Ashfall (Korean: 백두산; Hanja: 白頭山; RR: Baekdusan), also known as: Mount Paektu,
Ashfall (film)
| Ashfall | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Hangul | 백두산 |
| Hanja | 白頭山 |
| Revised Romanization | Baekdusan |
| Directed by | Lee Hae-jun Kim Byung-seo |
| Produced by | Lee Hae-jun Kim Byung-seo |
| Starring | Lee Byung-hun Ha Jung-woo Ma Dong-seok Jeon Hye-jin Bae Suzy |
Production company | Dexter Studios CJ E&M |
| Distributed by | CJ Entertainment |
Release date |
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Running time | 128 minutes[1] |
| Country | South Korea |
| Language | Korean |
| Budget | US$17.7 million[2][3] |
| Box office | $61.3 million[4] |
Ashfall (Korean: 백두산; Hanja: 白頭山; RR: Baekdusan), also known as: Mount Paektu, is a 2019 South Korean action 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.[5][6]
Plot[edit source]
Mt. Paektu, 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 Mt. 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, who is struggling to survive against 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 Mt. 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, who sends soldiers to stop Joon-pyeong from delivering the uranium piece to several gangsters from China.
In-chang and Joon-pyeong evade the Americans and reach Bocheon, a town near Mt. Paektu. Joon-pyeong meets his frightened daughter, and just as the Chinese gangsters almost kill him for failing to deliver the uranium, In-chang gives the uranium, but sets its timer to coincide with Mt. 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. In-chang and Joon-pyeong bring the uranium to a mine with Joon-pyeong takes the bomb into the mine's depths, leaving In-chang to go with Joon-pyeong's daughter, which he adopts. The uranium bomb explodes and stops the earthquakes, saving many lives.
One year later, North and South Korea together oversee the reconstruction of the peninsula. In-chang and Ji-young have a baby son.
Cast[edit source]
- Lee Byung-hun[7][8] as Lee Joon-pyeong
- Ha Jung-woo[9] as Jo In-chang
- Ma Dong-seok[10] as Kang Bong-rae
- Jeon Hye-jin[11] as Jeon Yoo-kyung
- Bae Suzy[12][13] as Choi Ji-young
Cameo[edit source]
- Jeon Do-yeon as Sun-hwa [14]
- Byeon Woo-seok as Bodyguard [15]
Production[edit source]
Production on Ashfall ended on July 21 after five months of filming.
Release[edit source]
The film was released December 19, 2019 in South Korea and on December 20 in the US. The film is set to be released on December 24 in Taiwan, January 1, 2020 in Hong Kong, January 2 in Singapore and Malaysia, January 8 in Indonesia, the day after in Thailand and Australia, and January 31 in Vietnam.[16]
Reception[edit source]
Critical response[edit source]
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 71% based on 7 reviews, with an average rating of 6/10.[17]
Box office[edit source]
On December 22 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.[
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