Korean cinema of late has produced some highly entertaining and diverting pieces of work. Sadly this film is not amongst them.
THE TUBE is a slice of South Korean action cinema that owes a great debt to Hollywood action films of the 1990s; it has little of its own look or style and for the most part seems content to emulate American movies instead of carving out a niche for itself. It's a pity, because more recently, Korea has been making some highly distinctive thrillers, such as THE MAN FROM NOWHERE and THE YELLOW SEA, with a look and feel all of their own; this is nothing like them.
Taking a dose from "Speed", "The Rock", and "Die Hard", the South Korean movie TUBE is just your average shoot'em up and blow'em up actioner. It takes its cues more from your average Hollywood summer fare, with an outrageous premise and a variety of cliches only possible in similar silly action movies.
Hugely enjoyable action flick in the vein of "Speed" and "The Rock", which sees a brilliant criminal take control of a busy rush hour train before making seemingly impossible demands of the local control tower. He didn't bank on one particular passenger, however: a renegade cop with a score to settle with the man who killed his fiance years earlier.
USA be warned, for South Korea is doing you shameful. Today it's possible to see a South Korea blockbuster that is at american level, and, most times, above it.
You don't get me containing my excitement too much for Hong Kong/Japanese/Korean action films. I see a name like John Woo, Chow Yun-Fat or Takeshi Kitano on a movie poster and I break into hives with anticipation.
POSSIBLE SPOILERS This movie was okay up until the end, although I had a distinct feeling of deja vu watching many of the scenes, but couldn't someone have offered their pants or belt or something so Jay could have tied down that lever? It wasn't like it took a lot of effort to keep it down and a strong guy had to use all his muscles to prevent it from popping back up again.
Although TUBE is beautifully shot its still a weak hodge podge of every mainstream American action flick of the past 15 years. What's worse is that its derivative of the VERY derivative Jerry Bruckheimer/Michael Bey standard summer crapola.
STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All CostsCop Jay is intent on busting criminal mastermind .T.
