This was an absolute masterpiece
I wasn't expecting to enjoy this as much as I did...but lord knows I did.Before watching this drama I read some reviews and saw that it was bloody and grotesque.And it was....but only for the first 12-15 minuets of the movie. After that time passed it was like any American movie with blood being spilt for a gunshot wound but besides that it was fine.
Lee Jong Suk's acting was superb for the little time he was seen on screen. If you want to watch this movie for LJS....DON'T he's barely on screen and he spends the majority of the movie in handcuffs.....but his smirk and portrayal of a serial killer is well worth it.
All in all this movie was beautiful in a serial killer type of way.
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Wasted potential
I got interested in this movie after watching a clip of Kim Gwang Il getting kidnapped on YouTube. The clip was amazing. Filled with action. My heart rate rised as he was pulled out of the car. Seeing his facial expressions. His great acting. I knew, I needed to watch the movie. Sitting down by my computer I was soo exited. The first few minutes of the movie was great. I loved watching the murder. How Lee Jong Suk killed the role as a serial killer. But as the movie continued, it got more and more boring. Nothing happened. Lee Jong Suk didn't get the screen time he deserved. They included far too many side tracks instead of following the head plot. They followed too many persons, which led to confusion, and the main detective were supposed to be a cool detective, who doesn't care a sh*** about the law. He only became a boring cop trying to catch a serial killer and failing way too many times. The perfect movie should have followed the serial killer and the detective only. The exiting part is the thills and finding out why the serial killer acts as he does and how the detective fail to catch him or end up catching him. I don't recommend using 2 hours of your day watching this movie. It has nothing to give you. However Lee Jung Suk did amazing and I recommend watching all the edits of Kim Gwang Il on YT.Was this review helpful to you?
On a side note, if you're into this type of gory thriller, you may be interested to watch an old Korean movie "I Saw The Devil". I watched this then because of Lee Byung Hun. The only thing I'm glad of is, he did not play the role of the psychopath in this movie.
Both movies shows how sick a human can be in mind and action and doubt I'll ever re-watch because it's too disturbing and you can't unsee what you've seen. The senseless violence and brutality of it may remain in your mind for a long while.
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I expected a Psycho Thriller
I mean, the main antagonist is indeed a serial killer, so why not? It was more like a political drama with some action thriller. The cast was well-chosen and I have no complaints about their acting. I am still not sure what role the CIA plays in the movie. Why are they involved?Lee Jong Suk's characters have surprisingly few lines throughout the film. I heard he is really shy in real life, but villainous characters really suit him, to be honest. Looking forward to seeing him playing more challenging characters in the future.
I would recommend this film if you prefer something dark and twisted. Happy watching.
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SCAM !!
Ok, So I was so hyped up to watched the movie because of some scammed reviews...... But there's not a single piece of shit to be apppreciate as a dark theme !! They didn't went as dark as I expected..... The scenes weren't that so horrific or disturbing..... This is far of a psycho theme based story.....There's not even enough amount of the psycho scenes..... They should have added some more scenes of Kim Gwang Il(Lee Jong Suk) and his background or psychology too... so that the audience could get a better connect of the character.
I appreciate the acting of casts but at the same time I detest the story and narration.
That's it.
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If you are into thriller and ok with grotesque portrayal of killing, yeah this is a good movie for you.
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Eu esperava mais⚠️
eu assistir esperando tantas emoções, e não consegui tira nada de bom assistindo.a produção foi incrível porém o enredo, o plot não é bom.
Acho que foi muito rápido sem explicação nenhuma.
Adoro os Jong-suk e ele atuou super bem.
Mas durante o filme não sei quais foram os sentimentos que mais se elevadam, pois eu só conseguia sentir decepção.
Mas não claro não estou falando que seja um filme horrível, porém melhor assistir sem espera nada em troca skkdkdkd
eu estou aqui expressando minha raiva.
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Pretty good, would recommend to friends.
