Sector 7 (2011)

SECTOR 7 is a adrenaline-fuelled monster flick from South Korea, but it’s nowhere near in the same class as the quirky masterpiece that is THE HOST, so if you’re looking for similarities between the two you’ll be disappointed. Instead this is the kind of foreign production that happily copies Hollywood classics, in this case the likes of ALIEN, ALIENS, and JAWS.The film is set on an oil rig where the light crew are terrorised by a hulking undersea beastie. While I appreciate that the filmmakers are happy to show off the monster here – and quite extensively – which makes a pleasing contrast to the kind of teasing behaviour exhibited in many a Hollywood movie – the CGI effects are only acceptable, really, and hardly the stuff of greatness (as in THE HOST).What is a shame is that a lot of the shooting style is so cheesy. Many of the action sequences were shot on a green screen, so they look pretty poor, especially the motorbike bits. Plus this was a 3D film so there’s all of the screen-flying fakery to go with it. The plot is very predictable, but the cast all do their jobs well, particularly lead actress Ha Ji-won (PHONE, TIDAL WAVE), and there’s plentiful action – particularly in the second half – to enjoy. If you can stomach the cheesiness and are happy to forego realism, that is.