In an effort to prevent a military coup by 3 high-ranking officials within North Korea, a former agent by the name of "Eom Chul-Woo" (Woo-Sun Jung) is recruited by the chief of the RGB "Ri Tai-Han" (Kap-Su Kim) to assassinate them first. However, when he arrives at his firing position in the Kaesong Industrial Complex he is shocked to discover that, instead of his intended target, the Supreme Leader has shown up instead. He is further shocked when 2 incoming rockets fired from South Korea come out of the sky and kill multiple people. To make matters even more alarming, not only is the Supreme Leader seriously injured, but a hit squad soon arrives to finish him off. And that's when Eom Chul-Woo makes the decision to secretly transport him across the DMZ into South Korea. Meanwhile, South Korea is currently having a different form of power transfer as a high-level diplomat named "Kwak Chul-Woo" (Do-Wan Kwak) is trying to implement a smooth transition from the outgoing administration to the incoming presidential team. However, upon going to a medical clinic to investigate a strange rumor involving his ex-wife, he soon finds himself staring down the barrel of a gun held by a North Korean agent--and lying on the hospital bed is the critically injured body of the Supreme Leader himself. From that point on both Eom Chul-Woo and Kwak Chul-Woo become pawns in a power struggle that threatens to erupt into a nuclear war. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was an exciting film which tries to encapsulate the political landscape of Korea and the military and economic interests of China, Japan and the United States as well. To that end it succeeds and--coupled with the amount of action and intrigue--renders a very watchable film. Above average.
Review of Steel Rain
