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Anthojay
Money Heist: Korea - Joint Economic Area - Part 1
1 people found this review helpful
It's tough to even live a simple life that we've all dreamed about
Great plot arrangements and good use of every character in this clash of political ideology not particularly suited only for korea but a phenomenon happening globally. The underlying problem of this society is straightforward, it's tough to even live a simple life that we've all dreamed about under such discriminatory economic distribution. A team of distressed people trying to form a new ideology by reaching extreme means because nothing really matters anyway, and in its course, it's apparent that "bad persons" are not always too bad, and "good persons" who rule the society with wealth and power are not too good either. To relate the tragic situation, the drama is beautifully shot in dystopian fashion, battle strategies and action scenes are cinematically crafted, can't wait for part 2 to release soon!Was this review helpful to you?
重口味視覺味道但係故事處理不足
電影裡邊嘅髒亂世界同埋壓抑社會都喺拍攝細節上深層嘅表達出嚟，尤其是係經過黑白畫面處理更加覺得震撼。 部片唯有不足嘅地方就係喺編劇部分係相當之令人失望，角色設計可以講係不達標，亦都冇為個案件嘅推理作出重要細節， 領到故事推進同埋連接性失去動力，故事結局做得好似好甩漏噉。 不過演員嘅努力演出係值得讚賞，特別係林家棟同埋劉雅瑟嘅搏命演出，最後嘅動作片段都幾有視覺衝擊。Was this review helpful to you?
Most of its plot revolves around a closed setting
The movie seems to have a large scale resistance movement theme but actually most of its plot revolves around the interrogation of five suspects in a remote torture area at a seaside cliff, only until the ending the story expands into something bigger, but still the closing sequence is quite unsatisfying because at the end someone else becomes the alternate villain which is kinda weird for this kind of movie. Despite that, the cinematography and soundtrack is excellent enough to give it a somewhat artistic finish.Was this review helpful to you?
One of the best intimacy in any Korean movie ever
Strikingly hilarious right from the start till the end, and the great chemistry between Seohyun and Lee Junyoung, it has so much warmth in them and they're totally immerse with each other's acting, all of the scenes are also shot with really delicate touches like the color tone. The flow of the story works practically well which is relevant to the reality, peaked with an epic ending that's very lovely to see. Even without being explicitly sexual, the movie is able to achieve one of the best intimacy in any Korean movie ever.Was this review helpful to you?
Excessive musical hinders the storyline
The integration of musical elements into a wartime storyline might be a fresh take, but it could also hurt the movie cinematic wise. There's a lot of singing in this movie, like really damn a lot, up till a point that it felt like dozens of music videos stitched together. Don't get me wrong, the musical in this movie is absolutely stellar, but most of the time it hinders the storyline too much, sacrificing its narrative and causing the story of a Korean independence fighter to be the most bare-bones version ever.Was this review helpful to you?
Stylish execution with high emotions
This is some really serious deal of gritty crime and cop noir thriller with a mix of religious and inheritance mystery on top of it. The cinematography is truly brilliant, it has some of the most perfect landscape shots and rural ambience in a kdrama, acting performance is also insanely good. The storyline is extremely complicated to perform but the execution is very clean. The best part is their ending is unbelievably immersive it runs on high emotions, the effect is absolutely intense and satisfying.Was this review helpful to you?
Promising premise but less impact
Extremely mundane style of storytelling, most of the scenes were done using silent suspense but sometimes it's really a little too much for such a simple story to be stretched this long. Visuals is the stronger aspect of this movie, that seemingly permanent grease and greyish hue smudges the small suburb which doesn't look like having much of a future, it really sparks the underlying pressure for the poor to abandon their morale just to survive the unjust in this corrupted society. It's a promising premise in gritty and stylish low tone, but can't really say the same for its lukewarm impact towards the ending.Was this review helpful to you?
More complex storyline, but weaker fight sequences
Guy is back again after a year, whether it is an upgrade this time around, the answer is both yes and also no. The story building is more intensive in this third installment as they go for a more complex structure of a three way conflict that involves a lot more thought process, and the implementation of the characters are great along with the flow of the story. Now onto the weakness that this movie had, which sadly should be its main selling point, the action choreography. The franchise that was known for having masterclass martial arts sequences, somehow turns out not as powerful as the first and the second movie, fight scenes here were a little plain and dull, punches get simpler and battles get shorter, which feels like a rushed production. The previous two villains also fare so much better in terms of fighting skills and the pure charisma on screen, whereas the villain here is just not that intimidating and thrilling. It also has a weird tone that relies on too much humor to push the plot forward which almost becomes a full blown comedy. Well i guess sequels are just not that easy to preserve its excellence but I hope the next installment could really do better than this.Was this review helpful to you?
