Proof of concept   on June 11, 2007 - 7:19 PM PDT   of Shiri (1999) 2 out of 3 members found this review helpful   While this was a very high-grossing film in Korea it is not particularly good and wouldn't be notable in the United States. Yes, it has a political subtext dealing with the reunification of North and South Korea, but it's not a predominant part of the film. The thing that makes it notable is that it massively invigorated the Korean film industry by proving that they were capable of making a big-budget, Western-style film and making back plenty of money on it. This has spurred greater investment in the Korean film industry leading to a number of much better releases. So, appreciate it's historical value, but I highly suggest ignoring this by-the-numbers action movie otherwise.