Cubussoli Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Aubrey Hackett While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Suman Roberson It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Kimball Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

liberalgems Science Fiction is my favorite genre! I view each, and every, film with an open mind. There's a lot going on here about Korean hatred of Japan, which is based on historical events. The story's premise is interesting: Japan sides with us in World War 2 and The Bomb is dropped on Germany, instead. As a result, Korea then permanently becomes a part of Japan. This is similar to what the American government once did to Hawaii.Yes, we Americans really did overthrow the legitmate government of the Hawaiian nation, in 1898, at the point of a gun, for both economic and military reasons. (A literal example of Gunboat Diplomacy!) Too bad some filmmaker doesn't do a "time machine" movie about freeing Hawaii! But I digress - this could have been a great movie with such an original premise! Alas, it was not to be! Instead, the constant, and graphic showing of heads being blown off makes this a terrorist war-porn movie under the guise of Science Fiction! Slaughtering people, with cameras carefully lingering over the corpses, is not my idea of a good time. If it's yours, perhaps you should consider seeing a psychiatrist!This is absolutely the very worst "time machine" movie ever done. It gives Science Fiction a really bad name, and the filmmakers should truly be ashamed of themselves. I will certainly stay clear of any Korean filmmakers in the future!

gunmo3 All the people who complain about all the anti Japanese rhetoric don't understand. As someone who's lived both in Korea and Japan, I could understand the motivations of this movie, but I don't think it is really anti Japanese in the slightest. In fact I find this movie to be very respectful to Japanese. For example... In the opening scenes, the Jongno area of Seoul is shown. It is much more built up and busy than it ever will be in real life. Next, there is the idea that nearly all modern day Koreans don't want independence from Japan. Even suggesting such a thing is ballsy for a Korean movie.I did however find it funny that Saigo, his wife, and his kid all wear kimonos at home. That's really odd. People only wear them on special occasions (such as the other scenes in the movie where they are seen, the art museum reception, and the obon matsuri.) There's also an error, when they are in the bar/hideout for the first time, you can see a sign saying that fosters beer costs 3000 won. OOPS! As far as the plot goes, the first 10 minutes got me hooked. Ito Hirobumi is not assassinated, history changes so that the Japanese Empire was the ally of the USA during WW2, Japan joins the UN security council and is the first to launch something into space. The 1988 Olympics (usually noted as Seoul and Korea's emergence into the first world)don't happen in Seoul, but in Nagoya, the city Seoul defeated by only a few votes in real history... with no competition from a Japanese controlled Seoul, Nagoya wins hands down. In the 2002 Fifa world cup, Lee Dong Guk is shown cheering after scoring a goal, only scroll down to see he's wearing a Japan jersey. (Lee Dong Guk plays for the Korean national team in real history, Japan's team must be amazing since we can combine the best players from the Korean and Japnese teams and also any players coming out of China's coastal cities... see the map in the JBI office later...). When they show Jongno in the opening scenes, the Governor General building is still there and Kwanghwa mun doesn't exist at all (the building was demolished in 1996 and Gwanghwa mun, which stood in front of the governor general building is still there in real history.) The famous Yi Sun Shin statue isn't there and in its place is a statue of Toyotomi Hideyosi, the one who Yi defeated.After the first few minutes though, Jang Dong Gun starts to speak Japanese and it's nearly impossible to understand what he's saying unless you can decipher what horribly accented Japanese sounds like. (watched this movie with no subtitles.) The entire rest of the plot is boring and stupid. What originally had lots of potential goes into the toilet. I would have had Jang's character join the independence movement and gain the support of the Korean people and possibly being a martyr for the cause, which causes Japan to eventually buckle under pressure and grant Korea its independence, after falling out of favor with Britain, the US, and France, all former colonial powers that more or less (saying that tongue in cheek)have given up on colonialism. Anyway that doesn't make a good action film I guess. Instead we have time travel.I guess the statement the film makes is one I agree with. Even though Korea is divided, it's still better to be divided and free (sort of), than united with other people controlling you (sort of). The movie is worth watching for the first 10 minutes alone, especially if you're familiar with Japanese and Korean history, and you've ever been to Japan and the Jongno district of Seoul.

MovieRat-2 No, we are not talking about another Matrix-esque film where the world is really a virtual reality dream/nightmare...this is a film that takes a serious look at one of the many great "what if's" in history and shows how the world would have been. One of my favorite things about this film is that it shows the extremes of what people will do to either keep that history or change it. Its race against race; father against son; and friend against friend in a race for a nation's identity. Who will win, who will lose, and who will ultimately decide the fate of the world? Fantastic action sequences that seem almost too real. The bloodshed abounds in this film as we see repeated scenes of terrorists face off against police forces in shoot-outs that can only end with the annihilation of one group or the other. The battle scenes are realistic in that you don't see your standard "good guys never miss while bad guys can't hit the broad side of a barn" routine, these are truly horrific battles with a large casualty count from both sides.The film, however, isn't all about action. The story itself stands on its own as you try to piece together the jigsaw of clues and dead-ends to find out what in the world is the truth. Even when you arrive at the climax of the whole story you are left on one cliff-hanger after another, wondering if this will be the final bullet to decide it all...and at the ending there is no cliff hanging, the writers have thrown you off the cliff and you wonder what awaits you at the bottom.Despite this nail biting ending, the film had is draw backs: 1) a plot that progresses like a starting train, VERY slow at first before gaining tremendous steam at the end; 2)lots and lots of blood, not for the squeamish; 3)the ending had a loose end that was never explained; and 4)you will want more character background and insight from the two main characters.A very good film that had plenty of room for improvement.

akarp55 An interesting opening and superb ending make up for a few less than stellar plot transitions as Lost Memories is one Action Drama that I won't soon forget. The music really complements this film and allows the slow motion sequences to make an impact. As for action its fairly standard and the acting is good but not award caliber. A solid Action drama with a few brief Science Fiction moments. Mixing Both Japanese (mostly the first half) and Korean the rest of the way, Lost Memories2009 is amongst a growing wave of multicultural/national Pan Asian films that could find an audience outside of Asia with a bit more exposure.If a 100 is Perfect 81/100