Best Movie With South Korea as a Backdrop?
by urbanemovies | created - 22 Feb 2018 | updated - 1 month ago | PublicIn honor of the host nation of the PyeongChang 2018: XXIII Olympic Winter Games (2018), a salute to movies set in South Korea.
Which of these movies set with a South Korean backdrop for at least a portion of the film would be your gold medal choice as the best movie?
Cast your vote here or Discuss the topic here.
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1. Black Panther (2018)
PG-13 | 134 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
T'Challa, heir to the hidden but advanced kingdom of Wakanda, must step forward to lead his people into a new future and must confront a challenger from his country's past.
Director: Ryan Coogler | Stars: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira
Votes: 553,784 | Gross: $700.06M
2. Oldboy (2003)
R | 120 min | Action, Drama, Mystery
After being kidnapped and imprisoned for fifteen years, Oh Dae-Su is released, only to find that he must find his captor in five days.
Director: Chan-wook Park | Stars: Min-sik Choi, Ji-Tae Yoo, Hye-jeong Kang, Dae-han Ji
Votes: 473,895 | Gross: $0.71M
3. Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
PG-13 | 141 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
When Tony Stark and Bruce Banner try to jump-start a dormant peacekeeping program called Ultron, things go horribly wrong and it's up to Earth's mightiest heroes to stop the villainous Ultron from enacting his terrible plan.
Director: Joss Whedon | Stars: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth
Votes: 690,961 | Gross: $459.01M
4. I Saw the Devil (2010)
Not Rated | 142 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A secret agent exacts revenge on a serial killer through a series of captures and releases.
Director: Jee-woon Kim | Stars: Byung-Hun Lee, Min-sik Choi, In-seo Kim, Joon-Hyuk Lee
Votes: 97,797 | Gross: $0.13M
5. MASH (1970)
R | 116 min | Comedy, Drama, War
The staff of a Korean War field hospital use humor and high jinks to keep their sanity in the face of the horror of war.
Director: Robert Altman | Stars: Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould, Tom Skerritt, Sally Kellerman
Votes: 64,375 | Gross: $81.60M
6. Okja (2017)
TV-MA | 120 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A young girl risks everything to prevent a powerful, multinational company from kidnapping her best friend - a fascinating beast named Okja.
Director: Bong Joon Ho | Stars: Tilda Swinton, Paul Dano, Seo-hyun Ahn, Jake Gyllenhaal
Votes: 78,728
7. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
PG-13 | 126 min | Drama, Thriller
A former prisoner of war is brainwashed as an unwitting assassin for an international Communist conspiracy.
Director: John Frankenheimer | Stars: Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh, Angela Lansbury
Votes: 68,442
8. Train to Busan (2016)
Not Rated | 118 min | Action, Horror, Thriller
While a zombie virus breaks out in South Korea, passengers struggle to survive on the train from Seoul to Busan.
Director: Sang-ho Yeon | Stars: Yoo Gong, Yu-mi Jung, Dong-seok Ma, Su-an Kim
Votes: 118,915 | Gross: $2.13M
9. The Bourne Legacy (2012)
PG-13 | 135 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
An expansion of the universe from Robert Ludlum's novels, centered on a new hero whose stakes have been triggered by the events of the previous three films.
Director: Tony Gilroy | Stars: Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton, Scott Glenn
Votes: 272,770 | Gross: $113.20M
10. The Handmaiden (2016)
Not Rated | 145 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller
A woman is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, but secretly she is involved in a plot to defraud her.
Director: Chan-wook Park | Stars: Min-hee Kim, Jung-woo Ha, Jin-woong Cho, So-Ri Moon
Votes: 87,395 | Gross: $2.01M
11. Colossal (2016)
R | 109 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Gloria is an out-of-work party girl forced to leave her life in New York City and move back home. When reports surface that a giant creature is destroying Seoul, she gradually comes to the realization that she is somehow connected to this phenomenon.
