[KFCC] Blue Review

Story: The story revolves around three officers who meet while studying deep-sea diving in a naval academy. Of the three, the talkative and carefree Kim Jun (Shin Hyeon-jun) and the quiet and serious Lee Tae-yon (Kim Yeong-ho) are best friends, inseparable since childhood. They are willing to do anything for each other, including risk their lives, until Kang Su-jin (Shin Eun-gyeong), an attractive and ambitious fellow officer, comes between them. Strong feelings develop between Jun and Su-jin, but when Jun realizes his best friend is also in love with her, he suddenly breaks off the relationship just as she leaves for England to receive special training.

Time passes, and the two friends become trainees at the Special Salvage Unit, top deep-sea diving program of the nation, and Su-jin, promoted to major, returns into their lives as an instructor. The three find themselves back in an awkward triangle, but they have bigger problems now, as they have to deal with the head
of the training program, Lieutenant Colonel Choi Hyong-su (Lee Il-jae), who seems to have no qualms putting his ambitions ahead of the divers.

Review: Most films tend to get lost in the ambitions of the filmmaker before productions start. You can see it in many current and past productions such as The Core, Wesley’s Mysterious File, Dream of a Warrior, and Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. So often do we see movies that emphasize style over substance that we tend have preconceived notions about new motion pictures when they are released.

Blue sticks within the reality of its limited budget and works with what it’s got available to it. The production company admits that it did have high expectations for their latest effort at an undersea action drama. I wouldn’t say that this movie really succeeds in that department but it still is an entertaining piece of work for what it is. Though a little high on the drama department, there’s a decent amount of action to pass the time and not leave the viewer looking at their watch every few minutes. When compared to the other Korean submarine themed movie “Phantom: The Submarine,” this movie is more solid on the plot aspect and lies more focused on the relationships between the three main leads.

Action scenes are done decently, and are so-so when compared to other movies of the same genre. From what I already know about submarines and the things that deep sea divers do, I would say that they got it right production and execution wise. Accordingly, the special effects, what little there is, are done quite seamlessly as well. As far as I could tell, CG was used sparingly and solely for scene enhancement purposes. And that’s a good thing, because I feel that the addition of even further CG would bring this movie down and would destroy the credibility of the story and movie as a whole.

Concerning the drama aspect of Blue, I must say that it didn’t really capture my attention as much as the director may have intended. When I say drama, I mean the love triangle between the three main characters. Granted, Shin Hyun-June, Kim Young-Ho, and Shin Eun-Kyung are pretty convincing in their roles. But in the end, it all felt very cookie-cutter like. I feel it’s all been done before, and this time it didn’t really bring anything new to the party that’s been done all too many times before. Sure, it’s a love triangle on the seas, but that doesn’t really cut it for me. However, the dramatic pieces between the two male friends did have much more of an impact upon me than the triangle. They demonstrated what it meant to be friends, going through the stages of jealousy, retribution, and sacrifice.

Overall, Blue is a worthwhile experience as long as you don’t go in with a head full of expectations of a ground-breaking movie. As long as one goes in knowing that, Blue should be a good time regardless of it’s shortcomings.