“Operation Chromite” is a really entertaining movie based on the Korean War. This film so the focus is on the local troops and not the Americans or any of the other foreign participants in the conflict. It’s a South Korean film made on a budget that would be tiny compared to an American war film but it looks almost as good as “Saving Private Ryan” or “Enemy At The Gates”.

General MacArthur (Liam Neeson “Schindler’s List”, “The Grey”) plans the United Nations invasion of the Korean peninsula to repel the North Korean forces. He dispatches a team of spies to Incheon to gain intelligence on mines placed at sea by the enemy troops. Their mission must be a success if the U.N. soldiers have any hope of invading Korea.

Although Liam Neeson is obviously the most famous face here, he isn’t all that much of the film. He does a really good job but I’m glad that he wasn’t the focus of the movie. It would have been a big mistake to take you away from the action and keep you in the boardrooms for too long. Jung-Jae Lee (“The Face Reader”) is great as Jang Hak-Soo. The other characters are all good including the bad guys. There is one brief scene where somebody is playing Kim Il-Sung.

The movie “Inchon” covered the same battle but was bashed by critics and flopped at the box-office while “Operation Chromite” has received some praise. Not enough praise as far I’m concerned though because this is a very impressive war movie. It looks great, the action sequences are very exciting, the dialog is frequently interesting and I think the pacing is also great. The movie has apparently been heavily criticised by North Korea but what do you expect from them? If you from anywhere outside North Korea, I’m sure you’ll enjoy this film.