Sector 7

You know those movies where workers on an oil rig are attacked by a monster like The Rig, The Thing Below or Parasite? Well, this is one of those only with Koreans. It's a passable example of that particular subgenre. The cast is perfectly fine. Ha Ji-Won is fairly convincing as a hardass oil rig worker. She's more convincing than a lot of these hardass female characters are anyway. The CGI is not great but it's serviceable though there's a green screen sequence late in the movie that is laughably bad. The plot is pretty generic but not more so than a lot of these things. The final battle with the monster is okay but it goes on way too long and starts to drag. My attention started to wander towards the end because it went on for so long. It eventually ends. It avoids the lame stinger ending that most of these have. I gave it a couple of points just for that.

Film has some good visuals, but is weak on character development. While there is a loose backstory, the plot is nearly non-existent, and what there is ended with me squarely on the side of the hideously abused and maimed 'monster'. The script leaves everything to be desired, as what lines there are translate poorly (one hopes).

The scruffy crew of an oil rig are pitted against a ferocious predatory monster from the ocean floor. Granted, the story is really thin and derivative, but fortunately director Ji-hoon Kim keeps the familiar, yet still enjoyable story moving along at a brisk pace, takes time to flesh out the characters a bit, generates a good deal of claustrophobic tension, and stages the monster attack sequences with considerable go-for-the-throat aplomb. Moreover, Kim and writer JK Youn bring an engagingly dopey B-grade sensibility to the pulpy material, with a few gut-busting dumb touches like a flamethrower and motorbike racing on an oil rig. Ji-won Ha makes a strong impression as scrappy tomboy heroine Cha Hae-joon. In addition, there are sound contributions from Sung-Ki Ahn as grizzled veteran Lee Jeong-man, Hi-Ho Oh as the Cha's likeable boyfriend Kim Dong-soo, and Jeong-hak Park as the hardnosed Captain Hwang In-hyeok. The CGI beast looks pretty gnarly. A fun flick.

I bought this for a dollar at a flea market because Ha Ji-won was amazing in the K-Drama "Secret Garden." The checkout lady was like, "Sector 7, that's a great film." I wonder what film she was actually thinking of? 95% of this movie is green-screen plus painful CGI. And the script is SO, SO full of clichés. Like, how many times are they going to play the "Monster is dead-nope, still alive!" card? I would avoid this film like the plague just based on the clichés alone! Ha Jiwon does more girl action hero shtick than actual acting, and the other characters are just there to be killed by the monster. And you can't convince me that oil rigs have a self-destruct!!!!! In the trailer, they even stole MU-TH-R's countdown voice from the movie Alien. How sad is that?

SECTOR 7 is a adrenaline-fuelled monster flick from South Korea, but it's nowhere near in the same class as the quirky masterpiece that is THE HOST, so if you're looking for similarities between the two you'll be disappointed. Instead this is the kind of foreign production that happily copies Hollywood classics, in this case the likes of ALIEN, ALIENS, and JAWS. The film is set on an oil rig where the light crew are terrorised by a hulking undersea beastie. While I appreciate that the filmmakers are happy to show off the monster here - and quite extensively - which makes a pleasing contrast to the kind of teasing behaviour exhibited in many a Hollywood movie - the CGI effects are only acceptable, really, and hardly the stuff of greatness (as in THE HOST). What is a shame is that a lot of the shooting style is so cheesy. Many of the action sequences were shot on a green screen, so they look pretty poor, especially the motorbike bits. Plus this was a 3D film so there's all of the screen-flying fakery to go with it. The plot is very predictable, but the cast all do their jobs well, particularly lead actress Ha Ji-won (PHONE, TIDAL WAVE), and there's plentiful action - particularly in the second half - to enjoy. If you can stomach the cheesiness and are happy to forego realism, that is.

6/10 production 3/10 script 4/10 acting The over acting makes me think of movies out of the 1930's, always over expressing everything. Like the stupid shot of her giving a thumbs up when they set the pipe at the beginning or the moronic guy with the little fish that gets bit on the lip. Not a single person acts like a real person would act. I certainly hope they wouldn't let someone a mentally impaired as they make him out to be on a oil rig. I guess that wasn't as annoying as the casually sexist comments, like the doctor that can't tell the woman and the man apart... Are you kidding me? Better production than Syfy channel, but that's about it. How anyone can say this is a good film is beyond me, but then again I remember when "The Host" won all those awards and it was crap also.

Seriously. That's pretty much the film that we have on hand. A crew isolated out in the middle of nowhere (aka an oil rig), are attempting to do a job, when they encounter a strange, brutal creature. Unlike 'Alien,' there's very few characters to care about. There's a gaggle of idiots (one pretty much the Jar Jar Binks of comedy relief) that you just know are fodder for the creature. Most of this films feels like it was shot against a green-screen, as we see lots of process-shots, and even some fake motorcycle-riding (yes, motorcycles on an oil rig, they are THAT bored!). This was also a 3D horror film, so we have lots of images of swooping cameras, characters moving in and out of the frame, and stuff coming' right at ya! Personally, give me 'Alien' or 'The Host' any day, and leave 'Sector 7' to sink into the abyss.

The opening is set about twenty years in the past. Divers encounter life at an unexpected depth. Unfortunately, it was hostile, and it killed Cha Hae-joon's father. In 2011, we switch to an oil drilling platform. During one of the drills, odd fish (like opening sequence) come floating up. The genetic researchers Park Hyeon-jeong captures several of them and keeps them in a tank. One of the more ignorant of the crew (Chi Sun) takes out one; it bites him, infects him, and gives him a deformed face. The drillers encounter 100 dry holes, but they resolve to keep trying, and do strike oil. Three months later, they are on maintenance mode. While doing repairs, they lose one of the younger staff, Hyeon-wu. A short time later, Hyeon-jeong falls to her death. The crew blame Chi Sun. Shortly thereafter, the on site staff physician is killed. Of course, it's a dark and stormy sea. Chi Sun has gone insane from the things he's seen. Plus, there is a serious infestation in the rig, and some walking horrors that seem to be hungry. Chi Sun gets lost in the shuffle. The captain goes to investigate with his biggest gun. Hae-joon goes with, then the whole remaining crew. The captain guesses correctly that the monster has some sort of strong relationship to oil, and throws his ignited cigarette lighter in its mouth. That worked for a bit. The monster starts on fire, but the fire does not kill it. Will anyone get out alive? How did the captain know to throw the lighter? Why was there a geneticist on board to begin with? -----Scores------- Cinematography: 7/10 Well done, except the monster, which was one of the more important characters of the film. Sound: 10/10 No problems. Acting: 5/10 The lead actress is a little weak. The two comic relief characters were more of a detriment than anything else. The monster was pretty bad. Screenplay: 5/10 Some of the plot steps are hidden for a while, but it unfolds fairly well before the end. I thought the final conflict with the monster went on too long.

Exactly what you think it is. A feeble attempt at an Alien remake except Alien didn't have CGI. God, what is it with the CGI these days?! So many half way movies that could have simply been considered quirky B-grade monster movies have turned into video games. Lazy film making in my opinion. I did like the overall premise and the sets were fantastic-- although I could not tell how many were computer generated. They already did Alien, and they already did the Abyss. This movie basically exploits both with no apologies. It really would have been so much better with less effects. More plot, better script etc. I really hate these video game movies. Nuff said.