Director: Nacho Vigalondo | Stars: Anne Hathaway, Jason Sudeikis, Austin Stowell, Tim Blake Nelson
Votes: 53,669 | Gross: $3.02M
12. The Host (2006)
R | 120 min | Action, Drama, Horror
A monster emerges from Seoul's Han River and begins attacking people. One victim's loving family does what it can to rescue her from its clutches.
Director: Bong Joon Ho | Stars: Kang-ho Song, Hee-Bong Byun, Hae-il Park, Doona Bae
Votes: 89,253 | Gross: $2.20M
13. Cloud Atlas (2012)
R | 172 min | Action, Drama, Mystery
An exploration of how the actions of individual lives impact one another in the past, present and future, as one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero, and an act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution.
Directors: Tom Tykwer, Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski | Stars: Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugh Grant, Hugo Weaving
Votes: 331,504 | Gross: $27.11M
14. The Man from Nowhere (2010)
R | 119 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
A quiet pawnshop keeper with a violent past takes on a drug-and-organ trafficking ring in hope of saving the child who is his only friend.
Director: Jeong-beom Lee | Stars: Won Bin, Sae-ron Kim, Tae-hoon Kim, Hee-won Kim
Votes: 56,941 | Gross: $0.01M
15. Foxcatcher (2014)
R | 134 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
U.S. Olympic wrestling champions and brothers Mark Schultz and Dave Schultz join "Team Foxcatcher", led by eccentric multi-millionaire John du Pont, as they train for the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea, but John's self-destructive behavior threatens to consume them all.
Director: Bennett Miller | Stars: Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo, Vanessa Redgrave
Votes: 128,008 | Gross: $12.10M
16. Memories of Murder (2003)
Not Rated | 132 min | Action, Crime, Drama
In a small Korean province in 1986, three detectives struggle with the case of multiple young women being found raped and murdered by an unknown culprit.
Director: Bong Joon Ho | Stars: Kang-ho Song, Sang-kyung Kim, Roe-ha Kim, Jae-ho Song
Votes: 108,656 | Gross: $0.01M
17. Die Another Day (2002)
PG-13 | 133 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
James Bond is sent to investigate the connection between a North Korean terrorist and a diamond mogul, who is funding the development of an international space weapon.
Director: Lee Tamahori | Stars: Pierce Brosnan, Halle Berry, Rosamund Pike, Toby Stephens
Votes: 195,030 | Gross: $160.94M
18. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (2003)
R | 103 min | Drama, Romance
A boy is raised by a Buddhist monk on an isolated floating temple where the years pass like the seasons.
Director: Ki-duk Kim | Stars: Ki-duk Kim, Yeong-su Oh, Jong-ho Kim, Young-min Kim
Votes: 72,532 | Gross: $2.38M
19. Stealth (2005)
PG-13 | 121 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Deeply ensconced in a top-secret military program, three pilots struggle to bring an artificial intelligence program under control before it initiates the next world war.
Director: Rob Cohen | Stars: Josh Lucas, Jessica Biel, Jamie Foxx, Sam Shepard
Votes: 50,138 | Gross: $32.12M
20. The Wailing (2016)
TV-MA | 156 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Soon after a stranger arrives in a little village, a mysterious sickness starts spreading. A policeman, drawn into the incident, is forced to solve the mystery in order to save his daughter.
Director: Hong-jin Na | Stars: Jun Kunimura, Jung-min Hwang, Do-won Kwak, Woo-hee Chun
Votes: 38,951
21. Ayla (2017)
125 min | Biography, Drama, History
In 1950, amid-st the ravages of the Korean War, Sergeant Süleyman stumbles upon a half-frozen little girl, with no parents and no help in sight. Frantic, scared and on the verge of death, ... See full summary »
Director: Can Ulkay | Stars: Çetin Tekindor, Ismail Hacioglu, Kyung-jin Lee, Kim Seol
Votes: 28,579
22. The Chaser (2008)
Not Rated | 125 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A disgraced ex-policeman who runs a small ring of prostitutes finds himself in a race against time when one of his women goes missing.
Director: Hong-jin Na | Stars: Yoon-seok Kim, Jung-woo Ha, Yeong-hie Seo, Yoo-Jeong Kim
Votes: 51,667
23. The Steel Helmet (1951)
Approved | 85 min | Action, Drama, War
A ragtag group of American stragglers battles against superior Communist troops in an abandoned Buddhist temple during the Korean War.
