“Emergency Declaration” (비상선언)

By Jae-Ha Kim
jaehakim.com
August 12, 2022

☆☆☆☆
In-ho (played by Song Kang-ho)
Jae-hyuk (played by Lee Byung-hun)
Jin-seok (played by Im Si-wan)
↑Note: Korean names denote the surname followed by the given name.

In the span of time it takes for a plane to fly from Seoul to Honolulu — approximately nine hours — a psychopath boards an airplane at Incheon International Airport and releases a deadly biological pathogen onboard, which results in passengers getting sick and/or dying (and turning on each other). And, oh yeah, scientists on the ground  develop an antigen to combat the virus.

“Emergency Declaration” doesn’t always make sense — especially to those familiar with real-life airline protocols and science — but it’s a hell of a fun terror-in-the-sky thriller starring some of South Korea’s most famous actors. Lee Byung-hun — who one of my editors refers to as the Keanu Reeves of Korea — serves up all the right emotions as a stoic ordinary man turned hero. His Jae-hyuk is a somewhat downtrodden man whose life revolves around his young daughter. They’re heading to Hawaii, where he hopes the clean air will be a balm for her severe eczema. He plans on working as a pilot at a friend’s small company.

Wait, what’s that? He’s a pilot? Hmmmm, I wonder how that might come in handy in a disaster film set in the sky…

At the airport, Jae-hyuk has already drawn the attention of a pilot (Kim Nam-gil) who recognizes him, as well as a hinky man (Im Si-wan), who takes special interest in his daughter. Casting the sweet-faced Im as a weirdo was genius. After Jin-seok’s increasingly agitated attempts to buy a ticket on whatever flight is at capacity fails, he stomps off, but not before calling the reservation clerk a whore. When he sees that the little girl’s luggage tag indicates she is booked on a flight for Hawaii, he purchases a ticket on the same flight.

But Jin-seok isn’t a pedophile. He’s an unhinged scientist who sutures a vial of biohazard material into his own body with the intent to kill everyone — including himself — on board.

The night before, Jin-seok had posted a video online in English that revealed his plans to take down a plane. Some of the children who watched it called the police, who dismissed it as a prank. But one officer decides to check it out anyhow. And what In-ho (played by “Parasite” actor Song Kang-ho) finds at Jin-seok’s apartment makes him panic, especially after realizing that his wife is also headed for Hawaii.

Dun, dun, dun!

The film makes an interesting point about survival when the pilot is turned away from landing in both the United States (South Korea’s ally) and in Japan (its former colonizer) due to concerns that accepting the infected passengers could endanger their own citizens. This is offset by the passengers’ unanimous decision to sacrifice themselves so that their fellow citizens can survive.

“Emergency Declaration” started production before the coronavirus pandemic hit. Filming was then delayed due to the outbreak. One thing I wondered about: Why weren’t the passengers putting on their disposable face masks at the first sign of an outbreak? On the flights I’ve taken pre-pandemic on Korean-run airlines, many Korean nationals wore masks on board to protect themselves and others.

While the comparisons to 2016’s “Train to Busan” are inevitable — both films depict the aggressive segregation of passengers thought to be contagious — “Emergency Declaration” is its own horror entity in which the villains and the victims are sometimes the same.

Release date: “Emergency Declaration” had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on July 16, 2021. Due to the mutating Covid-19 pandemic, the film’s release in South Korea was delayed until August 3, 2022, where it opened at No. 1. In the United States, it opens today (August 12, 2022) in movie theaters nationwide.

Running time: 2 hours 25 minutes.

© 2022 JAE-HA KIM | All Rights Reserved