Seven Days (2007)

I would give this film 9/10 if only the director chose the right actress and a better storyline. It is an exciting thriller movie. It starts with the kidnapping of a leading lawyer. The kidnapper claims her to take the case of a murder to release her daughter. The story revolves on what she does to fight the murder case. The lead actress in the movie plays the role of the lawyer. She is so pretty I would love to see her in many movies. But to play a major role in a thriller she just screwed it up. If she was like the lover/wife of the protagonist, then she would have been perfect. However, for this movie, you need a strong character, who has brains and bravery. For the whole movie, she acts like a housewife that is sentimental and more concerned about the kidnapped daughter. Again, such roles will fit with a concerned mother in a movie, but to be the lead role that too of a lawyer, she should have done better. At times, she looks dumbfounded, if not completely lost. To be precise, she is like a deer in a headlight. I wish the director chose someone better to play her role. Other than that, the side-kick to help her is good. He presents the perfect guy in the movies. The story has a mystery and I would recommend to people who love thrillers. But again if you are a fan of Sherlock Holmes or one who expects a cold detective, this movie will not satisfy your tastes. Here and there, there is useless emotion and sentiments. They are like speed breakers to thriller movies. Overall, it is fine.

This movie has elements that are not really coherent to the main plot and just drags things out. Such as the assumption scene that looks like it clearly came of that CSI show. The director that made this movie probably watched a lot of these thriller movie and mixed a lot of them together but it's just not effective. "Midnight FM" did a better job with it's execution with the mother looking for her kidnapped daughter scenarios although this came first. It's kinda obvious the director took ideas from other thrillers although that is my assuption and investigation TV shows which is fine but it's just not well blended. And comes together pretty darn lame and generic than cool and thrilling. The acting is just over the top for some characters and not believable including the direction. Yeah, this is a movie but for a movie like this if it went in a more realistic direction it would have been a upgrade. This movie just felt really dragged out with constant uninteresting scenarios that could have been shortened down. The twist at the end was alright though actually pretty good. And I did like is how it shows how some lawyers mentality can be driven by victory over if that person they are defending is guilty or not or visa versa. The thing is the story seems to be all over the place but not for good reason. This isn't awful but there are better thrillers worth watching.5.8/10

Seven Days is South Korean crime thriller about a successful lawyer who, in order to save her daughter, is pressured into defending the innocence of a man slated to receive the death penalty.It stars Kim Yunjin of the LOST fame together with Kim Mi-Suk and Park Hee-Soon.The movie was written by Yoon Jae-Koo and directed by Won Shin-Yeon.In Seven Days,Ji-yeon is a successful lawyer and single mother to a seven-year-old girl. On her daughter's field day, Ji-yeon competes with other parents in a running race and almost comes in the first place. However, nowhere could she find the girl who's been watching and rooting for her mother to win. Later that day, Ji-yeon's receives a phone call from an anonymous man, who tells her he has her daughter in custody and proposes a deal. To see her daughter alive, Ji-yeon needs to prove a convicted murderer not guilty on his second trial, only within a week. Ji-yeon tries to convince herself the murderer should be innocent, but the encounter with the victim's mother makes her understand what drove crime-to-crime. Seven Days presents an amazing story the has a great mix of drama,action,murder mystery,crime thriller and court drama.There was tension all throughout the film as Ji-yeon tries her best to prove Jung Chul-Jin or CJ's innocence to save her daughter's life.Aside from that elements mentioned,it also has some unpredictable and unexpected twists and turns that would truly elevate this among one of the best Korean crime/thrillers and would truly define a new benchmark for the Korean movies of its genre.The acting was commendable.Inspite of the jerky camera movements and "fast and furious" editing that may somehow minimize the emotions portrayed by the characters and the clues left to explain the plot,I still consider one of the best Asian films ever made.

I had very high expectations of Seven Days because I'm a big fan of lead actress Kim Yun Jin and because it got great reviews from critics, who called it 'a Korean film version of CSI'. I left the movie theater disappointed, because while this movie is OKAY, it doesn't deserve the hype that the media is giving it. (Just to give this movie a little bit of background, it was originally titled 'Thursday's Child', starring Kim Sun Ah, who's best known in the hit drama 'My Name is Kim Sam Sun'. Production on the movie was halted after the director was fired by the production company over creative differences. After waiting a couple of weeks, Kim Sun Ah left the project because she didn't want to keep waiting. Already, 2.8million dollars, a big sum by Korean movie standards, were spent on the movie and luckily, renowned actress Kim Yun Jin agreed to do the movie if they filmed it in a short period of time so they hired a new director, fixed the script to fit Kim's age and changed the title to 'Seven Days'.)The movie focuses around Yoo Ji Yun(Kim Yun Jin), a very able lawyer with a 99percent success rate. Because of her busy career, Ji Yun has little time to spend with her 8 year old daughter. When her daughter's school has their annual sports meeting, Ji Yun comes to spend time with her daughter. But while Ji Yun participates in a 100 meter relay race, her daughter suddenly disappears. The next day, a phone call arrives. The mysterious caller says that she must free Jung Chul Jin, a convicted murderer accused of murder. The final trial is in seven days, and if Ji Yun doesn't free Jung, she'll never see her daughter again.The concept itself is interesting. I can see why Hollywood bought the remake rights for one million dollars(a large sum by Korean movie industry standards), but it's like a stale cake. On the outside, it looks like a normal cake and is delicious. But after you eat it, you have a terrible stomach ache. I give this movie 6 stars because, it's very fresh in our movie industry, but the story itself is too, how can I say it, anyways, it could've had more depth.(I guessed who the kidnapper was as soon as his or her face appeared on-screen. It turns out to be the mother of the woman that was murdered by Jung Chul Jin.)