Welcome back to Movie Recaps. Today I will show you a thriller, action film from 2012, titled The
Tower. Spoilers ahead! Watch out and take care. It's Christmas Eve in central Seoul and the
employees of Tower Sky, a 120-story luxurious building complex made of two connected towers,
are getting ready for a party they're throwing for all their tenants. This was an idea from Mr. Jo,
the owner. General manager Dae-Ho is a single father that promises to spend the day with his
daughter Ha-Na after work. He's also in love with Yoon-Hee, the restaurant manager, but he doesn't
know how to act around her. In the kitchen, young cook Young-Cheol is starting his first day at
the job with his girlfriend, the receptionist Min-Jung. Among the tenants, there's Mr. Kim,
a new rich that brings his church followers to the party and whose presence bothers the more uptight
socialites. It's this kind of socialites that are rude to Ae-Ja, the cleaning lady,
insulting her and making her pick up the excrement their dog left in the middle of a corridor.
There's also an elderly man, Mr. Yoon, who is having dinner with Mrs. Jung and trying
to think of a way to confess his feelings for her. Meanwhile, at the local fire station,
Seon-Woo joins the team as a rookie fireman. He's very serious and a stickler for the rules,
so Sargeant Byung-Man and Captain Young-Ki have to explain to him that firemen spend most of
their day on a break waiting for something to happen. Seon-Woo is sent to the showers,
but while he's in the middle of washing, the alarm beings ringing and he's called over, so
he runs out of the shower naked. This turns out to be a prank from the team, who have prepared a warm
welcome for him and officially give him his first helmet. Captain Young-Ki is also happy because
this is the first Christmas day he has free, so he'll finally be able to spend it with his wife.
Back to the towers, problems don't take long to happen. Young-Cheol accidentally leaves a stove on
for too long and causes a small fire. Thankfully, they're able to put it off quickly and Dae-Ho
discovers the sprinklers aren't working well because there isn't enough water in them. However,
safety section head Mr. Cha is more worried about the party, so he tells them they'll look into
this issue after Christmas. Dae-Ho decides to look into it anyway and discovers the pipes are frozen,
so floors sixty to eighty don't have water. He reports this to Mr. Cha, but once again,
he says it's a problem left for when the party is over. Mr. Jo has a talk with Mr. Cha as well - he
doesn't understand why the choppers he hired to throw snow on the buildings have been canceled.
Mr. Cha explains there's strong turbulent wind incoming that won't allow anyone to fly safely,
so Mr. Jo makes him call the mayor to ask for special permission to get the choppers anyway.
Ha-Na arrives at the building to pick up her dad, but Dae-Ho has to cancel on her because he needs
to work. Not willing to give up, Ha-Na begins fake crying and gets the attention of Yoon-Hee, who
ends up taking care of her until Dae-Ho is done. The two of them bond as Yoon-Hee takes Ha-Na on a
tour around the building, occasionally sending updates to Dae-Ho through their phones. Ae-Ja
is visited by her son, a university student, and she proudly tells him she's asked for three months
of advance wages to help him with the tuition fees that she'll be paid at the end of the day.
Sadly, the son has a night shift, so they can't spend Christmas together. A few hours later,
the party is in full swing with fireworks lighting up the sky as the choppers arrive to sprinkle snow
over the towers, and Young-Cheol makes use of such a beautiful moment to ask Min-Jung to marry him
in the elevator. Suddenly, the predicted turbulent wind begins blowing and the choppers lose control,
causing two of them to crash against the towers and start a fire. The firemen are immediately
alerted of this and get on their trucks to drive to the towers, getting surprised when Young-Ki
also comes even if it's his free night. On the way, he calls his wife to tell her he'll arrive
late, but an apology isn't enough for her not to get upset. People in the towers begin panicking
and running everywhere in search of an exit. They ignore the warnings about not using the elevators
and overfill one anyway, which soon proves to be a mistake. An explosion occurs under the elevator,
and now the heat causes everyone inside to fry and their shoes to melt until the elevator itself
explodes too, breaking the windows and expelling people on fire through them. Yoon-Hee notices
the fire light coming from the elevator doors and asks everyone to run as she gets away with Ha-Na,
but a bunch of people is still reached by the explosion when it blows up the wall. The firemen
arrive and begin making a plan to use the truck's hydraulic stair to get inside, keeping in mind
there won't be sprinklers and that aviation fuel is extremely dangerous, so the priority will be
saving people over putting out the fire. While the team successfully gets inside and reporters begin
arriving to cover the news, the victims gather at the tower's restaurant floor. Young-Cheol and
Min-Jung cry for help from inside the elevator but everyone ignores them except for Nam-Ok,
a pregnant woman. She uses a metal bar from a decoration to open the doors and help the
couple out. A helicopter arrives to rescue people that can reach the roof and everyone celebrates,
unaware that the city mayor has also arrived and is giving orders to rescue the socialites first.
