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Ashfall (film)

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Ashfall
Theatrical release poster
Hangul
Hanja
白頭山
Revised RomanizationBaekdusan
Directed byLee Hae-jun
Kim Byung-seo
Written byLee Hae-jun
Kim Byung-seo
Produced byKim Yong-hwa
Park Ji-sung
Ha Jung-woo
Starring
Production
companies
Dexter Studios
CJ E&M
Distributed byCJ Entertainment
Release date
  • 19 December 2019 (2019-12-19) (South Korea)
Running time
128 minutes
CountrySouth Korea
LanguageKorean
BudgetUS$17.7 million[1][2]
Box office$61.3 million[3]

Ashfall (Korean: 백두산; Hanja: 白頭山; RR: Baekdusan), also known as: Mount Paektu, is a 2019 South Korean disaster film directed by Lee Hae-jun and Kim Byung-seo, starring Lee Byung-hun, Ha Jung-woo, Ma Dong-seok, Jeon Hye-jin and Bae Suzy. The film was released in December 2019 in South Korea.[4][5]

Plot

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Paektu Mountain, an active volcano straddling the China–North Korea border, suddenly erupts, causing severe earthquakes in both North and South Korea. Pandemonium ensues on the Korean peninsula, with more eruptions predicted in the area. To prevent another disaster, Jeon Yoo-kyung (Jeon Hye-jin) plans an operation based on a theory by Professor Kang Bong-rae (Ma Dong-seok), who had studied Mount Baekdu and its possible future eruptions.

Jo In-chang (Ha Jung-woo) is assigned to be the captain of a special forces team taking part in the operation. Jo In-chang contacts Lee Joon-pyeong (Lee Byung-hun) who is part of the Korean People's Army in North Korea as a spy. Meanwhile, Jo In-Chang's pregnant wife Choi Ji-young (Bae Suzy) is alone in Seoul and struggling to survive amidst the disaster.

In-Chang departs with his team on a plane, and they parachute after their airplane malfunctions. They locate Joon-pyeong, who was being held in a North Korean prison, and seek his knowledge in finding the correct mine closest to Paektu's caldera. After threatening his dying wife to disclose the location of his daughter, Joon-pyeong guides In-chang's team to a power station, and they extract a piece of uranium from a nuclear missile. This alerts the American garrison in South Korea, which sends soldiers to stop Joon-pyeong from delivering the uranium piece to several gangsters from China.

Meanwhile, Ji-young encounters a tsunami while she was on the way to evacuate from Seoul. She manages to survive and eventually rescued by the US military, and met Professor Kang, who was also evacuating to the United States after his disillusioned feelings with the South Korean government. Due to the earthquake, Ji-young and the evacuees cannot board the ship bound for America and Professor Kang helps her, and he decides to stay to continue helping the South Korean military to prevent the final eruption of Mount Paektu. At the military base, where the US military took control from the South Korean army, Yoo-kyung steals the military documents and sneaks out to meet Kang and Ji-young at a secluded place to contact In-chang.

Back at the North, In-chang and Joon-pyeong evade the Americans and reach Bocheon, a town near Paektu Mountain. Joon-pyeong meets his frightened daughter Soon-ok, and just as the Chinese gangsters was about to kill him for failing to deliver the uranium, In-chang gives the uranium, but sets its timer to coincide with Paektu's eruption. Although the American soldiers also arrive to take the uranium, they and the Chinese gangsters flee when Mt. Baekdu erupts again, triggering more earthquakes. After Professor Kang updated In-chang about the location of the final eruption, In-chang and Joon-pyeong bring the uranium to an abandoned mine (which was the same location where the final eruption would take place). Joon-pyeong takes the bomb into the mine's depths, leaving In-chang to go with Soon-ok, whom he adopts. The uranium bomb explodes and while Joon-pyeong was killed, the bomb's detonation stops the earthquakes, saving many lives in the Korean peninsula.

One year later, North and South Korea together oversee the reconstruction of the peninsula. In-chang and Ji-young have a baby son.

Cast

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Cameo

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Production

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Production on Ashfall ended on 21 July after five months of filming.

