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Silmido

2003 2h 14m Action Drama List
Tomatometer 1 Reviews 84% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
In 1968, the South Korean government recruits 31 criminals to train for a secret mission to kill North Korean leader Kim Il-Sung. The convicts, including gang leader Kang In-chan (Sul Kyung-gu), undergo two years of brutal training by the head of the commando camp (Ahn Sung-ki). But the mission is cancelled at the last minute and the government wants all evidence of the plan destroyed. This leads to a final bloody confrontation between the would-be assassins and the men who trained them.

Critics Reviews

View All (1) Critics Reviews
Panos Kotzathanasis HanCinema "Silmido" is actually an action movie, and moreover, a blockbuster. In that fashion, the biggest protagonist is the action, with most of the film's elements revolving around it. Dec 16, 2018 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member This movie doesn't fail at all. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/28/23 Full Review Audience Member It's not the Dirty Dozen, in fact it's crazy enough to be a real story. Silmido is interesting war drama following the events of the Blue House Raid. Unfortunately the movie didn't showcase, what could have been a great action behind the Blue House Raid. That's understandable that it would just patronize the Northern efforts against South Korea. Despite this unique story of Unit 684, the movie have a lot of excess in drama. The ending is way too dramatic. It's would be more fun to turn it into a good action movie. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/13/23 Full Review antti p Based on a little know true story of a South Korean special unit of convicted death row prisoners training to kill the head of North Korea. With Pirates of the Caribbean style music. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review thomas a Based on true story, this Korean military/political drama is perhaps one of the best Korean movies of all time (after Taegukgi). Seriously, South Korea needs to promote more movies like this, instead of the plethora of melancholic/heartbroken romance tripe that make up the majority of Korean pop culture today. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member This Korean war movie is The Dirty Dozen meets The Eagle Has Landed. A group of death-row inmates are trained on the island of Silmido with the mission of assassinating the North Korean leader, but then they are never sent and get stir-crazy on the island. This is the part of the movie that I dislike. They train for the half the movie, and then don't do anything for the rest of the movie. No big mission, just going rogue and then having a political statement in the ending. It does have some good acting and training scenes, but it lacks because the narrative it is based on is anti-climactic. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/05/23 Full Review Audience Member One of the best movies I've ever seen. A classic and a must-see for every film-loving adult. You haven't seen a story quite like 'Silmido'. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/17/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Silmido

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Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis In 1968, the South Korean government recruits 31 criminals to train for a secret mission to kill North Korean leader Kim Il-Sung. The convicts, including gang leader Kang In-chan (Sul Kyung-gu), undergo two years of brutal training by the head of the commando camp (Ahn Sung-ki). But the mission is cancelled at the last minute and the government wants all evidence of the plan destroyed. This leads to a final bloody confrontation between the would-be assassins and the men who trained them.
Director
Kang Woo-suk
Producer
Lee Min-ho
Screenwriter
Kim Hee-jae
Production Co
Hanmac Films, Plenus Inc.
Genre
Action, Drama
Original Language
Korean
Release Date (DVD)
Nov 13, 2012
Runtime
2h 14m
Sound Mix
Dolby Digital