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Anthojay
There should be ways to make things more fabulous
The whole drama looks like a hot trendy fashion piece with all the sheen and glimmer, but its context is hardly effective and that's a major disappointment for a Netflix originals. It clearly had every substance it needed to dive deeper into the fashion design industry backgrounds, yet the direction of its narrative is quite uneventful, not to say the fillers are a lot for just an eight episode drama. Even though the ending romance is surely an expected one, there should be ways to make things more fabulous given that the character design actually had plenty of potential in it.Was this review helpful to you?
Money Heist: Korea - Joint Economic Area - Part 2
12 people found this review helpful
A brutal realization behind wealth
Finally the conclusion for season 1 has arrived, which comes in an even greater setting and more massive combats that are beautifully shot, putting all stakes on the table for a final blow to secure the heist. Here we get a clearer picture on the political ideology held by both the robbers team and the reunification authorities. It serves as a revolution of sorts, questioning the fairness on the medium for distribution of wealth, a system that has been existing for millennia, which could be easily manipulated by the privileged and creates a big gap that leaves the vulnerable in dark, for ages. The closing sequence is really all about it and it speaks volumes, a visionary too good to be a reality, like living in a dream that can only be done fictionally.Was this review helpful to you?
No one will be able to make a difference
Screened as the closing film in 2022 Cannes, the director aims to expose the weakness of this gruesome capitalist system that strips off every little hope in the youths and basically makes them a robot everyday earning pennies. It all started from a forced internship program as a school curricular, exploitation on cheap labor yet doing demanding and unforgiving task. It's extremely sad to to watch it as we're all basically going through the same thing everyday, and no one will be able to make a difference as it is deemed as a reality for everyone to survive.Was this review helpful to you?
"No one's living a fairy-tale life in this world"
A drama that tells really good stories about all the broken souls of adolescent and the unleash of atrocity at young age. Humans could be born that way in their nature, or it could be induced by various societal issues, though the latter part of the drama highlighted more on the selfishness of irresponsible adults. The drama also poses serious questions on the judicial system and the effectiveness of the law and order in its juvenile act. This is why the drama works brilliantly as it reflects a highly detailed sad and torn reality beyond fixing.Was this review helpful to you?
Potential fully Unlocked
This is the most frightening and most tragic Korean crime thriller ever released since the movie "Midnight" that came out in 2021, but this villain is wielding a freaking smartphone as an invincible weapon instead of a traditional axe. First off the cinematography and soundtrack is really futuristic, almost like a high tech dystopian world which corrupts digitally. The main innovation of this movie will be its storyline, the headlining villain is skillfully designed as a tech mastermind, Im Siwan's performance here is absolutely mind boggling as he went berserk while hunting for his prey with technology. As if that wasn't insane enough, the ending reveals something much bigger that is ultimately mind blowing and everything turns into maximum monstrosity for every character in the movie.Was this review helpful to you?
Extremely touching and tear-jerking
This movie is unexpectedly great in storytelling, the transition of the plot is so smooth near to a level of perfection, and it's a cute and heartwarming companion for this cold winter season. A lot of realization of life lessons has been implemented even though the story is simple, but this is exactly what makes it special, it is extremely touching and tear-jerking, which made me cried many many times in the theater. When money and fame is not everything in life, but the love and care in human bonding is what gives our life meaning, just couldn't help but to agree that this is what really is all about in the fulfillment of life.Was this review helpful to you?
DOOM OUT OF SERVICE
The drama started with brilliant storytelling and superb setup ONLY for the first two pilot episodes, but after all of that the pace went straight down and struggle to get itself back on track again. It's actually surprisingly confusing how they were able to push great quality from the start but messed it up right away, like a real contender beaten up and dislocated back into its usual kdrama cliche again. Well at least their cinematography is sweet enough to be an eye candy with some added calmness as a bonus.Was this review helpful to you?
Home is no longer sweet
Extremely inconsistent tone for its episodes that led the storyline direction to nowhere. The action sequence in the first three episodes is absolutely impressive, it's cinematic and immersive but that's all about it. The episodes ahead are of really questionable decisions, the whole mood shifted out of sudden with a bunch of newly added characters that look detached and don't provide much to drive the storyline. Things got stagnant and the monster craze wore out pretty quickly, it felt like they were trying to reserve the bigger part for the next season, but hype dies down and home is no longer sweet.Was this review helpful to you?
