My Way, a World War 2 epic from Korea, is said to be the most expensive film the country has ever produced.  The events are based on a true story, and you can tell from the opening credits – black screen, simple white lettering and a solemn, orchestral score – that the makers consider this to be something special.  So what went wrong?

The story revolves around two characters, one Korean, the other, Japanese, and they dislike each other with a passion.  The Second World War is looming, and Japan, having occupied Korea, forcibly conscripts many of Korea’s young men to fight for the Japanese army and swear allegiance to the Emperor.  The two rivals find themselves fighting alongside each other with bloody confrontations that will find them battling the Soviet Union, then Germany, and finally the allies on the beaches of Normandy.

The problem with My Way is obvious from the beginning.  It’s not the story, which initially is of interest, but the style in which director Je-kyu Kang has chosen to film his work.  It’s as if Kang studied all Transformers movies and decided that the Michael Bay route of story-telling is the way to go, and it ruins everything.

The overuse of hand-held camera work is fast becoming a problem for many Hollywood productions, but now it has traveled overseas, and here it’s ruinous.  At almost two and a half hours, getting through My Way is like sitting through a visual assault course – the camera never remains still, each individual shot lasts no longer than a fraction of a second, and the editing is closer to the speed of strobe lighting than viewable cinema. Even music videos, which began the fast-edit trend almost thirty years ago, tend not to be cut with this kind of zeal. 

Somewhere, buried way down under this visual chaotic mess is a terrific true story of rivalry told from a perspective we rarely experience, but you won’t see it.  My Way is overwhelming for all the wrong reasons.

 MPAA Rating:  R        Length:  145 minutes          Overall Rating:  3 (out of 10)