Review: Escape From Mogadishu

Based on a true story Escape from Mogadishu is a Korean made taut political thriller that slow burns its way to an explosive climax keeping the audience on the edge of their very seats.

Rival diplomats from North Korea and South Korea become trapped as civil war rages in Mogadishu, Somalia. With no aid from either government, their only shot at survival requires uniting with bitter adversaries to escape.

The opening film at this years London Korean Film Festival, Escape From Mogadishu, is a slow burn, allowing you time to invest in the main characters led by Kim Yoon-Seok (Assassination) and Huh Joon-ho (Netflix’s Kingdom), but when the flight from the city begins, so does the unrelenting chaotic action. The panic you feel while watching the Koreans attempting their escape in book laden cars through the narrow streets with unknown assailants around every corner is not too far removed from Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down.

The film though really builds the tension as the combining groups realise that the window of opportunity is slowly fading away from them as not only the clash of North and South Koreans opposing views, but the encroaching rebels, who have no loyalty and will dispatch anyone who gets in their way.

Director Ryoo Seung-wan, who also wrote the script, keeps things moving and keeps you engaged. The action sequences are expertly handled while maintaining the human drama is no mean feat. Overall there’s a certain Argo (Ben Affleck) feel to the whole film. Right up until the final moments.

Escape From Mogadishu is yet another fantastic example of Korean cinema at it’s best and Ryoo Seung-wan has crafted a neat unpredictable thriller that is worthy of your time and one which you may come back to more than once.