Northern Limit Line Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.5

Northern Limit Line Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 22, 2015

Among several other questions which may crop up for Western viewers as they watch the South Korean drama Northern Limit Line, a film which recreates an apparently infamous skirmish between North and South Korea known as the “second battle of Yeonpyeong”, the most salient might be, “Wait—there was a first battle of Yeonpyeong?” Be that as it may, Northern Limit Line is a fairly clunky enterprise, probably even more so for those completely unacquainted with the facts surrounding this fracas, one which unfolded in 2002 as South Korea was experiencing the adrenaline rush of hosting the World Cup (the first time the FIFA event was held in Asia). The title of the film refers to an imaginary border in the Yellow Sea which South Korea considers the demarcation between it and North Korea (kind of a nautical equivalent to the 38th parallel). North Korea, as tends to be the case with this provocateur nation, insists the border is further south, and regularly test the waters (literally) by sending ships into the region that South Korea considers its “own”. That’s exactly what happened during this showdown, one which resulted in casualties on both sides of the equation.

Northern Limit Line, while evidently sticking at least fairly closely to what actually happened, can’t quite escape the feeling of being a propaganda piece (as in fact North Korean “critics” alleged), but even divorced from its political agenda, the film may strike some Westerners as oddly structured, spending quite a bit of time introducing characters and establishing interrelationships before moving on to the actual showdown. That gives the film a somewhat bifurcated feeling, and some viewers may not feel especially connected to the South Koreans who are, after all, the “heroes” of the piece. The actual brouhaha, while not earth shattering by today’s standards of “shock and awe”, at least gives the film a little propulsive energy that ultimately helps it to achieve a fair degree of tension. Real life participants in the actual battle are interviewed during the closing credits.

Northern Limit Line Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Northern Limit Line is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. Despite being a contemporary 2015 production shot digitally with the Red Epic, this is a somewhat soft looking presentation at times, at least part of which is due to what looks like a glut of green screen work and some less than convincing CGI. (The film screened theatrically in 3D, but is presented here in only a "flat" iteration.) A surplus of gray tones can keep the palette from popping very much in a lot of the sea set sequences, but some establishing back story elements pop really well, with an appealingly natural looking palette and some bright and vivid hues enlivening the proceedings. Close-ups offer excellent fine detail. There are no issues with image instability and no problems with compression anomalies.

Northern Limit Line Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Northern Limit Line features a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track in the original Korean, one which offers a lot of bombast and excellent immersion in the battle scenes—once they finally arrive, that is. A lot of the film is taken up in at least relatively quieter establishing dialogue scenes, where surround activity is generally dependent on things like more nuanced ambient environmental effects. Fidelity is excellent throughout, with good prioritization, and when assessing the film as a whole, dynamic range is very wide.

Northern Limit Line Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (1080p; 2:08)

Northern Limit Line Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The front cover of this release offers a quick explanatory "North Korea's surprise attack on Battleship 357" above the title, and also features an illustration showing a burning ship obviously in some distress. That is a perhaps misleading one-two punch, implying an action-adventure spectacular, when Northern Limit Line actually spends a great deal of its running time establishing the camaraderie of the South Korean characters while also villainizing the pesky northerners. Once the hostilities do break out, there's a fair degree of excitement, but even then an emotional tether to the characters is fairly ephemeral. Technical merits are generally excellent for those considering a purchase.