Dae-Ho is running through the corridors, trying to find his daughter, and he's found by the firemen
just in time before an explosion reaches him. Meanwhile, a new fire appears in the kitchen,
so Mr. cha, Young-Hee, and the others use the few fire extinguishers available to put it out.
This allows Ae-Ja, Young-Cheol, and Min-Jung to safely enter through the kitchen doors and join
them. Other victims continue to fall through the windows while the mayor lies to the reporters and
tells them they're working hard to rescue as many people as possible. The firemen reach a dead end,
so Dae-Ho uses his knowledge of the building to tell them which wall to break down to keep going.
As thanks, Young-Ki gives him a walkie-talkie and an oxygen mask for Ha-Na. Dae-Ho takes a
different corridor in search of his daughter and finds various bodies under a pile of debris, but
one person is still alive: Ae-Ja, who even while hurt thinks about her family and tries to give
Dae-Ho the money for her son. Dae-Ho takes pity on her and, after sharing the mask, he helps her out
of the debris. Back to the firemen, they finally reach the source of the fire and try to put it out
with their hoses, but it doesn't work. On top of that, the situation is getting more dangerous by
the second: explosions keep happening around them, the floor keeps breaking, and many of them almost
fall to their demise. Young-Ki fails to save one of his falling men and decides to try a very risky
plan: using his ax, he breaks the windows, intending for the fire to burn itself out.
Then, while his men cover him with the hose, he throws his oxygen tank at the flames, and the
explosion finally puts the fire out. This allows them to start the evacuation process. People on
floor fifty and under will take the stairs, while the ones on the higher floors will use the bridge
to go to the other building where they'll be rescued by the helicopter. The problem is the
people trapped in the restaurant, an area hard to get out of alive. Speaking of these victims,
Mr. Cha sends Young-Cheol to get more water for everyone. Young-Cheol finds vending machine and
while he begins grabbing as many bottles as possible, he's found by Dae-Ho and Ae-Ja.
Meanwhile, Mr. Jo reaches the security room and orders to activate the firewalls.
His employees refuse because there are many people left to save still, but Mr. Jo wants
to save as much of his building as possible and activates it himself. The firewalls begin coming
down to seal the corridors, so Young-Cheol drops the bottles and between him and Dae-Ho, they help
Ae-Ja run and pass under one of the walls right before it closes the restaurant. After reuniting
with Ha-na, Dae-Ho contacts Young-Ki through the walkie-talkie and tells him of their location.
The firemen begin moving to work on the rescue, but they're contacted by the mayor that tells them
to prioritize the socialites. Refusing to ignore people in danger, Young-Ki sends Byung-Man to get
the people in the restaurant while the rest of the team follows the mayor's orders. This ends up
being a very frustrating situation: the socialites turn out to be a politician that immediately
degrades them for taking so long and the rude lady that makes them wait until she picks up her dog.
The three of them are safe and comfortable in their room. Furious over the mayor's priorities,
Young-Ki contacts him to insult him and ask him to stay off the walkie-talkies. Young-Ki also
leaves the rest of his team to lead these people out while he and Seon-Woo get back into action. At
the restaurant, Byung-Man is getting an explosive ready to blow up the firewall. But at that moment,
the victims notice cracks appearing on the walls and floor, which the explosion would only make
worse. Dae-Ho tries to warn Byung-Man but he can't be heard through the firewall, and soon the entire
room begins crumbling. Young-Ki is called by one of his men on the ground telling him not to get in
there because it's too dangerous, but he refuses to leave these people behind. The victims in
the restaurant run to find safe spots, and that's when Ming-Jung notices a gondola hanging outside.
The group hurries to jump into it, but Mrs. Jung is too scared. Mr. Yoon comforts her and helps her
get into the gondola, but before he can do the same, the explosive finally goes off and kills
him. The gondola falls a couple of feet, leaving them near one of the lower floors. Dae-Ho gets an
idea and makes the group swing the gondola until it breaks the window, allowing everyone to jump
back inside except for Mrs. Jung, who falls to her death when the gondola finally breaks.
