
And I say this as a man that loves Korean cinema, but a lot of their movies rely on melodrama and sentimentality to get their point across, rather than actually creating interesting characters. I realize every country has this, but I've noticed it the most in Korean films. And, again, I don't care how sad your score is, that isn't going to make me care for characters that I know nothing about. By focusing on such a large cast of characters, you really don't care for anybody. In that case, take out characters you don't really need and choose to focus your story on a more contained, small group of people.

How about you actually give these characters personalities before you expect me to care for them? With a large cast such as this, I realize this is easier said than done. It was way too sugary and phony for my tastes. I really was sickened by this happy, sentimental set-up. It didn't work, of course, because everything before the helicopter crashes is so perfect and happy that you just kinda hope that the disaster happens quicker. I'm assuming this was done in the hope that seeing them so happy would, in turn, help you care more for them during their ordeal. The first 30 minutes of the film consists of introducing the characters and showing them as happy as is humanly possible in lieu of actually giving them fully formed personalities.

I think the set-pieces and the effects are well-done, but this takes precedence over actual character development. This is what happens when Korea tries its own version of The Towering Inferno, except it's far more melodramatic and, thankfully, much shorter than The Towering Inferno.
