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Sector 7

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    Ian Jane
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  • Sector 7



    Released by: Shout! Factory
    Released on: June 26, 2012.
    Director: Kim Ji-Hoon
    Cast: Ha Ji-Won, Ahn Sung-Ki, Cha Ye-Ryeon
    Year: 2011
    Purchase From Amazon

    The Movie:

    Touted as 'Korea's first 3D action blockbuster' Sector 7, directed by Kim Ji-Hoon, takes place on an offshore oil rig in the waters between Korea and Japan where a the rag tag crew of a massive oil rig hope to strike black gold on the ocean floor. As South Korea hopes to become energy independent, a few of them take great pride in their work, particularly Hae-jun (Ha Ji-won), the stereotypical tough gal on the rig who doesn't put up with any crap from her co-workers. She and the rig's resident doctor, Hyun-Jung (Cha Ye-Ryeon) are definitely outnumbered by the male workers on board but they hold their own.

    Unfortunately the crew seems to have pretty horrible luck when it comes to tapping that oil, and they're just about to call it quits until the captain of the rig, Jung-Man (Ahn Sung-Ki), returns. Around this time, strange things start happening on the rig as Hae-jun and the rest of the crew are instructed to give it one last shot and try one more dig. Shortly after they do just that, crewmembers start dropping dead and Hae-Jun realizes that there's some sort of monster on board - and it's not at all happy about what she and her crew have been up to!

    Think of this one as Alien on an oil rig and you're more or less in the right ballpark, though Hae-Jun isn't quite as compelling a character as Ripley. Ha Ji-Won does a pretty decent job with the lead, however, and while the script might not be the most original or the most consistent thing ever written she handles the material well, bringing the right mix of tough and sexy to the part that makes her completely watchable. The script brings in some elements of comedy that don't always work so well, the most obvious example being a plot thread that involves Hyun-Jung being relentlessly pursued by a co-worker who has been stung on the lip by a creature and who sports a goofy looking swollen lip appliance and speech impediment for the rest of the movie, but the more serious side of the film works well enough.

    The oil rig proves to be a great location to set a horror film like this. Once you're on it, you're not it - you're not going to be swimming to shore anytime soon and it's not like when the monster shows up you can just hop in your car and try to drive away. The film uses the location well, and the monster itself is also quite cool. The creature is well designed and it acts and moves in interesting and sometimes genuinely creepy ways as it makes its way through the bowels of the rig. Some of the parts that use CGI are more effective than others and the penchant for pushing things towards the screen to max out the 3D aspect of the movie can be painfully obvious in spots (those with 3D HDTVs probably won't mind so much) but yeah, overall this is a fun movie. It does take a bit of time to start moving at the pace you might want it to but the movie is well shot and the last half is quite effective in its suspense and its creature effects. There are a lot of clichés here and most of the supporting characters are stereotypes but the movie gets quite a bit more right than it does wrong and if it doesn't quite live up to all of its potential (some more polish on the script and characters, being the most obvious issue), it's still a fun monster movie.

    Video/Audio/Extras:

    Shout! Factory's Blu-ray release includes both 2D and 3D versions of the movie on the same disc. If you don't have a 3D compatible HDTV, which was the case for this review, we assume that the movie and menus will default to the 2D version as the menu didn't offer a chance to choose between the two as some releases containing both formats in the past have. So with that out of the way, how does it look? Probably as good as it should in 2D. This was obviously shot to take advantage of 3D, which is how it played theatrically in Korea, so expect a lot of digital tomfoolery throughout the movie, not all of which is completely convincing. The image is presented in AVC encoded 1.85.1 widescreen in 1080p high definition and detail is generally very good, though it varies understandably from shot to shot. The movie takes place pretty much entirely on an oil rig, so it's not the most colorful of locations but the disc replicates the drab color scheme well and feels pretty accurate in that regard. Close up shots of the human actors are nice and crisp and the creature effects look very good throughout. Some of the digital effects shots are soft, common for CGI, so keep that in mind as you watch it but overall this is a strong transfer.

    Audio options are provided in Korean language DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound as well as in English language DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio, with forced (though not burned in) subtitles available in English only. The Korean DTS-HD mix is, not surprisingly, the one to go for. The English dub sounds fine for what it is but it is obviously just that, a dub, whereas the Korean options just feel more appropriate. The lossless track is rock solid, offering great bass response and a strong low end during the creature attack scenes and the action scenes and doing a fine job of spreading out ambient noise into the rear channels throughout the movie. Dialogue is always well balanced and clean and there are no issues at all with any trace of hiss or distortion, as it should be for a modern film like this. Levels are well balanced, the score sounds great and there's plenty of power behind the sound effects - the movie sounds great.

    Extras include a trailer for the feature as well as a few other bits, starting with a making of featurette that clocks in at five and a half minutes and which shows off how digital effects were used to create the rig and other aspects of the movies. We also hear from the cast and crew about the setting, the effects and more. A second featurettes called Teamwork runs two minutes and lets the cast members explain how they had to use their imaginations in a lot of the scenes and how facial expressions and eye movement were important in how they conveyed their reactions to a monster that wasn't physically on set with them - some of this footage is pretty funny and presented with a quirky sense of humor. The third featurettes, Workers, lets the director and a few other participants talk for three minutes about how happy they were with the crew while the fourth and final featurette, Actress, lets the film's leading lady talk about her work on the movie and about her character as well as her experiences on set. All of the extras are presented in Korean with forced English subtitles.

    The Final Word:

    It takes a little while to find its stride but once it does, Sector 7 turns out to be a pretty enjoyable monster romp, 3D or no 3D. The last half hour of the film moves at a great pace and features some impressive creature effects and the performances are strong throughout. The movie isn't reinventing the wheel as far as the storyline is concerned but once it picks up, it hits all the right notes you'd want a monster movie to hit and Shout! Factory's Blu-ray looks good, sounds good, and includes some decent supplements as well.

    Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!



















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