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TV show review: CONTINUUM season 4
PHOTOGRAPHY
THE FRONT LINE
DVD Review by David Blackwell
 
DETAILS:  133 minutes, fetaurette, highlights reel, two theatrical trailers
VIDEO:  1.85:1 (Anamorphic Widescreen)
AUDIO:  Korean 5.1 Dolby Digital, Korean 2.0 Stereo
Subtitles:  English
 
STUDIO:  Well Go USA Entertainment/ Showbox/ TPS
RELEASE DATE:  5-8-2012

THE FRONT LINE is an intense charcter drama that takes place in teh last few weeks leading up to the end of the Korean War.   Kang Eun-Pyo is sent to the front line where a battle wages on over the Aerok Hills as the North and South sides of Korea struggle back and forth over the ownership of a hill.   The South takes over the hill onbly to have the North to take it back.  Kang is sent to investigate a mole in Alligator Company and finds out an old comrade (Kim Soo-Hyuk) he thought held (or killed) by North Korea is alive and fighting the battle over the hill.   Kim and Kang work together  as they face a North Korean sniper known as Two Seconds and struggle as the politicians want the hill no matter what cost it is to human life.   
 
THE FRONT LINE works best when it is centered on human drama, but it gets a little muddled when the action switches to the big battle scenes (which I wish were edited more effectively as sometimes it is hard to follow the flow of teh battles).   The film could have ended 30 minutes before the end, but it launches into one more bit of insanity in the hours leading up to when the truce/ cease fire goes into effect.
 
SPECIAL FEATURES:
The short making-of featurette focuses on the challenges of filming on the hills they chose for the battle scenes.   Also included on the disc are a highlights reel of some of the better dramatic scenes, the original Korean theatrical trailer, and the US theatrical trailer.  I do think the US theatrical trailer does give a little too much away.
 
FINAL ANALYSIS:   THE FRONT LINE is a good war drama which only weakness are the battle scenes do get a little lost at time.  I wish the disc did have mor ebehind-the-scenes extras.
 
thsi DVD review is (c)5-18-2012 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted iwthout permission.  send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com