Wow, this movie is insane- If you're into gorry stuff, blood, and hella good acting, then damn your in for a treat.Trust me if you are a Lee Jong-suk fan this isn't all lovey-dovey thriller type stuff. Now I ReaLlY wanted to see his character live on for some reason?? and see what other chaos would stir because of him but the ending quite frankly it shocked me.
Now if you're a pussy like me that isn't that into the blood and stuff you might not want to watch this but let's hope yall have the stomach to watch this. No, I'm not saying it made me puke or anything but god damn it made my stomach churn in some weird ways.
But yes I would recommend this to some of my friends that also watch dramas and stuff.
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- Jang Dong-gun, Kim Myung-min, Park Hee-soon perform very well. Lee Jong-suk also does a fairly decent job. Jang excels in the action scenes and at times I got reminded of his movie "No Tears for the Dead" which was an excellent action movie.
- The action sequences are excellent and a treat to watch.
- The screenplay is excellent, though there are times when the film does slow down, but thankfully it regains its pace in no time, and goes on to entertain till the very end.
- Production values are decent.
- The BGM is in many sequences, outstanding.
- The format of narration is quite interesting.
Negatives:
- The film could've been edited a bit to be a little more captivating.
Repeat value: Yes
Overall, VIP comes out as a refreshing entertainer which blends action and thrill in a unique proportion, It's even good to see Park Hoon-jung write with his usual style, as he did in "The Unjust" and "I Saw the Devil". Just make sure kids don't get to watch the film (unless they become old enough). A definitely entertaining watch for genre fans, and much, much, much better than "New World".
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Enjoyed it very much, but had a couple issues
All the warnings held up.I did do a little digging into what this movie was about and heard that it was a rather gore infested film. (Seriously do not watch if you are the faint of heart. the gore is abundant.)
I don't mind seeing all the blood & gore, so the film wasn't too bad.......though I may have trouble sleeping tonight. XD
I mainly took notice of this film because it featured Lee Jong Suk playing a completely new type of character. (I am currently steam-rolling through most of his filmography). I was interested to see how Lee Jong-Suk would tackle this role and I must say, very well done indeed. He gave a bone-chilling performance and I actually hated his pretty face for once. I was especially happy when his character's brains were finally blown out, which speaks to how well he portrayed the psychopath.
The overall structure (not so much the story) of the movie was rather engaging, The titles presented at the beginning of each section made me curious as to what story would be covered in each.
The story itself, however, felt a bit too all over the place. I was a bit unsure as to how and why we reached a certain location. Especially when we went from the Prologue into what I believe is to be Chapter 1. We are transported from NK to SK, with a time skip and the only visual aide is that for a dead body tortured in a similar fashion as the victim we had just left. I had initially thought the dead body was the same victim and had been sent down a river or some such and was found years later, hence the time skip. But that was not the case as Gwang-Il had somehow managed to defect from NK through methods unknown during those three years and continued his grotesque habit. Like how did he manage to get out of NK in the first place?! Those questions were answered much later through character dialogue, but it was still a jarring transition.
One change I would have made would be where the film ends. The ending felt lost, overshadowed, by the events that happened just before it. It would have been more impactful to have the movie ends at the boat scene, as Ri Dae-Bum and Kim Gwang-Il are returning to NK. Gwang-Il managing to get away with all that shit would have been sad but entirely realistic. Sometimes, unfortunately, fucked-up people end up getting away with their fucked-up shit because they have the power in all the right places. It is very infuriating and would leave a bad taste in many people's mouths but would have left a greater impression on the audience instead of dragging the film out with the Epilogue. I was actually expecting the story to end at that scene but when I check, I was surprised to see an extra 10 minutes. (Either that or I was really in the mood for a tragic ending.) If I'm calling out the Epilogue. then the opening scene is also unnecessary, it made me a bit confused as to why a white dude and a Korean were meeting in Hong Kong when the story was about an NK serial killer.
