'Emergency Declaration' Goes From Gripping to Exhausting with a Bloated Runtime

 When it comes to disasters, I think we can all agree one of the most harrowing nightmares is an attack on a plane. With nowhere to run and trapped in a small enclosed space with upwards of a hundred people, it is a breeding ground for terror and panic. This is the setting the writer/director Han Jae-rim sets his disaster film Emergency Declaration in. For about 75% of its run, the film is a gripping examination of human nature when caught in the jaws of fight or flight. A biochemical attack on a plane turns the passengers against each other as the officials on the ground rush to desperately find a solution for the victims. The other quarter of the film is dedicated to melodrama, shots that drag on far too long, and a plethora of moments that are unintentionally comedic, especially in the final moments of the film when the story should land the hardest.

https://podcast.ausha.co/love-destiny-the-movie2-hd/love-destiny-the-movie2-hd

https://podcast.ausha.co/love-destiny-the-movie2-hd/love-destiny-the-movie2-hd-podc

https://podcast.ausha.co/love-destiny-the-movie2-hd/love-destiny-the-movie2-hd-streaming

https://podcast.ausha.co/love-destiny-the-movie2-hd/love-destiny-the-movie2-hd-podcs

https://podcast.ausha.co/love-destiny-the-movie2-hd/love-destiny-the-movie2-hd-1

https://www.medmotion.org/profile/one-piece-film-red-dubb-thailand-full-review/profile

https://www.medmotion.org/profile/one-piece-film-red-movie-populer-thai-version1/profile

https://www.celebritytheatre.com/profile/one-piece-film-red-subb-thai-full-no-iklan-hd4k/profile

https://podcast.ausha.co/love-destiny-the-movie2-hd/m-thai-one-piece-film-red-2022-hd-streaming-th

https://podcast.ausha.co/love-destiny-the-movie2-hd/nope-hd-movie-on

https://podcast.ausha.co/love-destiny-the-movie2-hd/jaifu-story-hd-movies-online

https://podcast.ausha.co/love-destiny-the-movie2-hd/thor-love-and-thunder-hd

https://podcast.ausha.co/love-destiny-the-movie2-hd/2-minions-the-rise-of-gru-hd-movies-online

https://podcast.ausha.co/love-destiny-the-movie2-hd/the-gray-man-hd-podcs

https://podcast.ausha.co/love-destiny-the-movie2-hd/emergency-declaration-hd


Despite its faults, there is a lot to love about Emergency Declaration, mainly that praise goes to a star-studded cast of performers. Anyone even remotely familiar with South Korean acting stars will recognize the likes of Lee Byung-hun and Song Kang-ho, the latter reaching international fame for his roles in both Parasite and Snowpiercer. The film also casts singer/actor Im Si-wan from ZE:A as its villain, Jin-seok, though it's effective compared to Lee and Song. On the whole, Lee and Song hold up the film in its most dramatic and thrilling moments. Song plays detective In-ho, who desperately hunts for the terrorist on the flight, knowing that his wife is also on the same flight.


Lee plays Jae-hyuk, a passenger on the flight with his daughter, Soo-min, looking to move to Hawaii for a better life. Jae-hyuk is by far the most complex character of the film and perhaps in less experienced hands, the character could have been hammed up, but Lee navigates Jae-hyuk's complicated backstory well and plays a devoted father with much conviction.


The pitfalls of the film come as it reveals its hand far too early. Though the plot will try to convince you that no one thought Im's Jin-seok was a threat, it doesn't take a genius to look at a sweaty, pale guy with shifty eyes at an airport asking how full each flight is to spot a potential red flag. There is never a twist or a development that makes Jin-seok anything other than a man who is clearly mentally ill and painfully one-dimensional. Though the movie doesn't lean too far into it, it does lean on demonizing mental illness and subjecting Jin-seok to the role of a madman who just wants to watch the world burn.


While it takes us mere seconds to figure out who the villain is and get a general idea of what he intends, it takes the film far longer. This undercuts the suspense greatly, though Song's In-ho is quite skilled at making his character seem incredibly competent even if we see the answers right in front of him. His hunt for clues and the eventual revelation of what is going to be released on the plane – an engineered virus – is one of the high points of Emergency Declaration.


