Stagnant since 1903, at an elevation of 2,744 m, a volcano erupts on the mythical and majestic Baekdu Mountain. Ashfall, also known as: Mount Paektu, is a 2019 South Korean action film directed by Lee Hae-jun and Kim Byung-seo, starring Lee Byung-hun, Ha Jung-woo, Ma Dong-seok, Bae Suzy and Jeon Hye-jin. The film was released in December 2019 in South Korea.

South Korea is no stranger to disaster movies. 2009’s Haeundae saw a tsunami destroy Busan, 2016’s Pandora imagined a Fukushima Daiichi-esque nuclear disaster in Korea, and 2019’s Exit comedically depicted a toxic gas cloud engulfing Seoul.


None of these disaster movies feels as epic as Ashfall (a.k.a. Baekdusan) though. In Ashfall, an ensemble cast race to save the Korean peninsula from volcanic armageddon, while also fending off meddlesome foreign interests. The film feels like a big-budget Hollywood blockbuster, replete with common tropes. Yet, it retains a distinctively Korean flair with its geopolitical context.

Genre: Adventure, Action, Drama

Release Date: Dec 19, 2019

Stars: Byung-hun Lee, Jung-woo Ha, Hye-jin Jeon

Source: Ashfall.2019.KOREAN.1080p.BluRay.H264.AAC-VXT

Language: Korean

Subtitle Language: English

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11285908/

Ashfall draws from the same tradition as epic Hollywood disaster flicks like Armageddon and Deep Impact.

The formula of an unlikely grouping of heroes using nuclear weapons as a deus ex machina against a massive disaster has been done to death in American film and television.



We see this formula play out to the letter in Ashfall, with mass evacuations, Presidential announcements, ridiculously large explosions, and ultimate personal sacrifices to boot.

☀️ Ashfall (2019)  ▶︎  Video Link

☀️ Ashfall (2019)  ▶︎  Subtitled