Gigantic suspense through skies and clouds
The scale of this movie is so gigantic you wouldn't be able to imagine how they were able to build a story development in such an impressive way. The suspense just keeps on rising like climbing through skies and clouds, accompanied by best of class soundtrack that heightens every stakes. The airborne action scenes are of course groundbreaking, but what's more surprising is the depth of its story is so powerful, it's equipped with a lot of factors on a global level, especially in the latter half of the movie it puts human principles into test, spanning across every possible behaviors when they're pushed to their limits. Given its constructive ending, even how ugly humanity is sometimes, they're suggesting a glimpse of hope that we all deserve during a catastrophic situation we faced everyday.Was this review helpful to you?
Unconventional art cinema for a kdrama
The whole shooting style of the drama is unconventional art cinema, it's so niche up to the point it's like a very dark and gritty tech noir. The pace though is painfully slow, there are lots of details to look for but the structure of the story itself is pretty confusing with some unclear intentions by some of its characters. It would be better if they could reduce the runtime of some episodes, but at least the resolution part is quite breathtaking. For the portrayal that is sort of broken romance blended with modern crime, they do hit the mark this time.Was this review helpful to you?
Realistic modus operandi of tech crime
The storyline has a similar genre to Netflix's Unlocked movie, which is also about smartphone stalking, and the fear inducing hunting has almost the same level of terror as Tving's Midnight, a legendary Kmovie about stalking. Here the movie takes a more practical approach to the notorious tech crime. The plot is really innovative as it features the realistic modus operandi of the criminal, the pacing is great with nail biting suspense. Meanwhile for Shin Hye Sun headlining this movie, I knew she's gonna be great for this role and it really is, her acting performance is freaking insane. The ending is so crazily scary, I'm gonna get PTSD after watching it.Was this review helpful to you?
Powerful immersion of lifelike characters
A story about a North Korean defector who escaped from China en route to Europe, his journey comes with a handful of twists, and there are a few fresh takes on this genre. Acting performances are definitely the most powerful aspect of this movie, the level of immersion into the characters is just insane from all the actors. The story is quite fast paced and lots of details going around, plot development is effective in pushing the emotions to a higher ground every time when uncertainty takes forth. The ending could be a little too dramatic, but in a sense that the director may seem to have wanted to paint the characters some hope, given how lifelike they were written, weren't we all just wanted to be hopeful even during the dreadest situation happening in this unforgiving society.Was this review helpful to you?
Caught up in its own cliché but ending was satisfying enough
The conclusion for the series is finally here and to be honest, it was caught up in its own cliché for quite a while as it continues its buildup upon buildup. The breakthrough only comes at the last two episodes but luckily the ending is sophisticated enough to provide a satisfying ending. The resolution is almost seamless even though the plot is highly complex and that's great, it's just that the lack of suspense is evident throughout the whole drama when everything is done as a matter of course.Was this review helpful to you?
Unbelievably patriotic historical setting
Extremely good screenplay that covers the whole background story of the political situation within sports, plot is rich enough to highlight the hardships of getting into the marathon competition itself, pacing is smooth throughout the movie and the details are so precise that you could really feel the significant amount of pressure along with the journey of the team, more so for its patriotic reason. The buildup for the marathon race has amazing suspense with soundtrack that's thumpingly brilliant, and I've cried so many times watching it. The production value is simply too high for this movie.Was this review helpful to you?
The final act is the main highlight
It surprisingly turns out that this is less of an action movie than ever, in contrast to its movie poster and trailer that screams adrenaline. The focus on the tension between Hwang Jung Min as diplomat, and Hyun Bin as NIS agent is the main driver that pushes the movie forward, but that could be a hit or miss sometimes. The final act will be the main highlight of this movie, Hwang Jung Min's sheer amount of acting skills during the final negotiation is so prominent that it's keeping the audience at the edge of seats induced in fear. Overall the cinematography was shot with great attention to details, and a storyline that works well, it's still a brilliant movie to be fair.Was this review helpful to you?
