'My Way' review: War story a battle to get through

War drama. Starring Jang Dong-gun, Joe Odagiri. Directed by Kang Je-kyu. In Korean with subtitles. (Not rated. 142 minutes. At Bay Area theaters.)

Kang Je-kyu made South Korea's "Saving Private Ryan," a 2004 film called "Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War," so he can be a powerful filmmaker. "My Way," billed as the most expensive Korean film in history ($25 million) is epic, packed with action - and it's lousy. Like old-time Giants fans at Candlestick Park, viewers who can sit through Kang's loud, violent mishmash of a film should get a Croix d'Indulgence.

Set in the 1930s, it's about two marathon runners, one Korean (Jang Dong-gun), the other from the occupying forces of Japan (Joe Odagiri). They are big rivals, which continues when they are soldiers serving in Mongolia, through their time as prisoners in a Soviet gulag to a finale on Omaha Beach during the D-Day invasion of Normandy.

Kang is so over the top and jumbled in his storytelling, this could be his Michael Cimino ("Heaven's Gate") moment.

G. Allen Johnson is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. ajohnson@sfchronicle.com

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