But overall, if you're in the mood to mentally check-out and watch some fucked-up people do their shit with plenty of blood, gore, with a side of injustice, with an ultimate good-guys-win ending, I would recommend this.
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My overall opinion is that it's a good movie. Maybe not everyone’s cup of tea, but for someone that likes thriller action movies then it’s quite enjoyable (granted you can bear a two hour movie full of politics and a struggling desperate chase that leads to nothing).How to make it or break it = The Characters:
The point is that I really liked it, or rather, I believe it could’ve been a masterpiece if only it didn’t lack a relatively important aspect: a soul.
The whole movie was dragged by the plot, which of course made time pass and the viewer invested in the story, trying to unravel it; but that’s not enough. The characters were completely empty. And not because they lacked personality, it was because they Only had a personality. They were just there. There were no flashbacks or backstory to any character -if not small hints here and there about one chara- which made them feel flat and soulless. They weren’t wholesome characters that you can connect with, where you can understand their actions by that past and history that we aren’t shown here. They weren't people. Gwang Il was such an interesting character, but he was painted so poorly, that at the end even he felt empty. Jong Suk’s astonishing acting was what made me go on, because even if his character wasn’t wholesome at all, Jong Suk was able to portray him in a way that can make up a little bit of that lacking. But, ultimately, even Gwang Il was so empty I just wanted him dead in the end. It was so bitter how the director didn’t give space for any character to just, be, and be understood. To see their past, how they became what they are, what is their view of life, what are their goals or dreams, what are their traumas or weaknesses, what are their limits, what they care about…
All these things are what make characters lovable, human, and it’s how the viewers can resonate within them. In V.i.p. there’s only a story which happens, and then it’s over. In the end I couldn’t really like any of the characters, although I didn’t exactly hate them either. There wasn’t Enough of each one for me to hate or like. It was like watching a documentary; a situation is depicted and explained and then the situation is no more. That’s what this whole movie felt like.
I’ll probably be forever bitter that Gwang Il wasn’t developed to his full potential.
This makes me think of the question I always ask myself; and which I hope the directors asked too, by introducing his specific type of character: Is a monster born or is it created?
Here as well, the movie featured a character which fell in the category of that question, that’s why I hoped this theme would be delved in. It wasn’t though. It’s a shame really, because it had so much potential. I would’ve loved to watch 2 hours of Gwang Il’s past and development, and the detective’s too; without so much politics (just like they did in Hwayi or even the subtle way they did in Believer).
The chase that led to nothing, our not-so-righteous-police-officer:
As I said before, this movie was dragged by the plot. The story was everything there was to it. And I don’t mean a meaningful story full of morals and such, I mean event after event which eventually led to an ending. Most of these events where conducted by the Police officer -who's name I don’t remember and I doubt someone does, because of the confusion made by the dozen of names that kept being thrown inside the film- that was dead set on catching the serial killer and bringing him to justice. As soon as he saw Gwang Il, our officer was convinced the young man was the one he was looking for. Granted that he was right, of course, whatever mess happened next was… a mess. The officer kept chasing, having Gwang Il in his hands, and then losing him again. It was exasperating to watch and the only thing that didn’t make it boring was Jong Suk with his god tier performance. Eventually, the officer gets shot one time in the face and two times in the chest -and miraculously survives??- and his mission gets carried on by the Intelligence guy. I don’t know if this twist seemed random only to me. It was quite anticlimactic to be honest, mostly because the Intelligence agent was unlikable and we didn’t know much about him. The first time I saw his character I swear I though he was the secretary, but then he transforms in a bad-ass killer that tortures and, in a final moments, kills Gwang Il; proceeding to cut off his head and present it to that annoying American agent. The ending was ‘unrealistic’ and lukewarm, although I didn’t completely dislike it. On the contrary, I liked how it connected back with the beginning of the movie, closing the circle. But it still seemed like the story in the end didn't lead to anything, there didn't seem to be any moral or teaching. Toward the conclusion it seems like the 'bad' guy won, by neutralizing the two 'good' guys, but then the 'neutral-bad' guy kills him and that's it. It's unexpected. That's why, even though it's unrealistic, this ending was, at the same time, very realistic.
