Tunnel (2016 Film)

''Tunnel'' (also referred as ''The Tunnel''; ''Teoneol'') is a 2016 South Korean survival drama film written and directed by Kim Seong-hun, starring Ha Jung-woo in the lead role. The film revolves around a car salesman who gets trapped when a poorly constructed tunnel collapses, and deals with his survival inside the tunnel with the advice of the rescue team head. It was released in South Korea on 10 August 2016.

Plot

Lee Jung-soo is an automobile salesperson heading back for Seoul, when the recently opened Hado Tunnel collapses over him, trapping him inside the car underneath the rubble of concrete and steel. With little reception, Jung-soo manages to contact emergency services for help, as news of the tunnel collapse reaches his wife, Se-hyun. As rescuers set up camp outside the relatively intact portal of the tunnel, a local news crew tries to contact Jung-soo for a special interview, but is interrupted by the rescue chief, Kim Dae-kyung, who berates them for their disregard of Jung-soo's life for their ratings.

Under the advice of Dae-kyung, Jung-soo must conserve the phone's battery to remain in contact and to ration two water bottles and a birthday cake originally meant for his daughter Su-jin, in order to stay alive long enough while Dae-kyung inspects the darkened tunnel only to realize they were close to Jung-soo. However, the tunnel began to cave in further, narrowly burying him and his colleague as they manage to escape. The vibrations of the collapse leads Jung-soo to spot the #3 on the ventilation fan; Dae-kyung uses this as a reference point to devise a plan for workers to both excavate through the tunnel and drill above Jung-soo to rescue him.

Three days later, Jung-soo is alerted by the presence of a pet dog, whose owner is another trapped survivor named Mi-na, who is impaled by a steel rebar. Jung-soo tells her that a rescue operation is underway. However. Mi-na later succumbs to her injuries and Dae-kyung is forced to restart the excavation operation after the tunnel's schematics he used for the rescue operation was not correctly mapped, leaving Jung-soo demoralized. His phone battery eventually runs out, losing his only form of communication. Public opinion over the rescue operation of Jung-soo – whose chances of survival is now in doubt, began to sour, culminating in an accident that costed the life of an excavation worker; his elderly mother blames Se-hyun for her son's death.

Se-hyun is left with no choice but to sign the agreement to stop the rescue operation and resume construction of the Second Hado Tunnel, which had been postponed since the tunnel's collapse and that will almost certainly kill Jung-soo. As she signs the contract, she makes a tearful message on a radio to Jung-soo. In his last ditch attempt, Dae-kyung lowers himself through the drill hole using the sound detector to locate Jung-soo. Simultaneously, Jung-soo crawls back to Mi-na's car and sounds the horn, alerting Dae-kyung as he tries to stop the explosion, but the workers detonate the explosives planted inside the Second Hado Tunnel, and the resulting vibrations sent rubble raining down above and seemingly burying Jung-soo.

Rescuers were able to dig through the tunnel, finally reaching the now barely-conscious Jung-soo along with Mi-na's pet dog after being trapped in the tunnel for 35 days. Dae-kyung, wanting to protect Jung-soo from the journalists as he is being carried on the stretcher, yells out a profanity speech to dissuade them from asking questions but Jung-soo nonetheless affirms praise for their operation. Dae-kyung is subsequently sent on a desk job. Jung-soo, now recovered from his injuries, sits in the passenger seat as Se-hyun drives through the tunnel, emerging out into the sunlight much to his relief.

Cast

* Ha Jung-woo as Lee Jung-soo
One of the survivors of the 'Hado' Tunnel collapse. He works as a dealer for Kia Motors and operates a Kia Optima, and has a wife and a daughter who goes to kindergarten. He is known to have good business skills, good relationships, and a generous personality.
* Bae Doona as Se-hyun
Jeong-su's wife. During the accident, she volunteers at the scene and talks with the rescue team leader to maintain the hope of Jeong-su, but the rescue operation is delayed than expected and she is baptized with raw eggs by the mother of the work leader who died in the accident.
* Oh Dal-su as Kim Dae-kyung
119 Rescue Team Leader. He was a rather serious figure as the "expert" of the original, but Oh Dal-soo's role in the movie added to his comic. He is the most conscientious and professional person in the work as a veteran rescue leader. Except for Jeong-su's family, this person and the work leader are the only ones who really believed in Jeong-su's survival and tried to rescue him until the end. He did not provide any direct help to Jeong-su, but he also gave him the advice he needed to survive in the early stages.
* Nam Ji-hyun as Mi-na
One of the victims of the 'Hado' Tunnel collapse with Jeong-su. She is also the owner of the dog, Taeng.
* Kim Hae-sook as government Minister
* Park Hyuk-kwon as government official
* Park Jin-woo as government aide
* Lee Sang-hee as YTN news reporter
* Kim Jong-soo as drilling company executive (cameo)
* Shin Jung-keun as Captain Kang
* Cho Hyun-chul as young guy with spectacles in rescue team
* Yoo Seung-mok as reporter Jo
* Lee Dong-jin as radio DJ
* Lee Cheol-min as Captain of drilling team
* Han Sung-chun as drone technician
* Kim Seung-hoon as public hearing moderator
* Ye Soo-jung as old mother
* Jin Yong-ok as construction worker A
* Lee Dong-yong as construction worker B
* Joo Suk-tae as employee of Korea Expressway Corporation
* Ahn Se-ho as drilling team member
* Seo Hyun-woo as SNC fellow reporter
* Kang Shin-chul as agent at situation
* Kim Soo-jin as Public hearing attendee B
* Jin Seon-kyu as equipment manager
* Yeo Min-gyu as voice of 119 telephone operator, helicopter agent
* Kim Sung-kyu as Civic group member 3
* Choi Gwi-hwa as person interested in tunnel 2 (cameo)
* Jung Suk-yong as Team Leader Choi (cameo)
* Hwang Byeng-gug as gas station owner (cameo)
* Bae Yoo-ram as 119 rescue worker (cameo)

