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‘Operation Chromite’ Fits Awkwardly with True Events

The film just decides to break their cover after a point, and soon enough this small group of soldiers is mowing down dozens of North Koreans.

Operation Chromite takes place at the height of the Korean War. North Korea has taken control of all territory north of the Sakdang River. General Douglas MacArthur (Liam Neeson) leads the American forces trying to take back the Korean Peninsula. To this end, he sends in a small covert unit of eight South Korean soldiers, led by Captain Jang Hak-soo (Lee Jeong-jae). They enter communist-controlled Incheon, posing as military inspectors. There, they attempt to gather intelligence vital to a risky landing at Incheon Harbor. Meanwhile, Gen. MacArthur is back in Tokyo, trying to sell his seemingly insane plan to his superiors.

The film is basically inspired by Operation Trudy Jackson, which was an American-led covert team that was basically doing reconnaissance for the impending invasion. But the film plays pretty fast and loose with history. It imagines something much more exciting than a small group of soldiers trying to confirm the accuracy of tidal reports. It imagines a daring group of spies marching right into the lion’s den, infiltrating the enemy and looking for opportunities to strike. It’s reasonably entertaining stuff, but it doesn’t really seem like the best tribute to the men who actually lost their lives while carrying out this operation.

So yeah, things didn’t really go this way. One certainly expects a measure of creative license taken when dealing with historical events, but this film is an outright invention. Worse, it is an invention that doesn’t really make a lot of sense. These guys are supposed to be spies. Their work ought to be done quietly, because getting caught means that the larger mission is put into jeopardy. But this film wants to get loud. It wants to have the protagonists getting into massive gunfights with a much larger force. It gets pretty ridiculous after a while.

The film just decides to break their cover after a point, and soon enough this small group of soldiers is mowing down dozens of North Koreans. In a narrative vacuum, these sequences are reasonably thrilling. The camera work is a little confusing at times, but there is no lack of action. The problem is when you take these sequences in context. Suddenly the Incheon landing doesn’t really make any sense. These soldiers are making a lot of noise, and their plans become known to the enemy. The real history stops making sense as the film continues to contrive mayhem.

And what mayhem it is. It feels a little silly after a while, especially when it tries to put together heroic deaths for some of its characters. There is very little subtlety in this movie, every moment played at the highest volume, the music swelling with every minor event. The acting is mostly fine, but the writing just doesn’t keep up. Liam Neeson is clearly enjoying playing MacArthur, but the character is basically reduced to a receptacle of folksy wisdom and soldier clichés. Lee Jeong-jae struggles a bit with the overly sentimental, patriotic dialogue, but he exudes a quiet competence that this film really needs.

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Operation Chromite is a solid little action movie, but one must really question why it is that. The film certainly seeks to capitalize on the appearance of being based on a true story. It also wants to serve as a tribute to the real men who lost their lives in the real operation. But it doesn’t actually want to tell that story. It just wants to have a bunch of guys make a lot of noise shooting guns and driving through streets. And all this stuff makes it fit oddly with the real history.

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Movie Info

Operation Chromite
Action, Drama, History
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