Politics, politics and politics... :
That was another thing for me. Granting I can’t really complain, as the movie was indeed about politics and the relationship between North and South Korea, seeing how the two dealt with the serial killer. Although, if you’re not Korean, or don’t know a whole lot about the matter, then you’ll probably be as confused as me throughout the whole film. That, and the fuc*ton of sides inside the story. I was really lost halfway through, because there were too many sides; the Intelligence, the police, the Americans, the North police... I didn’t even remember my name at one point.
On a different note, because of this many sides, there wasn’t a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ one. For, ultimately, all sides became ‘bad’, by battling with the serial killer. I believe this was a very interesting reflection, of what is right or wrong, what is black or white, or is everything grey? As Nietzsche said: “Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster... for when you gaze long into the abyss. The abyss gazes also into you”. By trying to use or fighting against a monster -Gwang Il here- everyone, by coming in contact with it, ultimately becomes one themselves.
The art:
The cinematography and photography were more than breathtaking. They were treated with a lot of detail and care, some scenes were so meaningful and beautiful that you could hear them breathe. The attention for colors too made everything worthwhile in the end. It’s so wonderful to watch when composition and color rules are followed to give each scene the right vibe and taste. This is what, most of the time, separates ‘okay’ movies from artistic masterpieces. The gore scenes were honestly well executed, so much that it gave me goosebumps. I particularly liked one of the first scenes, where they kill the young girl. It was disgusting and revolting in its wholesomeness, but at the same time it was composed perfectly. With the plastic sheets covering the wooden, classically beautiful, interior. Photos of brutality are scattered around the unfortunate girl, the air polluted by cigarette smoke and alcohol. We see paintings and a chandeliers, draped red curtains; in contrast with the three naked boys and Gwang Il that, with his plastic tunic, almost blends with the scene on the table. The beautiful and calm of the house, disrupted by the artificial confined space at the right where something animalistic and brutal befell. The moment when Gwang Il cuts the girl's throat with a thread seems so real that, in shock, I had to check if my own throat was okay before continuing. Among all of this, the title of the movie appears.
Continuing on that thought, there were many scenes that were so perfectly executed they were bewitching. It never happened to me before, not being able to advert my eyes from the screen, sitting there with my mouth hanging wide open, because the scene was too powerful. The grandiosity of V.i.p.'s cinematography is remarkable to say the least.
To wrap it up, V.I.P. is a good thriller-action movie that you can enjoy, if you like the charismatic psychopath-killer character, or if you can endure the unending politic talks about everyone trying to get their hands on Gwang Il (can you blame them though?). The film has a very powerful and solid cinematography that skims perfection at times, so even though the characters are somewhat flat and soulless it is definitely a worthwhile experience.
My re-watch value is… there. I would definitely re-watch it, but not in some time, and even then, I’d probably only watch Gwang Il’s parts. After you’ve seen the story, there isn’t that much more to find out by watching multiple times.
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visto solo per vedere Lee Jong-suk in veste diversa
Sapevo già che non mi avrebbe fatto impazzire ma volevo anche vedere Lee Jong-suk in un ruolo diverso dal romantico e dolce che avevo visto in altri suoi drama.Sicuramente il film per chi ama i genere crime sarà anche bello,io l'ho trovato quasi spaventoso.Sangue a non finire e scene forti.Il protagonista uno psicopatico e Lee anche così è stato bravo però non fa per me.
Sulla carta storia intrigante e ben recitata, comunque meglio la parte del poliziotto che quella del protagonista.Ho faticato a finirlo nonostante il protagonista.
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