[Movie] A good cast can’t save contrived ‘Emergency Declaration’

South Korea’s first aviation-disaster genre film, “Emergency Declaration,” could have been remembered as a classy movie if not for its contrived and cliche-ridden story and predictable twists.

It’s not that this film didn’t have the quality to be selected for the Out of Competition section of the 74th Cannes Film Festival in 2021. But these flaws just stopped the latest 25 billion-won (US$19 million) budget disaster blockbuster from becoming more than absorbing action-packed entertainment with grandiose settings and A-list actors.

Written and directed by Han Jae-rim of “The King” (2017) and “The Face Reader” (2013), “Emergency Declaration” mainly follows In-ho (Song Kang-ho), a veteran police detective, in his desperate struggle to prevent a possible terrorist attack on a South Korean flight bound for Hawaii after finding out his wife is also onboard on a trip to the American resort island with her friends.