On Christmas Eve at Tower Sky, an ultra-luxurious building complex, a White Christmas party is held to dazzle its equally high-end tenants and VIP guests. Dae-ho, the manager of the building and single father, is forced to cancel plans with his daughter Hana to work the event. His Christmas is saved when Yoon-hee, the food mall manager with a secret crush on Dae-ho, offers to babysit Hana during the party. Meanwhile, Young-ki the legendary fire chief of Yoido Station has finally promised his first holiday date night to his long suffering wife. The party is in full swing with the spectacular sight of two helicopters flying overhead just to spray snow on the partygoers and make everything perfect. When unthinkable disaster strikes, Dae-ho and Young-ki must summon all their strength and courage to save the lives of thousands but at what cost to themselves and their loved ones? A Christmas Eve party at a luxury residential building takes a horrific turn when a fire breaks out. This appears to be another movie given very positive reviews by people somehow connected with it; not much else could explain either the ten glowing reviews or why only one of the 13 even mentions the unbelievably sick "disaster" parameters in this shameful piece of junk. Forget that everyone from the kitchen help to the romantic interests to the fire fighters behave like a bad remake of laurel and hardy for the first 28 minutes. Forget that the movie is supposed to be an attempt to "update" a great Irwin Allen disaster movie from the beginning of the disaster movie era (if it is that, it is so only in a superficial manner).<br/><br/>No, let's take a look at the black-hearted ugliness lying at the center of this film. I knew something was really wrong the moment I saw the films depiction of the highrise…now just why would someone remake The Towering Inferno using a bad CGI building that looks exactly like a cartoon version of the Twin Towers? I soon found out.<br/><br/>Because, in essence, this flick is poking fun at what happened in NYC on 9/11.<br/><br/>The fire starts a bit after half an hour into the film because a sudden updraft somehow manages to catch a bevy of helicopters flying around the twin towered high rise to drop artificial snow during the fireworks display highlighting the huge welcome tenants party in the upstairs ballroom…and cause them to go out of control and strike the building.<br/><br/>The scenes of the actual strikes include some that so closely depict the fire starting across the line of windows it's stomach churning.<br/><br/>The scenes of people screaming and running violently evoke what must have been happening after the terrorists' blammoed that first plane into the Twin Towers….<br/><br/>The "solution" at the end involves a scene supposedly shot from above the building…showing a tower collapsing down upon itself….<br/><br/>My feelings upon seeing that much are indescribable. I hope this review is voted near the top so that others who had some kind of involvement in that horror, lost people in it, or suffer from the reactions many Veterans like myself have upon just remembering (much less seeing it used in such a blatantly sick way)will be warned and stay away from it. I stopped the movie between 35 and 40 minutes in after seeing that yes, these sick freaks actually were using 9/11, and advanced it to near the end just to check whether or not they kept it up and found that horrifically pointed ending. I'd like to spare anyone else that knowledge of what some people out there are capable of doing.<br/><br/>This movie is not a remake of The Towering Inferno, though it bears the same name as the book that movie was based upon. It is a sick pointed slyly vicious holding up of the horrors and losses in a comedified sort of gloat that frankly engenders an enduring negative view of Koreans. Christmas Eve. A gala party that's being at the luxurious 108 story high-rise building Tower Sky goes sour when an unexpected fire breaks out. A handful of people who themselves trapped inside the building must do whatever they can to survive while a team of brave fire fighters contend with the raging blaze. Director Ji-hoon Kim, who also co-wrote the tight and compelling script with Sang-don Kim, relates the gripping story at a brisk pace, takes time to carefully develop the characters so the viewer has a genuine emotional investment in their harrowing plight, vividly captures a strong sense of mounting fear, dismay, panic, and hysteria, builds plenty of gut-wrenching suspense (a sequence where several people have to cross a precarious glass bridge rates as a definite nail-biting highlight), and stages the fiercely rousing action with considerable skill, scope, and brio. Moreover, this movie further benefits not only from inspired touches of humor, but also from surprisingly potent moments of pathos and tragedy. The way the crisis situation brings out both the best and worst in folks provides an additional dramatic punch. The fine acting by the sturdy cast helps a whole lot, with especially stand-out work from Sul Kyung-gu as tough no-nonsense fire chief Young-ki, Sang-kyung Kim as likable building manager Dae-ho, Ye-jin Son as the sweet Yoon-hee, and Mina Cho as Dae-ho's adorable little daughter Hana. Both Young-Ho Kim's slick widescreen cinematography and Tae-seong Kim's thrilling dynamic score are up to par. Stupendous special effects, too. Recommended viewing.
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378 weeks ago