Harbin
review by Bobby Blakey
Outside of the wide variety of martial arts and horror films, Well Go USA brings a wide variety of other Asian films to the US. The latest is the Korean war film Harbin starring Hyun Bin, Park Jeong-min, Jeon Yeo-been, Jo Woo-jin, and Lee Dong-wook from director Woo Min-ho. Could this true story get the proper treatment in telling its important moment in history or will it fail to find its independence?
Harbin follows the gripping story of Korean independence fighter Ahn Jung-geun as he embarks on a daring mission in 1909, with Japan’s annexation of Korea looming. Determined to alter history, Ahn and his comrades plot a high-stakes assassination—one they hope will spark a revolution.
I love history so anytime I get the chance to learn something new then I am all in. The idea of this mission is one of those things that when handled right can be compelling, intense and interesting. Right out the gate this film showcased stunning visuals and some captivating debates before taking us onto the battlefield. This first sequence is well executed and brutal to fully capture the nature of war before taking us to the planning of the mission at hand.
From there on for most of the film it is a slow pace that is interesting, but sometimes hard to stick it out. It’s not because it is bad, its actually quite good, but just nothing is happening other than the ongoing planning and set up which feels like its taking forever to get to. I know a lot of it needs to be here for the story, but I found myself fading interest off and on before it would pull me back in.
I think the film could have been trimmed down a bit as some of the
sequences seem to rehash stuff, we either already knew or already saw a variation of. Maybe I was hoping for more action throughout and set my expectations too high because there is very little after that opening battle sequence. Even the final act that is satisfying and throws in some twists and reveals that make the film end on a high note wasn’t overly exciting and left me feeling like there was something bigger here that was missed.
Expectations and reality don’t always go together and a film focusing on real events can only do so much. Had it been infused with more action it could have easily lost more focus and fallen more off the rails despite more excitement. I think this is a subjective film that works to do exactly what it set out to do no matter what I had hoped for and others mind find the excellence behind it.
Decide for yourself and check out Harbin available now on digital, 4K, Blu-ray and DVD from Well Go USA.