[5] The film, based on real events, is set during the overthrow of Siad Barre and the two Koreas' efforts to be admitted to the United Nations in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

It depicts details of a perilous escape attempt made by North and South Korean embassy workers stranded during the conflict.

[9][10] It received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its action scenes, humorous plot, direction, and its vivid acting performances.

Stumbling right outside the South Korean embassy, Yong-su yells for sanctuary, despite Jun-ki protesting that they would be called traitors in Pyongyang.

Dae-jin, sensing a propaganda opportunity, covertly takes pictures of the meal and steals the North Koreans's diplomatic passports to make defection certificates, but is discovered by Jun-ki, leading to a fistfight.

As passengers exit the plane, the diplomats bid each other farewell, before promptly splitting into their original groups to join their respective delegations, who take them into buses traveling on opposite directions.

[41] The film maintained its first place at the Korean box office on second day with addition of 89,826 viewers and taking cumulative audience to 226,569.

The website's critics consensus reads: "Its depiction of actual events is questionable, but Escape from Mogadishu is sleekly effective as an intelligent, well-acted action thriller.

While the heavy historical background and setting dominate the screen, attention is focused on what kind of variable the restrained emotion that utilizes reality, will affect the box office performance.

"[48] Kim Seong-hyeon writing for YTN felt that director Ryoo Seung-wan had reproduced the Somali civil war in 1990 as if it were in 2021, and portrayed the tense situation so well that the audience would experience it vividly.

He pointed out that some conversations and actions of characters and of the Somali people seemed to contain intentional messages, but concluded the review with, "Nevertheless, Escape from Mogadishu offers intense cinematic pleasure enough to offset all of this.

"[49] Kim Ji-won of Ten Asia opened the review writing, "Audio-visual pleasure and humanism that transcends ideology are properly harmonized.

She opined that the escape scene was highlight of the film, as the sequence conveyed the hopelessness of the characters, the horrors of war and the smell of sweat.

She praised the performance of ensemble and wrote, ".... the supporting actors played their roles in their respective places, completing a lively story."

Concluding her review, Kim wrote, "Most of the Korean films, which are about inter-Korean conflicts, use a squeezing code of tears, but Escape from Mogadishu gives a neat impression with dramatic and simple expressions without being overly emotional.

"[50] Cary Darling reviewing the film rated it 4 out of 5 stars and expressed the opinion that, "[..] an involving and suspenseful action-thriller that Ryoo Seung-wan handles with flair, capably staging big action scenes — like the final, nerve-rattling drive to potential salvation — while not neglecting the human stories at their heart.

"[51] Roger Moore reviewing the film rated it 3.5 out of 5 stars, and wrote that the sets of firefights were as good as Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down, but the struggle to escape was more on a human level than a flamboyant one.

He liked the climax scenes where convoy of cars were moving in a hail of Molotov cocktails and bullets, and concluded, "You want great action?

Kuipers appreciating the climax of chasing bashed-up cars on the streets of Mogadishu concluded, "Even though the outcome is never in doubt, the execution of this survival run is genuinely thrilling.

Kotzathanasis ends the review with, "Escape from Mogadishu is a great action movie that also works very well on a contextual level, due to the plethora of sociopolitcal elements included.

Carla concluded the review writing, "And it’s a memorable depiction of what people will or will not do to hold on to patriotic allegiances when there are life-or-death decisions to be made.

"[58] James Marsh reviewing for South China Morning Post rated the film with 3 out of 5 stars and said, "Ryoo, who specialises in testosterone-fuelled action cinema, makes good use of his dusty, arid locations to accentuate the characters' overwhelming sense of peril and vulnerability.