The year long delay was no deterrent for potboiler political action flick Escape From Mogadishu, the Korean movie this weekend became the biggest box office hit in South Korea this year 2021. It overtook Black Widow and now has 3 million tickets sold. South Korea like around the world remains under COVID-19 restrictions still and this summer the Seoul region actually entered the strictest regulations yet again. So that makes Escape’s box office haul quite impressive and during a normal era this would easily have doubled the tickets sold. The reviews are solid and it has four incredibly talented acting leads with veterans Kim Yoon Seok and Heo Jun Ho playing dueling South Korean and North Korean Ambassador to Somalia, with Jo In Sung and Koo Kyu Hwan as their right hand man/intelligence officer. It’s based on a true story when the Koreas sent ambassadors to African countries to court their vote in the UN and the ambassadors to Somalia and their entourage got stuck in the Somali civil war and needed to find a way out. The collaborating together is a hallmark of South Korean movies but the usual difference in culture and politics to add the conflict.
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