Buckle up, Emergency Declaration is coming in for a landing. The South Korean thriller helmed by writer/director Han Jae-rim (The King, The Show Must Go On) that made its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival last year is touching down in theaters today.
Emergency Declaration is a roughly two-and-a-half-hour thrill ride fully packed with a sinister plot, an incredible sequence of events, and a star-studded cast that delivers rousing excitement in every scene.
The film sees detective In-ho (Parasite star Song Kang-ho) race against the clock to save a plane full of passengers, including his wife Hye-yoon (Woo Mi-hwa), who have all been exposed to a lethal virus mid-air while en route from South Korea to Hawaii.
Eerily made before the global pandemic, this film checks all the boxes of a nail-biting disaster movie – an ominous plot that threatens the demise of the entire human population, difficult obstacles that seem impossible to get past, and heroes who band together to set things right. With hints of Contagion and echoes of Airplane!, Emergency Declaration tells its own gripping narrative that somehow combines elements of truth and fiction to deliver a heart-pounding, emotional story.
It starts with Jin-seok, played by Si-wan Yim (Run On, Hell Is Other People). The embittered scientist unleashes a deadly pathogen on a plane, spreading to everyone from the passengers to the crew. Those on board relay the real-time events to those on the ground, where a coordinated effort to mitigate the circumstances and save lives begins to unfold.
While detective In-ho works with Transport Minister Sook-hee, played by Jeon Do-yeon (The Housemaid, Secret Sunshine), on the ground, Jae-hyuk, played by Lee Byung-hun (Squid Game) who is traveling with his young daughter Soo-min (Kim Bo-min) must work with co-pilot Hyun-soo (Kim Nam-gil), to get the passengers to safety. The two have a history as tumultuous as the plane ride itself but must work together after the pilot falls as one of Jin-seok’s first victims.
Emergency Declaration does a brilliant job unraveling a cinematically compelling story about greed, fear, honor, selflessness, and morality. Living in a world where we are constantly tested in the lessons of right and wrong, this film is unafraid to take a deep look at people’s worst nightmares and how humanity will either fail or succeed when the time comes to take a stand.
Emergency Declaration, distributed by Well Go USA, hits theaters today, August 12.
