Shin Ha-kyun Fights On THE FRONTLINE

There's an intriguing collision of talent in upcoming Korean War film The Frontline. In the director's chair is former Kim Ki-duk protege Jang Hun - director of Rough Cut and Secret Reunion - while in the starring role is Shin Ha-kyun, the always impressive performer whose resume includes Save The Green Planet, Sympathy For Mister Vengeance and Thirst. Shin works at a slower pace than most of his contemporaries, to a great extent because he's very selective about which roles he takes on, while Jang is establishing himself as one of Korea's brightest young talents.

The film itself is a big budget spectacle set right at the end of the Korean War, in the period after a cease fire has been agreed to but before the actual agreement has been signed, with both sides struggling in one final burst of violence to gain an advantage before the new borders are set.

In 1951 ceasefire is declared, but two remaining armies fought their final battle on the front line

Towards the end of the Korean War, a South Korean battalion is fiercely battling over a hill on the front line border against the North in order to capture a strategic point that would determine the new border between two nations. The ownership of this small patch of land would swap multiple times each day. Kang is dispatched to the front line in order to investigate the tacit case that's been happening there. But he gets spiraled into the war that's more terrifying than death itself when he meets his friend Kim, who has transformed into a war machine, and his unit. As the countdown for ceasefire begins, both sides become more vicious, resulting in deaths of countless lives until the last man could claim the land.

The first trailer for this has just arrived and while it definitely appears to be pushing the patriotism buttons to a certain extent I have enough faith in those involved to be reasonably confident that there will be more to this than a lot of explosions and rah-rah. Check it below.