When faced with a choice between saving your country from a life-threatening quartet of volcanic eruptions or being there for your child from a demanding wife, which would you choose? This is one of the dilemmas facing one of the main characters in the Korean disaster-action thriller ASHFALL.
An volcanic earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter Scale all but flattens Pyongyang and the world is on the brink. A laughed-at scientist’s thesis on such a disaster becomes the key point of reference for a beleaguered President and the scientist is brought back into action, at a time when many are pushing for de-nuclearisation of the region.
What to do? Well, send some soldiers in to retrieve a double-agent held hostage who holds the key to the future of the country and the world and detonate a device to relieve the pressure on the eruption so the country can survive. Trouble is, it’s on the China-Korean border. Couple that with a US warship crew in town to claim some warheads for themselves and the world is well and truly at logger heads in this potential for more old-fashioned Armageddon…
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Fusing the classic tradition of the Irwin Allen blockbusters of the 1970s like THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE and THE TOWERING INFERNO with the CGI-driven extravaganzas of Roland Emmerich like INDEPENDENCE DAY and THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW, ASHFALL leaps off the screen with its’ high-energy suspense and a race against time mantra to create a very entertaining and pacy yarn that is very much Far Eastern spirit at its’ best.
Wasting no time in getting going with an opening earthquake sequence that is up there with the very best of the CGI-rendered disaster moments, ASHFALL kicks into gear with a men-on-a-mission story that is what Alastair MacLean would have been proud to have written alongside the likes of THE GUNS OF NAVARONE and WHERE EAGLES DARE – and an element which adds to the dynamic of a story that often in cinema is only about a bunch of people trying to survive and elevates it to a more action-spirited adventure, thus adding depth and purpose.
The action scenes are well staged and fans of films like FILM METAL JACKET and THE RAID will lap them up. There’s a mild sense of political and social conflict within as well, with knowing jibes to various American and Korean cultural differences, but they are secondary to the action and extravagance on show here.
At times, the visuals don’t let up, but there is much dimension and each one is determined to top the next as each successive eruption by the earthquake caused by the volcano and you do find yourself rooting for the characters in a way not seen since watching the Allen classics.
Hold on to your popcorn and refreshments and enjoy this visual treat.
[…] Related post:Â Ashfall Review: Hold On To Your Popcorn & Enjoy This Visual Treat […]
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