History Film / TheTower

* PluckyComicRelief: The group of Christians, found by Sergeant Oh after he gets seperated from the other firemen, noisily praying at every turn. [[spoiler:Their prayers have the most uncanny way of coming true, though!]]

* InfantImmortality: [[spoiler:Played absolutely straight in the case of Ha-na. Suggested, though, that there are many other kids in the burning tower, though whether they escape or not is left to the viewer.]]

The Tower (or '''''Tae-wo''''') is a 2012 [[UsefulNotes/{{SouthKorea}} Korean]] SpiritualSuccessor to Film/TheToweringInferno.

The Tower (or '''''Tae-wo''''') is a 2012 Korean SpiritualSuccessor to Film/TheToweringInferno.

The setting is the fictional Tower Sky, the tallest buildings in the world, modeled after the Petronas Towers in Malaysia, home to some of the wealthiest people in Seoul and cutting-edge in both technology and luxury. To celebrate Christmas, a [=VIP=] party is held in the "Sky garden" of the tower overlooking the river. Dae-ho, the manager of the building and single father, is forced to cancel plans with his daughter Ha-na to coordinate the event. However, Yoon-hee, the food mall manager (with a [[TheNotSecret secret crush on Dae-ho]]), offers to babysit Ha-na during the party. Meanwhile, Kang Young-ki, the legendary fire captain of Yoido Station, has at the urging of Sergeant Oh Byung-Man and the rest of the crew, finally promised his first Christmas date night to his long suffering wife, while the station's new probationary fightfighter gets the sort of hazing [[InitiationCeremony that shows some things are universal the world over.]] During the party, it is discovered that the exterior pipes in the building have frozen over, rendering the sprinklers above the 60th floor inoperable. The party is in full swing when a fleet of helicopters fly overhead with snow-making machines, giving the building's [=VIPs=] [[DreamingOfAWhiteChristmas a white Christmas, indoors!]]

The setting is the fictional Tower Sky, the tallest buildings in the world, modeled after the Petronas Towers in Malaysia, home to some of the wealthiest people in Seoul and cutting-edge in both technology and luxury. To celebrate Christmas, a [=VIP=] party is held in the "Sky garden" of the tower overlooking the river. Dae-ho, the manager of the building and single father, is forced to cancel plans with his daughter Ha-na to coordinate the event. However, Yoon-hee, the food mall manager (with a [[TheNotSecret secret crush on Dae-ho]]), offers to babysit Ha-na during the party. Meanwhile, Young-ki, the legendary fire captain of Yoido Station, has finally promised his first holiday date night to his long suffering wife, while the station's new probationary fightfighter gets the sort of hazing [[InitiationCeremony that shows some things are universal the world over.]] During the party, it is discovered that the exterior pipes in the building have frozen over, rendering the sprinklers above the 60th floor inoperable. The party is in full swing when a fleet of helicopters fly overhead with snow-making machines, giving the building's [=VIPs=] [[DreamingOfAWhiteChristmas a white Christmas, indoors!]]

* CorruptBureaucrat: The Fire Commissioner. He has a VIP list and they get rescue priority over all other residents, seriously hampering firefighting efforts. [[spoiler:Young-ki finally tells him what to do with his priority rescue list.]]

* FatalFamilyPhoto: [[spoiler:Captain Young-ki. The moment you see the photo of his wife, you just ''know'' he won't make it out of the Tower Sky fire alive.]]

* PluckyComicRelief: The group of Christians, found by the probie firefighter, noisily praying at every turn. [[spoiler:Their prayers have the most uncanny way of coming true, though!]]

The Tower (or '''''Tae-wo''''') is a 2012 Korean SpiritualSuccessor to TheToweringInferno.

* ArtisticLicensePhysics: Quite a bit ''less'' then TheToweringInferno. The fire spreads the way you'd expect a fire to spread in such a building, and the [[spoiler:inevitable WaterTowerDown gambit]] only buys minutes. Plus, during such an intense fire, the structural integrity of the tower quickly becomes compromised - [[spoiler:leading to the decision to bring the burning tower down with a controlled detonation, to prevent it from taking the other tower with it and wiping out half of downtown Seoul...]]

