war movie, will this new twist with the story manage to create something memorable or just be another loss on the battlefield? My Way follows a Korean and Japanese marathon runner that are thrust into a bitter rivalry that follows them off the track and onto the battlefield as they are forced to enlist. This is not only a good war film it is easily one of the best to come along in quite a while. As it advertised, it is very much like Saving Private Ryan, but way better. The story is a bit out there at times but is amazing to watch. It has taken the true story of a Korean body found on the beaches of Normandy and created and amazing journey around it. The performances are all really well done and only enhance the overall experience. There are times in war movies that they try to deliver a well-crafted story to make a better film, but end up sacrificing the war aspect. Here they not only didn't ignore it, they deliver on a massive scale. With a film running almost two and a half hours, it delivers almost non-stop violent bloody action that takes you directly onto the battlefield. While it is a long film, it never really feels like it. The story moves at a breathtaking pace with a brilliantly executed pace and beautifully violent visuals that will not soon be forgotten.

My Way has not only created a brilliant war film, it takes you on a journey of redemption and emotional pain. There are so many levels to this film that it's nearly impossible to touch on them all. If you are a fan of this genre then you have to give this movie a shot. It is not just a movie; it's an experience of cleverly written and executed filmmaking that will entertain on numerous levels.

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Fmovies: My Way shows that Korea not only can do horror, but that it can do amazing films In any genre. This film is basically two and half hours and yet less than nine minutes in I was already hooked.

Inspired by a true story My Way is about two young boys, one Korean and one Japanese, who meet each other as ones family relocates. Both have Dreams of running The marathon in the Olympics and are in rivalry from the start. But when a certain event happens when they are older it becomes much more and they become enemies. Then WW2 is declared and both are forced into the Japanese army (two different ways though). Not to give to much away but after many twists and turns in the film they end up on an Infamous Day in history.

This film has it all, action, well developed characters, an Incredible story that makes you feel pretty much every emotion there is.

But if the fact this has war in it puts you off, DON'T let it as this is no war film! This is a film about two people, rivalries, friendships, and their stories. War is just in the background of it all.

there's not much to say about this movie aside from it the best war movie ever made. it is very unique and original in its plot. its also very touching at many parts. the characters are developed well despite the fast pace.

the battle scenes are the most realistic and intense that I've ever seen of any war film. i even rank "my way" above "tae guk gi", although the latter still comes in a very close second.

saying this movie is an epic masterpiece is like saying the sun is hot. "my way" beats out any war drama that I've ever seen hands down. 10/10 stars from me.

My Way fmovies. i was at red box last Saturday. i am a 66 yr. old white male brought up dirt poor in the south. all my family is military. all of us. i saw the picture of 2 soldiers walking the other way. i saw the title "my way". i clicked "review". i had to see this movie! i was very sick later that day. i put this movie in the DVD player. it hit me! the south Korean and the Japanese runners! the mud. the language! the realism. this is one of the finest films ever made! the story is true. the characters put Hollywood to shame! the battle scenes. the casting, the cinematography, are out of this world! this is the finest war movie ever made! hands down! if this movie does not take all of the Oscars, send the Oscar committee to north Korea! and leave them!

I guess I have Korean director Kang Je-Gyu to thank for sparking an interest in Korean films. No it wasn't any of the masters of old who got me hooked, but my first foray into Korean cinema on the big screen was actually to watch his Shiri, and while some may be of the opinion it's nothing more than a standard action thriller fare, it got me hooked, and to wonder just what more is out there in Korean cinema. And Kang went on to direct only 2 more films over a twelve year period, the first being the war movie Taegukgi, and now My Way.

So in a way, that makes it three films in a row that he's dabbled with men in uniform, exploring themes like brotherhood and friendship in blockbusters starring some of the biggest names in the industry. And in My Way, he teams up with Korea's Jang Dong-Gun, and Japan's Joe Odagiri who play rivals in Cain and Abel style, the former being a young boy working in the latter's family during the Japanese occupation of Korea, only for a terrorist incident to forever scar their potential friendship into deep hatred between the men, especially for Joe's Tatsuo against Jang's Joon-Sik. And their rivalry extends to their love for running long distance, almost always on par in countless of marathons they participate in.

The story written by Kang, Na Hyun and Kim Byung-In then centers the narrative against the run up to the Second World War, with the premise having to build up and culminate in Normandy during D-Day. So that takes the men, now in army fatigues with Joon-Sik being one of many Koreans forced to conscript in the Japanese Imperial Army, and under the arrogant, merciless leadership of Tatsuo in what would be convenience to further the two men's rivalry, especially when one is put in a lowly position, and the other having life and death powers over the man he loved to hate. The trio of writers managed to pack this film with enough incidents befitting any war movie, from POW imprisonment, disobedience of orders, torture and the likes, and playing on the theme of Karma, having what went around coming around to perpetrators. Not a very subtle approach though.

With a war setting, expect plenty of theatres of battles across different territories and under various banners and allegiances, such as the Japanese, Soviets, and Germans even, and you can tell where the money went into recreating their realism from uniforms, weapons and vehicles, together with the recreation of the Normandy invasion. Don't expect too much accuracy though if you think that D-Day and other battles, were won/lost in a few minutes, but one does get impressed by the effort to ensure that each battle got portrayed on as large a canvas possible, making it feel that the series of events the characters find themselves into, are far larger than their individual. There are times though that the editing and leaving of material on the cutting room floor had led to episodes being spliced together rather haphazardly, so that's a bit of a pity.

It's steeped in testosterone, if not for China's Fan Bingbing playing a bit role here as a sniper with vengeance against the Japanese at the top of her mind, and of course with her potential of opening up this film to the Mainland market. Other supporting acts include the good friends of Joon-Sik, such as Jong-Dae (Kim In-Kwon) who probably was the only supporting character given enough time for character development, and being somewhat of an in- between of the two men, offering a view of what each of them had, or could have,

I just finished watching this movie and I'm stunned at the beauty and depth of it. I especially like that it jumped right it and didn't linger on character development type stuff-you learned the characters as it went.

What I really wanna say Is that over and over again now it seems that every time i watch a 'good' foreign film, its REALLY good and leaves me wondering when I felt motivated enough about a big Hollywood production to start a post about it.

Hollywood seems to have a habit of bashing me over the head with some agenda or specific train of thought and I appreciate how this movie and many foreign movies I've seen similar to it in value and production either hid its agenda from me nicely, was some 'thought' I didn't understand due to historical understanding, or simply tried to provide a visual story to the best of their ability.

Whatever the case, this movie rocked and I was glued to the very end. I will be searching for more from this director.