Whether with Rocky, Rambo or the Expandables series, Sylvester Stallone has proven several times throughout his career that he is one of the big names in action cinema. However, the Hollywood star does not see one of his favorite films in the genre within his own ranks, but rather finds it in an underrated work from South Korea.
South Korean war film Brotherhood is one of Sylvester Stallone’s favorite films
While Sylvester Stallone considers Rambo 4 to be his best action film, a completely different title is one of his favorite films. Here’s how he explained during a fan Q&A in 2006:
My favorite action movie… actually one of my favorite action movies is a Korean movie called Brotherhood directed by Kang Je-kyu .
Watch the trailer for Brotherhood here:
Taegukgi Hwinalrimyeo Trailer (Brotherhood)
The war film focuses on two brothers who are recruited into the South Korean army during the civil war in 1950. Jin-tae (Jang Dong-gun) and Jin-seok (Won-bin) previously had an intimate relationship, but the brutality of war drives a wedge between them. Jin-tae increasingly plays the hero, wanting to protect his younger brother and thereby putting others in danger. But Jin-seok can no longer watch his brother’s atrocities.
The film, released in 2004, became a real box office hit in South Korea and was able to gross around 79 million against a budget of only 12 million US dollars. On Rotten Tomatoes, Brotherhood holds a strong 79 percent press score against one Audience score of even 93 percent. The Moviepilot community also celebrates the film with a rating of 7.5 out of 10 points.
In press reviews, Brotherhood is often compared to Steven Spielberg’s classic Saving Private Ryan, especially due to its strong anti-war stance. Björn Becher from Filmstarts, among others, writes:
The brutality of the scenes is not just pure sensationalism, but also makes it clear, for example similar scenes in Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan the horror of war.
Where can you watch Sylvester Stallone’s action favorite Brotherhood?
Unfortunately, you cannot currently watch Brotherhood on any streaming or VoD provider. However, the film is available for purchase on DVD or Blu-ray from Amazon.
A thematically similar article appeared on our sister site Sensacine.