There are bad reviews and then there are bad reviews that push a nation to the brink of war. North Korea Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un clearly does not like “The Interview.” The movie about a talk show host and his producer killing Kim Jong-un seemed a bit too counterrevolutionary so the government has declared its release to be an act of war and threatened a “merciless” response.
Frankly, I felt the same way after seeing Battlefield Earth but I lacked the weapons of mass destruction.
The question is whether this makes James Franco and Seth Rogen “enemy combatants” under our own quasi-legal principles.
The North Korean spokesman declared the movie “the most blatant act of terrorism and war and will absolutely not be tolerated.” This was followed by denouncing the film as “reckless US provocative insanity” by a “gangster filmmaker.” It makes Roger Ebert’s reviews a bit less riveting in retrospect.
The North Korean government warned that “If the US administration allows and defends the showing of the film, a merciless counter-measure will be taken.” Presumably, the government intends to re-release Ishtar and shower the West with the DVDs.
Source: BBC
The N. Koreans are getting a lot of movies and S. Korean miniseries being brought in from China. That is the real problem. These pirated films are very popular in N. Korea where people shutter their rooms so no light shows outside while they watch the forbidden films. This film could very likely get to N. Korea.
To catch them, the N. Koreans turn off the electricity a block at a time and then go through and open every dvd player to see what is in there. Very ingenious, but tedious.
Netflix has a lot of the S. Korean miniseries. If you have not seen them, they are great. 🙂 If you are interested, ask and I will recommend some.
joelbwriter wrote “one has to wonder if he knew his son would be so much further off the deep end”
Sorry, his son is not remotely worse than his grandfather and father. Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il presided over:
– the starvation of millions in the 1990s while building a skyscraper (Ryugyong Hotel) which would have been the tallest in the world had it been topped out
– the downing of KAL 858 in 1987 via bomb, resulting in 115 deaths
– the kidnapping of an unknown number of Japanese civilians to serve as trainers for spies
– the sinking of ROKS Cheonan in 2010, resulting in the deaths of 46 sailors
though admittedly Kim Il-sung was much worse than the other two and some people say that the Cheonan was actually the work of Kim Jong-un.
Oh, I love that episode of M.A.S.H! Nice choice!
I know his father was a nut, but one has to wonder if he knew his son would be so much further off the deep end. The real threat would be taking their anger out on South Korea, which would force us to make a move of our own. That actually is a very frightening prospect.
Brett:
I’ll bet that M.A.S.H re-run would be a hit in North Korea. They must be so tired of eating smoggy air by now, same entrée day after day.
RTC – awesome idea for a sequel.
Jim – many of our action movies center around just that – the assassination, or attempted assassination, of our leaders.
As a matter of civility it might be appropriate to not term people as North Koreans. It has morphed, like the word “retard”, into a mean spirited set of words. All because of the midget and his days in the news. Also, we should no longer “speak ill” of people. Nor should we employ the phrase “who flung fu” when complaining about three spots on the wall. It is time to send food to the humans who live north of that Mason Dixon Line over there.
Hell, most of the people in his country don’t even have electricity. I doubt they have EVER seen a movie. Isn’t it time for a Korean Spring?
Crazy Kim might like M.A.S.H reruns as an alternate. This video fits like a hand in a glove.
Everyone’s a critic.
I thought Brokeback Mountain was “the most blatant act of terrorism” given that it portrayed two men cheating on their wives for many years and I therefore refused to watch it.
Kim Jong-un is a spoiled psychopath and deserves to die a horrible death, but everyone should think about the reaction if North Korea were to make a similar movie about Barack Obama. The Secret Service would go ballistic.
And unlike in the laughable remake of Red Dawn which used all Chinese actors even though the movie portrayed the DPRK, this movie actually has Korean actors.
Comparing that midget to a barking dog on a chain is a slight upon one of our commenters by the name of BarkingDog. He has never been on a chain and knows no restraints. He will probably chimne in on this when he gets home from his daily walk with his half blind human pal and reads the funny papers.
His father wasn’t very happy about “Team America”, either, as I recall.
I would suggest that Franco and Rogen stay away from Japan, as North Korea has had some success infiltrating agents into that country for various purposes.
This whole affair will do nothing but drive box office numbers up,though.
I appreciate why North Korea would be anxious about a film that depicts the assassination of its leader. And I’m not a big fan of sensationalism in order to elicit revenue-generating attention, which the US entertainment industry excels at. But since the US is a free country, …
Anyway, North Korea’s reaction has unfortunately drawn even more attention to this movie. The producers cannot pay for advertising that works nearly as well as a death threat from Kim Jong-un.
Kim Jung Kardasian. A News generator’s dream.
I wonder if they could work this into the plot for a sequel
You know you got a bad review if a critic declares your movie “a blatant act of terrorism” and threatens war if you don’t pull it. And that’s without even seeing it!
Come to think of it, I think the movie “She’s So Lovely” falls into that category.
North Korea blames governments for movie and media content they dislike, because they cannot understand anything other than state-controlled-media.
Didn’t Kim Jong-un’s father kidnap a South Korean film producer and force him to make movies until he escaped?
Kim Jong-un seems like a very spoiled, very dangerous brat. Like a toddler having a tantrum while holding “the red nuclear button” in his hand and surrounded by sycophants.
It is easy to laugh at Kim Jong-un as he is similar to a barking dog on a chain. I do find him alarming. Most of the main stream media reporting on world affairs is propaganda, but I am convinced the picture we are given of North Korea is accurate. He is to young and unstable to have that much wealth, power, and responsibility. He may feel the need to try and do something dramatic. He does have access to radioactive material. His options of delivery may be limited and crude, but given motivation and resourcefulness he could cause much harm.
Because of the great expansion and expenditure in our security state, I have zero confidence in the ability of this gross monster to detect a true threat or to handle a true crisis. It is all based on corruption and illusion. When we are faced with a true crises I fear we will find how frail this security system is. I fear our uniformed mercenary military may not be much better prepared either.
He’ll be attacking the US in his 1950’s era submarine.
I haven’t heard of this movie before. I think I’ll watch it.