Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

South Korean thriller Typhoon desperately wants to be in the same calibre as a high frills Hollywood actioner, but it's not even close. Apart from boasting the biggest movie budget in its country's history, and the au fait slick camerawork that comes with big bucks, its blockbuster credentials are laughably thin on the ground. The North-South Korea divide is the background for this completely barmy tale of pirate and former refugee Sin (Chang Dong-gun), who plans to wreak vengeance on the nations that destroyed his family by dumping nuclear waste over the Korean peninsular, to coincide with an oncoming typhoon.

Lieutenant Kang Sejong (Lee Jung-jae) is sent by the government to track Sin down, but when he learns the reasons behind Sin's actions, he begins to (yawn) identify with the injustices meted out to the anti-hero. The problem is that the villain of the piece bears all the characteristics of someone who wouldn't say boo to a goose, and the hoary old 'two brothers on the opposite side of the law' routine has such a whiff of familiarity about it that any tension is virtually extinguished.

"LIMPS ALONG LIKE AN ARTHRITIC DOG"

Sketchily-drawn characters, an overblown score and a plot that limps along like an arthritic dog are bad enough, but what really makes Typhoon fail on a spectacular scale is the director's willingness to compromise on action in favour of gushing sentimentality. Kwak Kyung-taek's insistence on lengthy flashbacks to explain the protagonist's tearful backstory is tedious in the extreme, and clogs up the film with unnecessary exposition. Ultimately, what we're left with is a below average action flick which goes out with a whimper, not a bang.

Typhoon is released in UK cinemas on Friday 27th April 2007.