Kim Yong-hwa was in charge of production, and Dexter Studio, represented by Kim Yong-hwa, was in charge of VFX and co-produced and distributed with CJ.[16] It is a co-directed work by Lee Hae-joon and Kim Byung-seo.[17]

Release

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The film was released 19 December 2019 in South Korea. Internationally, it was released on 20 December in the United States, 24 December in Taiwan, 1 January 2020 in Hong Kong, 2 January in Singapore and Malaysia, 8 January in Indonesia, the day after in Thailand and Australia, and 31 January in Vietnam.[18]

Reception

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Critical response

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On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 70% based on 10 reviews, with an average rating of 5.8/10.[19]

Box office

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On 22 December at 11 a.m. KST, "Ashfall" officially surpassed 2 million moviegoers, taking just four days to reach the milestone. Notably, the film had just reached 1 million moviegoers just the day before.[20][21][22]

Accolades

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At the 56th Grand Bell Awards, the movie earned 4 nominations and won 2 awards.[23][24]

Awards Category Recipients Result Ref.
56th Grand Bell Awards Best Actor Lee Byung-hun Won [24]
Technical Award (Visual Effects) Andras Ikladi Won
Best Music Bang Jun-Seok Nominated
Best Lighting Cho Kyu-young Nominated

References

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  1. ^ Ji-yoon, Hwang (21 November 2019). "Lee Byung-hun, Ha Jung-woo Team up for Disaster Blockbuster". The Chosun Ilbo. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  2. ^ "A-list actors team up for $17 million movie 'Mount Paektu'". The Korea Times. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  3. ^ "Ashfall (2019)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  4. ^ "총 겨눈 이병헌vs하정우 '백두산' 폭발급 긴장감". Naver (in Korean). 20 November 2019. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  5. ^ "'Ashfall' brings new threat to Seoul: a volcano: Disaster movie asks what people will do to protect their loved ones". Korea JoongAng Daily. 20 November 2019. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
  6. ^ "'Ashfall' actors confident about film's eye-catching scale, storyline". Yonhap News Agency. 19 November 2019. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  7. ^ Yoon, Min-sik (3 December 2019). "Dictator's assassination, volcanic eruptions at Paektusan coming to big screens soon". The Korea Herald. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
  8. ^ "LEE Byung-hun and HA Jung-woo Wrap MOUNT BAEKDU". Koreanfilm. 8 August 2019. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  9. ^ "이병헌 하정우 마동석 전혜진 배수지 '백두산', 긴장감 넘치는 보도스틸 공개". Breaknews (in Korean). 20 November 2019. Archived from the original on 26 January 2020. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  10. ^ "[IS포토] 전혜진, 영화 백두산에서 냉철한 판단력을 가진 '민정수석'으로~". Ilyoseoul.co.kr (in Korean). 20 November 2019. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  11. ^ "'백두산' 하정우 "배수지와 부부 연기, 나이차 크지만 용기 내 촬영" [엑's 현장]". xportsnews.com (in Korean). 19 November 2019. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  12. ^ "수지, 홀터넥 드레스 소화 '여신 강림' (백두산)" (in Korean). 20 November 2019. Archived from the original on 7 August 2022. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  13. ^ Yoo, So-kyung (19 December 2019). "'백두산' 이병헌 "전도연 등장, 존재감 너무 강해 걱정도.." (인터뷰)". Hankook Ilbo. Daum. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  14. ^ "'청춘기록' 박보검X박소담X변우석, 캐릭터 포스터 공개…설렘 한도 초과". X Sports News. 14 July 2020.
  15. ^ "Ashfall - Cast (Korean Movie, 2019, 백두산)". Hancinema. 20 December 2019.
  16. ^ 임재후 (27 December 2019). "김용화, 영화 '백두산' 흥행 타고 덱스터스튜디오를 '아시아 디즈니'로". 비즈니스포스트. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  17. ^ "'백두산' 감독 "공동연출, 월수금·화목토 컷 담당 외엔 문제 없었다"". 스포츠조선 (in Korean). 23 December 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  18. ^ Jean, Noh (18 December 2019). "CJ announces pre-sales and release dates for action drama 'Ashfall'". Screen Daily. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
  19. ^ "Ashfall". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  20. ^ "'백두산', 4일 만에 200만 관객 돌파…'극한직업'과 같은 속도". Naver (in Korean). 22 December 2019. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
  21. ^ "Korea Box Office: 'Ashfall' Volcano Disaster Movie Dominates Weekend". Variety.com. 23 December 2019. Retrieved 26 December 2019.
  22. ^ "Blockbuster movie, TV series spark controversy over idealization of N. Korea". Yonhap News Agency. 7 January 2020.
  23. ^ Ha, Soo-jung (17 January 2020). 제56회 대종상 영화제 2월 25일 개최..'기생충' 11개 부문 최다 후보 [공식] [The 56th Daejongsang Film Festival was held on 25 February.. Most candidates in 11 categories of 'Parasite' [Official]]. News Chosun (in Korean). Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  24. ^ a b [제56회 대종상]'기생충' 작품상 포함 5관왕 달성…이병헌·정유미 주연상(종합) [[56th Daejong Award] Achievement of 5 crowns including'parasite' work award... Lee Byung-Hun and Yoo-Mi Jeong starring (General)]. Herald Corporation (in Korean). 3 June 2020. Retrieved 9 June 2020 – via Naver.
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