The problem comes when the movie grabs at a bit too much. This is the case both in terms of the plot but also in terms of the filming. There is one very long sequence where we watch as the passenger plane takes a nose dive and everyone is thrown about in the plane. In a shorter scene, this image is fittingly terrifying, and your imagination can fill in the blanks. But Han lingers far too long on this moment, spinning the camera around, showing us flight attendants hitting the top of the plane several times, lingering on slow shots of looks of anguish. Instead of instilling terror, it becomes almost humorous, a parody of what might happen in a real situation like this.


Good suspense builds and builds, letting your imagination run wild, and keeping you on the edge of your seat. In Emergency Declaration, there are few scenes that truly hold up in that respect. It doesn't ever feel like this entire plane of people is going to die, simply because there are too many main characters on the plane. Without this uncertainty, you're left merely wondering how these people will be saved and not if they will be. As the story spirals, the film feels immensely bloated. You could have easily cut 40 minutes out of this movie and had a tighter, more succinct story. Instead, it tries to make social commentary and teach lessons while also attempting to deliver thrills.


With so much holding it down, it feels impossible for Emergency Declaration to take flight, and it lives in the shadow of disaster films that capitalize on the hallmarks of its genre, rather than trying to do too much at the same time. For fans of Lee Byung-hun and Song Kang-ho, this is a can't miss performance. For those who aren't, you can miss this and get a connecting flight to any other disaster film.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Paradise Highway is the kind wayward

 What bet did Juliette Binoche lose? I only ask because writer/director Anna Gutto’s melodramatic thriller “Paradise Highway” is the kind wayward, tonally muddled project an actress the caliber of Binoche would only sign onto if promises were broken and payback was required.  It’s difficult to know where to begin with the autopsy of “Paradise Highway.” Shall we discuss the cliché “One Way or Another” needle drop? How about the superfluousness of several character arcs? Or maybe how this movie takes a great interest in broken systems without sketching the humans at the center? Gutto’s film certainly doesn’t fail to remind viewers of its importance. But you spend the entirety of its languid, nearly two-hour run-time wondering when this serious narrative will find space to be good.  As Sally, a big-rig trucker traversing America’s south, a miscast Binoche occupies our primary focus. Sally worries deeply about her troubled brother Dennis (Frank Grillo). Though he’s nearing parole, a few un
Read more

'The Guilty' Review: Jake Gyllenhaal Delivers Outstanding Performance in Netflix's Contained Thriller

Image
 Jake Gyllenhaal doesn’t need a performance vehicle to prove he’s one of the best actors of his generation, but that’s exactly what he gets in The Guilty, a dramatic thriller from director Antoine Fuqua that’s being distributed by Netflix. At only 40 years of age, Gyllenhaal has more than proven his range, avoiding being pigeonholed by taking on roles that are challenging in different ways. Brokeback Mountain, Zodiac, and Nightcrawler all reveal different facets of Gyllenhaal’s abilities as a performer, so it’s no surprise that when given the opportunity to command the entirety of the screentime himself in The Guilty, he delivers a turn that is compellingly complex, taking the audience on an emotional roller coaster that results in one of his best performances yet. The Guilty is a remake of the 2018 Danish film of the same name, and it features the same basic premise. Gyllenhaal (who also produces the film) plays Sergeant Bill Miller, a Los Angeles police officer who has been assigned
Read more

365 days to Buhari’s exit: Nigerians decry poor governance

With about 365 days left in the life of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration, concerned stakeholders have called on the president to attempt using the remainder of his term to assuage the pains of Nigerians on many fronts due to poor governance. Largely criticised for having failed in government, President Buhari was urged to reverse “abnormal and deviant political practices,” that keep preventing the nation from progressing.   Executive Director, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Musa Rafsanjani while assessing governance under the current regime, noted that the administration had fared poorly in terms of the justice system, anti-corruption, economic regeneration and inclusiveness. He noted that despite promises and commitments to combat corruption, graft practices remained a menace crippling socio-economic development, including poor public service delivery, fast-falling educational standard, dilapidating healthcare, bad roads, rising unemployment that
Read more