Time Travel Takes A Killer Twist In Korean Thriller 11 AM
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This November, Korea is getting into the time-travel game with the upcoming sci-fi adventure mystery 11 AM. A new trailer gives you nice, though somewhat unclear, look at the movie. But what it may lack in coherence, it more than makes up for in tense action.
Here’s the official synopsis from CJ Entertainment, which also delivered this video:
In the not-so distant future, researchers at a deep-sea laboratory have finally succeeded in inventing a time machine. Heavily burdened by financial stress, head researcher Woo-seok is promised more funding from a mega-corporation, if he successfully completes a test flight. Ji-wan tries to stop his colleague and lover, Young-eun from going on the dangerous flight, but Woo-seok and Young-eun carry out the mission and travel to 11 A.M – the next day. They arrive at the planned time only to find the base on the verge of collapse. What could have happened in the 24 hours?
There’s a great deal of potential in this set up. Just the fact that this one facility is both deep beneath the surface of the ocean, and is where they’re developing a time machine, is pretty damn awesome. From the appearance of this trailer, the production looks slick, and the fancy lab sets and special effects are solid. Round that out with a good cast—Jeong Jay-yeong is badass in the crime thriller Countdown from a few years ago—and 11 AM has the makings of a damn fine sci-fi adventure.
I like that director Kim Hyun-seok is doing something a little different here, taking bits and pieces from different subgenres of science fiction and fitting them together. Not only do you have the obvious player that is the time travel narrative, but there are elements of mystery and murder just to keep things spicy. You also get to play around with two favorites, the “what the hell happened while we were gone” story, as well as the “we found a deserted, desolate facility, with no signs of life, no we need to figure out what happened” strand. It’s hard to go wrong with either of those. Is there a killer, is there a disease, did jumping willy-nilly through time wreak havoc on the space-time continuum? I have no idea, but I can’t wait to find out.
As if all of this isn’t enough, you have the isolated nature of the setting to add to the atmosphere and sinister tone. Whether your in space, Antarctica, or, like 11 AM, stuck on the bottom of the ocean, being stranded always ratchets up the tension, emotion, and danger a few notches.
11 AM opens in Korea next month. There’s no word when the rest of the world might have a chance to see it, but if I were to hazard a guess, I’d say we’ll have to wait to see this on Blu-ray/DVD.