Young-Ki and Seon-Woo find a man dying under the debris and grab the gift he wants them to
send to his children. Then, they inject him with a sedative to help with the pain so he can have a
peaceful death. Dae-Ho, Mr. Cha, and Young-Cheol try to look for a way among the debris to reach
the bridge into the other tower while Byung-Man finally wakes up and begins wandering around,
eventually finding Mr. Kim and his followers praying in the swimming pool.
Seon-Woo and Young-Ki are looking for Byung-Man, but they cut their search short when they see
the group from the restaurant trying to cross the bridge. They run to them and stop them,
explaining the floor is weak and they could easily fall. The firemen cross the bridge first, marking
the safe sections with small lights so they know where to step. Seon-Woo stays at the other end
and Young-Ki goes back to guide the group as they cross. Ha-Na goes first and Nam-Ok follows her,
but the floor soon starts cracking. Mr. Cha doesn't want to stay behind so he runs to try
to make it before the worst happens, but the floor finally breaks for good and he falls to his death.
Seon-Woo hurries to grab Ha-Na and takes her into the other tower while Young-Ki brings Nam-Ok back,
keeping everyone else from going farther now that the entire bridge is going down.
The security team informs the mayor that soon the building will collapse into its twin.
The only way to minimize the tragedy is to blow the building up, which pisses Mr. Jo off.
The mayor approves of the plan, ignoring the group of people that still need rescue because
the building falling would kill a larger number. The other firemen contact Young-Ki to inform
him of the situation, but he also receives some useful information: he has ten minutes to release
the water from the tanks. Dae-Ho accepts to take the risk and goes with Young-Ki to see the tanks,
since his fingerprint is needed to open the door. The two men make it there in time and
let the water loose, which puts out the fire on the emergency stairs and allows Byung-Man
to evacuate Mr. Kim and his followers. The water also reaches Yoon-Hee and the others,
who hold onto the railings not to be pushed away by the strong wave. Seon-Woo and Ha-Na
make it to the roof of the other tower, and while they prioritize the socialites in the rescue,
Seon-Woo is allowed to go too because he has a child with him. Byung-Man and Mr. Kim's party come
across Yoon-Hee's group, so they decide to wait all together. Explosions are happening through
the manholes on the streets now too, so the mayor orders the bomb squad to start working. Dae-Ho
and Yung-Ki return to the group, but the captain still refuses to give up, so they decide to try
out the elevator. It's dangerous, but it's their only option, and staying would kill them anyway.
The elevator begins falling at an impressive speed, and when it gets stuck on a floor on fire,
the group begins jumping to make it fall again. Eventually, they get stuck between floors fifth
and sixth, so they force the doors open and discover there is enough room to get out.
Dae-Ho and Young-Ki get out first to help Nam-Ok leave as well, but before they can help
more people, the elevator falls again. The trio makes it outside and Dae-Ho reunites with Ha-Na.
The elevator group is hurt but alive except for Mr. Kim, who dies from a metal rod piercing him.
Outside, Dae-Ho and Young-Ki still want to help so they look at the building blueprints
and come up with a plan: if they blow up the water storage tanks, the current could carry
the remaining victims through the sewers and out into the river. Young-Ki, Seon-Woo, and a third
fireman go back inside, finding the group thanks to Byung-Man constant calling out for them and
banging on the debris. To reach them though, they must cross the elevator shaft, and when they do,
the bomb's remote control falls from Young-Ki's pocket. The firemen guide the party to the sewers
and leave Byung-Man looking over them while they go back inside the building to prepare the bomb.
Once the explosives are on the tanks, Young-Ki sends Seon-Woo and his companion away,
closing the door between them as he explains he must stay behind to denote the bomb manually.
After a heartful goodbye from his men, Young-Ki calls his wife and leaves a message on her voice
mail, apologizing for so many failed Christmas and thanking her for so many years of patience.
Then he detonates the bomb, instantly dying as the water is released, helping the party of
survivors and firemen go through the sewers. Just in time, too, because the tower is blown up then.
It's already morning by the time the group makes it to the river, and there are already
ships waiting to rescue them. Dae-Ho and Ha-Na reunite with Yoon-Hee, and Ae-Ja gets
to see her son again. Seon-Woo, Byung-Man, and his companion reunite with their team,
and they give the bad news to Young-Ki's wife, who falls to her knees in tears for her husband.