* DarkerAndEdgier: To TheToweringInferno, which already was a really dark movie to begin with. [[spoiler:The arc of the disaster is very similar to 9/11, though the crash that starts the fire in the movie is purely accidental.]]

* HellishCopter: [[spoiler:A helicopter crash starts the fire.]] Unlike TheToweringInferno, though, the chopper evac from the neighboring building goes without incident.

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: More then being a remake of TheToweringInferno, this movie was almost a note for note reproduction of 9/11, with all the NightmareFuel that implies. [[spoiler:The only real differences was that the crash was accidental, and only one of the towers caught fire.]] %invoked%

* SerialEscalation: Happens with incredible speed, unlike TheToweringInferno; pretty soon the protagonists don't just have to contend with the fire, but the building literally crumbling around them.
* ShoutOut: Many to TheToweringInferno, which this is a SpiritualSuccessor to.

* DyingLikeAnimals: Done in a similar way to TheToweringInferno, but taken UpToEleven. [[spoiler:With the burning aviation fuel and lack of sprinklers, the inferno spreads with incredible speed, causing a mass rush for the elevators.]] It [[ForegoneConclusion does not end well.]]

* RedHerring: It's mentioned repeatedly that the kitchen has far too many stoves and far too little sprinkler coverage; at one point a chef even starts a fire with a wok. [[spoiler:That fire is quickly extinguished; the real source of the disaster is a crashing helicopter.]]

* RedHerring: It's mentioned repeatedly that the kitchen has far too many stoves and far too little sprinker coverage; at one point a chef even starts a fire with a wok. [[spoiler:That fire is quickly extinguished; the real source of the disaster is a crashing helicopter.]]

* TooDumbToLive: This being a disaster movie, there's plenty of examples, but the crowner has to be [[spoiler:the helicopter pilot; he gets caught in a spiraling updraft with a heavy out of balance load - and rather then cut the load (and ''maybe'' injure or kill a few on the ground) he rides that unstable, swinging load right into the building, touching off the inferno and ending up killing ''hundreds''.]]

* TooDumbToLive: This being a disaster movie, there's plenty of examples, but the crowner has to be [[spoiler:the helicopter pilot; he gets caught in a spiraling updraft with a heavy out of balance load - and rather then cut the load (and ''maybe'' injure or kill a few on the ground) he rides his unstable, swinging load right into the building, touching off the inferno and ending up killing ''hundreds''.]]

* ShoutOut:Many to TheToweringInferno, which this is a SpiritualSuccessor to.
** For example, the outside Scenic Elevator, which people are caught in during the fire. [[spoiler:they get out safely though.]]

* ElevatorFailure: [[spoiler:An elevator gets trapped on a fire floor, quickly illustrating why you ''don't take elevators in a fire'']]. Later, the protagonists ''deliberately'' induce an ElevatorFailure to quickly get down past the fire floors and out of the building.

** The people rushing the elevators. [[spoiler:They come to a horrible end, though the mechanism is ''even worse'' then before; see the NightmareFuel entry.]] %invoked%

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: More then being a remake of TheToweringInferno, this movie was almost a note for note reproduction of 9/11, with all the %%invoked%% NightmareFuel that implies. [[spoiler:The only real differences was that the crash was accidental, and only one of the towers caught fire.]]

** The people rushing the elevators. [[spoiler:They come to a horrible end, though the mechanism is ''even worse'' then before; see the %%invoked%% NightmareFuel entry.]]

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: More then being a remake of TheToweringInferno, this movie was almost a note for note reproduction of 9/11, with all the [[invoked]] NightmareFuel that implies. [[spoiler:The only real differences was that the crash was accidental, and only one of the towers caught fire.]]

** The people rushing the elevators. [[spoiler:They come to a horrible end, though the mechanism is ''even worse'' then before; see the [[invoked]] NightmareFuel entry.]]

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: More then being a remake of TheToweringInferno, this movie was almost a note for note reproduction of 9/11, with all the Invoked NightmareFuel that implies. [[spoiler:The only real differences was that the crash was accidental, and only one of the towers caught fire.]]

** The people rushing the elevators. [[spoiler:They come to a horrible end, though the mechanism is ''even worse'' then before; see the invoked NightmareFuel entry.]]