Production

Many audiences who watched the movie said that it was reminiscent of the Sinking of MV Sewol in 2014. However, the film was based on an original novel published before the aforementioned incident. Director Kim Sung-hoon said in an interview, "It (sinking of MV Sewol) was such a big pain and the production team was also very sick." "Since the sadness is still valid, I couldn't help but think of the sinking of MV Sewol when I made the disaster material film, but I thought it was impossible to exclude the memory and take it." On the one hand, " one incident rather than focusing on pursuant to a huge disaster happened, and universal since the system should be run by him collapsed, and some by a man trapped in it want to say things like dignity for the life situation."

Although 'Tunnel' was a domestic box office hit, some pointed out its regret due to the unrealism of the optimistic attitude depicted in the film since Korean audiences witnessed how the social system of disaster works during the fiasco of the MV Sewol rescue operation. The director explained that he also heard such opinions in an interview: "There were some opinions that want me to be more directly explained. However, I hoped that this movie would not be a movie that only people who are angry about such a disaster would watch. Some movies portray social evil and get angry with the system, and they can scratch people's emotions like that." However, he continued: "I wanted the movie to be more sympathetic to pain. I think what we are doing the most is the lack of ability to empathize with other people's pain."

The director added, "I put a lot of effort into organizing the tunnel set in the movie. As the inside of the collapsed tunnel continues to appear, he wanted to devise the most realistic part of the movie. "One of the words that can describe this movie is its texture. I thought the texture should not look fake. For Jeong-su, the tunnel is like an actor. The actors and the space have to give and receive reactions from each other." he said.

During filming, the real concrete part and the fake part found in the collapsed tunnel set were mixed together; the real one was placed farther from the actor, whilst the fake dust is poured right by the actor. The fake dust is made out of dust powder, grain powder, charcoal powder, and jade powder, which was used due to potential health concerns should the person inhaled actual concrete dust during the filming process.

Reception

Frank Scheck of ''The Hollywood Reporter'' praised the film for its attraction and humor, as well as for its special effects and cinematography, writing "Infusing its nightmarish scenario with bracing doses of satirical humor, ''Tunnel'' is smarter and more sophisticated than most Hollywood attempts at the genre." Gary Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times characterized the film as "vivid" and "relatable". Jay Weissberg of ''Variety'' praised the director, Kim Seong-hun, and the actors, and wrote "much of the film's appeal is that it tosses aside the monumental and focuses instead on character". Tom Keogh of ''The Seattle Times'' also praised the director and rated the film 3 out of 4 stars. Garry Garrison of ''The Playlist'' stated, "so, while at times it's easy to see the great film that 'Tunnel' could have been, that never stops it from being perfectly watchable thriller that it is." Kim Yu-young of ''The Korea Herald'' praised the director and actors Ha Jung-woo, Bae Doona, and Oh Dal-su, describing them as "undeniable chemistry that is consistently palpable and carried well throughout the movie." Andrew Saroch of ''Far East Films'' described the film as "tense" and "thoughtful". The film was also reviewed by Jason Bechervaise of ''Screen Daily'', and by Shim Sun-ah of Yonhap News Agency. The film also received a rating of 7.4 by users on ''Metacritic''.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

*

''Tunnel (Teoneol) (2016)''
at Rotten Tomatoes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tunnel
2016 films
2016 action drama films
2010s disaster films
2010s Korean-language films
South Korean disaster films
South Korean thriller films
South Korean action drama films
2016 thriller films
Showbox films
2010s survival films
Films directed by Kim Seong-hun
2010s South Korean films