THE TOWER

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THE TOWER

Dec 03, 2019

Writer by Pierce Conran
View408

2012 | 121 MIN | Drama

DIRECTOR KIM Ji-hoon

CAST SUL Kyung-gu, SON Ye-jin, KIM Sang-kyung, AHN Sung-ki, KIM In-kwon

RELEASE DATE December 25, 2012

CONTACT CJ Entertainment

TEL +82-2-371-5500

FAX +82-2-371-6340

EMAIL filmsales@cj.net

CJ Entertainment will be launching their last major assault on the box office later this month with their big-budget tentpole Ashfall, but this isn’t the first time the studio has presented a disaster spectacle during the Christmas season. Seven years ago, on Christmas Day, the company launched their star-studded epic The Tower (2012), a film that combines elements of Hollywood classics The Towering Inferno and Die Hard, while also leaning heavily into the drama and spectacle mélange that proved so successful for CJ’s own Haeundae (2009), one of the top-grossing Korean films of all time.

Tower Sky, a gleaming, ultra-luxurious building on Yeouido Island, is the grandest tallest building in Seoul and owner Mr. Jo (CHA In-pyo) is preparing an extra special ‘White Christmas’ party for the building’s well-heeled tenants and VIPs. Part of the plan involved helicopters sprinkling snow on the party revelers in the upper floors of the building. Dae-ho (KIM Sang-kyung), Tower Sky’s building manager, brings along his daughter. He also has a secret crush on restaurant manager Yoon-hee (SON Ye-jin). As preparation for the party are underway, some security concerns are brushed aside and disaster inevitably strikes during the event. Guests find themselves trapped high up a building that is going up in flames and may soon grind down to rubble. Legendary firefighter Young-kee (SUL Kyung-gu) and his unit make their way to the site for a daring rescue operation.

While The Tower was ultimately unable to match the success of Haeundae, it was no slouch at the Korean box office, with over five million viewers searching up tickets to see it. While that may not have been the desired outcome for such an expensive film, in retrospect, when compared with other Korean disaster films of the time, many of them also made by CJ Entertainment, director KIM Ji-hoon’s work holds up surprisingly well. The concise and contained concept allows the pieces to come together much faster than some of its peers, while the presentation of its core characters is admirably efficient. Of course, what really makes the package work are its stellar effects and strong production design which really make the building come to life, making it a character in its own right.

Much like The Towering Inferno, The Tower features a dizzying amount of stars, such as SUL Kyung-gu, SON Ye-jin and KIM Sang-kyung, as well as veteran stars like AHN Sung-ki and SONG Jae-ho, and a massive amount of recognizable supporting stars, including, but certainly not limited to, KIM IN-kwon, PARK Cheol-min, CHA In-pyo, KIM Sung-oh and JUNG In-gi.

The Tower never really made the transition to the western world and while that may have been due to several reasons, one may well have been the film’s occasionally uncomfortable parallels to 9/11, including images of trapped, faceless guests falling to their deaths from the tower’s upper floors. However, if the film can be forgiven for these slightly insensitive images, The Tower makes for compelling blockbuster entertainment.

Director KIM, who previously made the hit May 18 (2007) and the less-well received creature feature Sector 7 (2011), currently has two projects on the way. One is the high school thriller I Want to See Your Parents’ Faces, which completed production two years ago but has fallen into release limbo due to star OH Dal-su’s connection with a #MeToo scandal, and his currently shooting Sinkhole, a return to the disaster film genre.

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