Director: Samuel Fuller | Stars: Gene Evans, Robert Hutton, Steve Brodie, James Edwards
Votes: 3,436
24. Lady Vengeance (2005)
R | 115 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
After being wrongfully imprisoned for thirteen years and having her child taken away from her, a woman seeks revenge through increasingly brutal means.
Director: Chan-wook Park | Stars: Yeong-ae Lee, Min-sik Choi, Shi-hoo Kim, Yea-young Kwon
Votes: 66,218 | Gross: $0.21M
25. Pork Chop Hill (1959)
Approved | 97 min | Action, Drama, War
During the Korean War peace talks, U.S. troops fight to retake a hill from the Communist Chinese forces.
Director: Lewis Milestone | Stars: Gregory Peck, Harry Guardino, Rip Torn, George Peppard
Votes: 3,975 | Gross: $4.02M
26. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002)
R | 129 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
A recently laid off factory worker kidnaps his former boss' friend's daughter, hoping to use the ransom money to pay for his sister's kidney transplant.
Director: Chan-wook Park | Stars: Kang-ho Song, Ha-kyun Shin, Doona Bae, Ji-Eun Lim
Votes: 57,532 | Gross: $0.05M
27. Mother (2009)
R | 129 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A mother desperately searches for the killer who framed her son for a girl's horrific murder.
Director: Bong Joon Ho | Stars: Hye-ja Kim, Won Bin, Goo Jin, Je-mun Yun
Votes: 40,282 | Gross: $0.55M
28. A Bittersweet Life (2005)
Not Rated | 120 min | Action, Drama
Things go wrong for a high ranking mobster when he doesn't proceed by his boss's orders.
Director: Jee-woon Kim | Stars: Byung-Hun Lee, Min-a Shin, Yeong-cheol Kim, Jung-min Hwang
Votes: 32,882
29. The Admiral (2014)
Not Rated | 128 min | Action, Drama, History
Admiral Yi Sun-sin faces a tough challenge when he is forced to defend his nation with just 13 battleships against 300 Japanese enemy ships in the Battle of Myeongryang.
Director: Han-min Kim | Stars: Min-sik Choi, Seung-ryong Ryu, Jin-woong Cho, Myung-gon Kim
Votes: 9,202 | Gross: $2.59M
30. The Age of Shadows (2016)
TV-MA | 140 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
Korean resistance fighters smuggle explosives to destroy facilities controlled by Japanese forces in this period action thriller.
Director: Jee-woon Kim | Stars: Kang-ho Song, Byung-Hun Lee, Yoo Gong, Seong-rok Sin
Votes: 7,064 | Gross: $0.54M
31. Along With the Gods: The Two Worlds (2017)
Not Rated | 139 min | Action, Drama, Fantasy
After a heroic death, a firefighter navigates the afterlife with the help of three guides.
Director: Yong-hwa Kim | Stars: Jung-woo Ha, Tae-Hyun Cha, Ji-Hoon Ju, Hyang-gi Kim
Votes: 9,921 | Gross: $1.91M
32. A Taxi Driver (2017)
Not Rated | 137 min | Action, Drama, History
A widowed father and taxi driver who drives a German reporter from Seoul to Gwangju to cover the 1980 uprising, soon finds himself regretting his decision after being caught in the violence around him.
Director: Hun Jang | Stars: Kang-ho Song, Thomas Kretschmann, Hae-jin Yoo, Jun-yeol Ryu
Votes: 10,713 | Gross: $1.53M
33. Parasite (2019)
R | 132 min | Comedy, Drama, Thriller
All unemployed, Ki-taek and his family take peculiar interest in the wealthy and glamorous Parks, as they ingratiate themselves into their lives and get entangled in an unexpected incident.
Director: Bong Joon Ho | Stars: Kang-ho Song, Sun-kyun Lee, Yeo-jeong Jo, Woo-sik Choi
Votes: 89,345
*Added 06 October 2019
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