Ashfall ~ Two Good Fathers Save the World
“Ashfall” (aka “Mount Paektu”) is a 2019 Korean film, categorized as Survival, Thriller, Action, and Disaster; streaming free with ads on Tubi TV.
SUMMARY: A brave team of South Korean explosives experts have to detonate a bomb to prevent a volcanic eruption that could destroy both Koreas. But there’s a complication. The volcano is in North Korea and the only person who knows how to tell the team where to go is in a North Korean prison, arrested on suspicion of being a South Korean agent. The South Koreans think he may even be a double agent. Can he be trusted? Do they have a choice? It’s a disastrous life-or-death situation, and the team hopes he wants to live too!
♦ You Won’t Be Discharged Today AND You Can’t Leave the Country Today
In “Ashfall”, a volcano that’s been dormant since the early 1900s decided to ERUPT! It’s not going to erupt just once. Mount Paektu, which is located in North Korea, caused a devastating earthquake in South Korea. What’s more? It’s going to blow another 3 times and probably wipe out the Korean Peninsula, i.e., both Koreas – South and North. Unless scientists and disaster relief experts can figure out how to stop that from happening. It’s going to take two fathers to save the day! Well! Technically, one is not a daddy … yet. He’s a future daddy. But there might not be a future if he doesn’t accept the mission.
MEET Captain Jo In-Chang: Captain Jo In-Chang has two reasons to be happy and excited. Reason 1: His wife, Choi Ji-young, is expecting their first child. Reason 2: It’s his last day in military service, and he will be discharged. He’s part of a team that has expertise in defusing bombs, and they also know how to make a bomb explode in the right place, at the right time. He is on his way to meet his wife when … EARTHQUAKE! He barely escaped the destruction, but … WHAT IS GOING ON?
- MEET Professor Kang Bong-Rae: Professor Kang Bong-Rae, prefers to be called “Robert” and he is on his way to the USA. He’s of Korean descent, but he’s a US citizen. Correction: He THINKS he is on his way to the USA. But he gets stopped by a government officer, Jeon Yoo-Kyung, who tells him he’s not going anywhere because the country needs his help. There’s no point trying to resist or refuse because she can issue a travel ban, and he won’t be able to leave. Kang Bong-Rae is a tad bit annoyed because three (3) years earlier, he tried to warn government officials about the eruption of Mount Paektu and the measures they needed to take to ensure public safety. But did they listen? NO! Oh, but NOW they need his scientific expertise? Ah well! What can he do? He can’t leave the country. If he stays, he might die along with everybody else. Guess he’d better help save the Korean Peninsula.
Fine! WHAT’S THE PLAN?
♦ We Don’t Have to Save the World. Just the Korean Peninsula. OUR WORLD!
Based on his research, Professor Kang Bong-Rae predicts that Mount Paektu will erupt three more times unless humans intervene and prevent it. HOW? A bomb could do it! It’s complicated and dangerous, but it will work! OK! Where’s the bomb? It’s in North Korea. Uuhhh … WHERE?
Captain Jo In-Chang is told he will not be discharged and that he is being sent on a special mission. “Excuse me? WHERE IS THE BOMB? IT’S WHERE? OK! Sooo … I have to lie to my wife.” There’s no way the captain is going to tell his pregnant wife that he’s going to North Korea, and he might not be alive to see the birth of their first child. He’s going to lie and keep her in the dark! Instead, he tells her that he has special travel orders; she’ll be getting on a plane heading for the United States, and they’ll meet up with her later. Saving the Korean Peninsula is important, but his first priority is to get his wife and unborn child out of harm’s way. He may never get to be a father. But if he lives, he can explain the lie he told later!
The special mission is indeed complicated and dangerous because there is only one person who can lead them to the bomb, and that person, Agent Lee Joon-Pyeong, is in a North Korean prison. He got arrested for spying, South Korea lost contact with him, and they’re hoping he’s still alive. No problem. First, a special forces team from South Korea must secretly cross the border into North Korea, and hope they don’t get killed. Then, they have to break into a maximum security North Korean prison and free a prisoner, and hope they don’t get killed. What could go wrong?
