During the Japanese colonial era, roughly 400 Korean people, who were forced onto Battleship Island ('Hashima Island') to mine for coal, attempt to escape.
13 March 1980, Taegu, South Korea
4 November 1977, Seoul, South Korea
1 September 1970, Masan, South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea
11 November 1971, Evanston, Illinois, USA
21 October 1985
20 August 1982, San Diego, California, USA
12 December 1960, Chungju, North Chungcheong Province, South Korea
August 10, 2017
Though Ryoo excels at both action narrative and harrowing history, the combination of the two feels strained.
August 03, 2017
Though Mr. Ryoo's taste for heightened theatricality threatens his story's credibility at times, there is no denying his skill with a large-scale action set piece.
August 03, 2017
It's when the various threads converge that the mechanical nature of the plotting and the thinness of the characterizations are thrown into sharpest relief.
August 08, 2017
Technically accomplished, narratively impoverished.
September 19, 2017
... I enjoyed the touching performance of the father-daughter duo, and Battleship Island will undoubtedly attract hordes of Song fans who want to see their idol don a military uniform again after Descendants Of The Sun.
August 04, 2017
Although its plot could have been trimmed and more clearly focused, this rousing wartime saga is truly epic, in every sense of the word.
July 28, 2017
While there's no doubting its huge ambitions, The Battleship Island turns out to be a disappointing misfire.
August 04, 2017
That BATTLESHIP ISLAND is heartfelt piece of patriotic fanservice doesn't keep the film from being an undisciplined, scattered, overlong mess, and the worst movie Director Ryoo Seung-wan has made.
August 05, 2017
It's a pity that Ryoo insists on prioritising violence, melodrama and shameless jingoism to the point of exploitation, wringing this real-life tragedy for every tear - and dollar - he can.
August 04, 2017
While Battleship Island is sometimes unpleasant to watch, it is a consistently involving, atypically thoughtful crowd-pleaser.
August 16, 2017
There is more than one way to approach wartime movies, as the recent box-office successes of Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk and Ryoo Seung Wan's The Battleship Island prove.

