Daxtreme
Quebec, Canada
Gritty revenge story in the style of John Wick
Korean Netflix productions are where it's at right now, apparently. Add this one to the pile of cool shit coming out of there recently.
It's basically a revenge story in the style of John Wick mixed in with Infernal Affairs, had it been stretched out to an 8-episode mini-series.
Aside from the titular character though, it's astonishingly lacking in female characters. It's like the entire police force and pretty much all speaking parts are men aside from the main character, so she sticks out like a sore thumb. Kinda feels intentional to reinforce how alone she is but… such a weird choice.
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Stunts - 85/100 | A bit of annoying CGI fixes here and there but nothing that bothered me all that much. Great stunt work for the most part.
Narrative - 68/100 | This show takes itself very seriously, it's dramatic and emotional and tense. It's also exciting and has quite a few enjoyable action scenes, however the last 3 episodes or so become quite a bit needlessly convoluted. Could have easily cut 1 episode overall for much better pacing. Lead actress Han So-hee gives a great, wide-ranging performance. As far as how she postures herself, she reminds me of Hong Kong action star Moon Lee in how earnest she approaches the role of a tough petite woman up against the world. She's not nearly as acrobatic though.
Fight Choreography - 80/100 | The fights start off pretty damn amazing in the first half but get progressively worse as the episode count increases, which bums me out because the earlier ones got me so excited. Early sequences have a wonderful flow to them. Precise and concise choreography, it looks real. Later on, overdone editing comes in the picture and, while it's decent, it looks disjointed a bit, and not as good. Sadly, it's a typical outcome in films and shows involving martial arts, fights, and stunts. The earlier fight sequences usually star background stuntmen and/or martial artists who can sell the hits and perform better stunts. As more important characters become involved in fights (because the narrative demands it), fights get worse because those primarily dramatic actors aren't so good at selling the hits, and performing the stunts. And so the director has to hide some things behind editing and framing wizardry. Or sometimes it's a different team and they approach the fights differently. Previs is key here to help prepare for that.
That being said, the fights in this series aren't anywhere close to being bad, they're great and the lead (who fights throughout the series) is really dedicated to selling everything she can. But the tumble in fight scene quality is quite noticeable between the first half and the second half of this show, it's actually interesting to see it unfold, and is a subject I wanted to broach one day or another, so this was a good time to do so. It happens in martial arts movies too, all the time.
Enjoyment - 72/100 | Thrilling show with lots of hard-hitting action and dramatic heft. It gets bogged down in some weird narrative beats near the end, but overall it's still an impactful winner. And I loved the killer synthwave soundtrack that started almost every time an action beat kicked in. That was simply awesome. If you want to win me over when making something, definitely do that!
It's basically a revenge story in the style of John Wick mixed in with Infernal Affairs, had it been stretched out to an 8-episode mini-series.
Aside from the titular character though, it's astonishingly lacking in female characters. It's like the entire police force and pretty much all speaking parts are men aside from the main character, so she sticks out like a sore thumb. Kinda feels intentional to reinforce how alone she is but… such a weird choice.
_________________________________________
Stunts - 85/100 | A bit of annoying CGI fixes here and there but nothing that bothered me all that much. Great stunt work for the most part.
Narrative - 68/100 | This show takes itself very seriously, it's dramatic and emotional and tense. It's also exciting and has quite a few enjoyable action scenes, however the last 3 episodes or so become quite a bit needlessly convoluted. Could have easily cut 1 episode overall for much better pacing. Lead actress Han So-hee gives a great, wide-ranging performance. As far as how she postures herself, she reminds me of Hong Kong action star Moon Lee in how earnest she approaches the role of a tough petite woman up against the world. She's not nearly as acrobatic though.
Fight Choreography - 80/100 | The fights start off pretty damn amazing in the first half but get progressively worse as the episode count increases, which bums me out because the earlier ones got me so excited. Early sequences have a wonderful flow to them. Precise and concise choreography, it looks real. Later on, overdone editing comes in the picture and, while it's decent, it looks disjointed a bit, and not as good. Sadly, it's a typical outcome in films and shows involving martial arts, fights, and stunts. The earlier fight sequences usually star background stuntmen and/or martial artists who can sell the hits and perform better stunts. As more important characters become involved in fights (because the narrative demands it), fights get worse because those primarily dramatic actors aren't so good at selling the hits, and performing the stunts. And so the director has to hide some things behind editing and framing wizardry. Or sometimes it's a different team and they approach the fights differently. Previs is key here to help prepare for that.
That being said, the fights in this series aren't anywhere close to being bad, they're great and the lead (who fights throughout the series) is really dedicated to selling everything she can. But the tumble in fight scene quality is quite noticeable between the first half and the second half of this show, it's actually interesting to see it unfold, and is a subject I wanted to broach one day or another, so this was a good time to do so. It happens in martial arts movies too, all the time.
Enjoyment - 72/100 | Thrilling show with lots of hard-hitting action and dramatic heft. It gets bogged down in some weird narrative beats near the end, but overall it's still an impactful winner. And I loved the killer synthwave soundtrack that started almost every time an action beat kicked in. That was simply awesome. If you want to win me over when making something, definitely do that!
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