One of the things that could go wrong is … Agent Lee Joon-Pyeong might not want to go along with the master plan. Nobody told Jo In-Chang and the rest of the team that Lee Joon-Pyeong has a daughter and she’s his priority. The only person he wants to save is his daughter. If he can’t save her, then he’s willing to die with her.
Lee Joon-Pyeong was freed from prison so he could take the team to the place where the bomb is located. However, the place where his daughter is supposed to be is not on their map. Lee Joon-Pyeong has the upper hand. He’s the only one who knows where the team needs to go, and whether they like it or not, this father is going to try to save his daughter first. But that wasn’t part of the mission! Yeah? SO WHAT!!
Can these two fathers save their family and save the Korean Peninsula?
Main Characters:
- Agent Lee Joon-Pyeong (played by Lee Byung-Hun, , “Concrete Utopia”, “Mr. Sunshine”, “Emergency Declaration”, “Terminator: Genisys”, “Memories of the Sword”, “I Saw the Devil”, “Iris”, “Joint Security Area”, “Squid Game 1, 2 and 3”)
- Captain Jo In-Chang (played by Ha Jung-Woo, “Hijack 1971”, “Along With the Gods 1 and 2”, “Narco-Saints”, “The Berlin File”, “Nameless Gangster: Rules of The Time”, “Parallel Life”)
- Professor Kang Bong-Rae (played by Ma Dong-Seok, “Men of Plastic”, , “Badland Hunters”, “The Bros”, “The Round Up” film series, “The Gangster, the Cop, and the Devil”, “Bad Guys”, “The Bad Guys: Reign of Chaos” , “Squad 38”, “The Unjust”, “The Neighbors”)
- Jeon Yoo-Kyung (played by Jeon Hye-Jin, “Hit-and-Run Squad”, “RV: Resurrected Victims”, “Misty”, “Search: WWW”)
- Choi Ji-young (played by Bae Suzy, “Anna”, “The Sound of a Flower”, “Doona!”, “Kangchi, the Beginning (aka Gu Family Book)”, “Wonderland”, “While You Were Sleeping”, “Vagabond”, “Start-Up”)
Where to Watch: Tubi TV and other streaming platforms
Viewership and Rating:
- IMDb: 6.2 out of 10 stars
- My Drama List: 8 out of 10 stars
- Rotten Tomatoes: 5.8 out of 10 stars
- Google users shared a public rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars
My personal rating is the same as MDL.
Why do disasters have to be so inconvenient? Why do they have to happen when you’re stuck in traffic, or you’re about to have a baby, or you’re getting ready to retire and spend quality time with your family, or you’re getting ready to leave the country and don’t plan on coming back? Disasters always happen at the wrong time! That is just so wrong! LOL.
- GEOGRAPHY: Mount Paektu is real! It’s an active stratovolcano located on the border between North Korea and China. It is considered the mythological birthplace of all Korean people, specifically, the birthplace of Dangun, the mythical founder of Korea’s first kingdom. However, it is the subject of territorial disputes between China and Korea. The last time it erupted was 1925. It is NOT located in South Korea and can not even be accessed for tourism.
LINKS OF INTEREST:
First Look Review – ASHFALL | The Movie Waffler
Ashfall / Baekdusan – Film Review | I Love Disaster Movies!
Ashfall review: Disaster in Korea | Film Legacy
Review: “Ashfall” Is An Epic Disaster Film With Korean Flavor…And Tropes Galore | Cinema Escapist
Review | Ashfall film review: Ha Jung-woo, Lee Byung-hun brave volcanic eruption in Korean disaster thriller | South China Morning Post
TRAILER/TEASER:
FilmIsNow Action Movies. “ASHFALL (2019) International Trailer.” YouTube, 21 Dec. 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24T47vQA0fY.
♦
Korean Disaster Films:
♦