The meaning of meaningless life
Huge appreciation for the writer to be able to speak for every lonely person out there, providing a little meaning for the meaningless life. It may not be a lot but it's already enough for that little happiness and understanding to happen through its literal storytelling along with its heartfelt characters. Every dialogue and choice of word fits perfectly into our harsh reality, the acting is so deep down it calms every wandering soul like a true companionship. Even though it's densely packed in 16 hours of runtime, it's able to contain almost every modern societal problems out there that you could think of, and also tackling life progression at different kinds of stages. It may be tedious and tragic, but the sad and melancholic instinct within us will always ponder questions on why we exist, why am i here, while working hard to adapt into this familiar yet uncertain world. After completing this drama feels like covering in a warm blanket and having a great listener beside us, that little comfort is exactly everything we need.Was this review helpful to you?
Improved screenplay over previous installment
The major box office success of The Roundup series has brought us here to the fourth installment of the franchise, Punishment. Similar structure to the previous one, it had lesser action scenes and more towards story focus, but somehow this one is twice as much better than the lukewarm effort in No Way Out. All thanks to its improved screenplay and smoother flow of plot, it is much more cohesive than before, and the digital gambling case is interesting enough to provide a great hook for audiences. The cast is also much more favorable here, we have the return of Park Ji Hwan and his performance is simply too magnificent, till a point he almost carried the whole second half of the movie. Then we have new villains, Hyun Bong Sik is surprisingly underrated and his presence is massive even though he's just the villain sidekick, and finally needless to say, Kim Moo Yeol as the main villain is the ultimate right choice, he's freaking intimidating and quick at stunts too. Meanwhile the choice of ending is a little too weak because they've made the villain look thoughtless given how he ended up at the final fight location, but nonetheless they've regained their reputation this time around as the most prominent movie franchise in Korean action cinema.Was this review helpful to you?
Artistic cult horror movie
Good setting but the execution at the beginning could be better as it takes a significant amount of time to gain traction, and a few action scenes here and there really didn't look too fine at all honestly. However once the tension takes off in the second half, the storytelling does have a lot to offer especially in the plot twist department, the concept behind it somehow becomes exceptionally huge. It's just that maybe the poor writing took away some of its quality, or else this could very well be one of the most artistic Korean cult horror movie ever.Was this review helpful to you?
Korean cinematic phenomenon
Extravaganza cinematic visionary that is more extraordinary than ever, this could very well be the most monumental achievement ever done in a war film. The naval battle sequence lasted for an overwhelming 100 minutes in hyper realistic visuals and intense actions that are totally out of this world. The well arranged narrative is also mind-boggling enough to maximize the tension of the political struggle alongside some really insane acting performances, everything is simply too phenomenal in this movie.Was this review helpful to you?
Well-chilled suspense
A really well-chilled horror film with quite a straightforward setting but the suspense buildup is extremely well refined and the pacing is highly engaging. The gore and scares are so refreshing as they have plenty of new tactics that were never seen before on screen, most of them rely on naturally occurring objects such as stones and trees. The shooting style is also pretty complex and the panning of the scenes are so good in inducing fear for shocking visuals. The most astonishing highlight is the bloody red tone that was gushing sharply with a shattering blast, those scenes were so well blended it almost tasted like some fine aged wine. This movie will definitely let you leave the theater feeling eerie at the end of the path.Was this review helpful to you?
Intense war along the way but ending was tame
The script is extremely well written, most of its dialogues are very detailed and able to live up to its tension. The pacing is great and the storyline spreads out incredibly, the social media war was well thought out and it's quite informative on how the social media business works behind the scene, the main lead who starts from the bottom and eventually becomes a vigilante that purges everyone else stepping in her way. Every trick and stunt in the luxury market reflects on the current society where humans are divided into rankings or levels, it's all highlighted with contrasty cinematography like a wide spectrum of colors. It's just that the ending is a little tame and expected when the war was fought so intensely along the way, but overall it is already one of the better kdrama this year.Was this review helpful to you?
Extremely mundane but also very surreal
The overall tone of the drama is extremely mundane but also very surreal on depicting the social class struggle, which is so triggering to see when the society exploits them, the whole system that fails the weak since beginning of our birth, and nothing will ever changes in this ongoing hell controlled by predators. Suzy's performance is just perfect for this role, the emptiness in her stare, the hopelessless in every emotions, putting on a fake face and lied through every expressions, when nothing really matters anymore in life as we watch the world burns.Was this review helpful to you?
