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Anthojay
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?
Full of kdrama clichés
Powerfully dumb storyline that's full of kdrama clichés and it's just unforgivingly jarring, almost like some classic parody too well made. It boasts unbelievable visuals of high concepts but turns out to be practically hollow, dialogues are strikingly coarse and far from relatable, and absurdity keeps coming as the plot goes on. It's not really a bad watch as there are some good parts that are worth rooting for, but the not so clever parts completely overshadow them and it simply becomes not more than just a race of mainstream popularity contest. Even the ending is still full of silly stuff to force a climax that doesn't resonate well, though the faint-hearted might still flutter intermittently.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?
Like an extremely solid extended director's cut movie
This is how a proper monstrous drama should look like, an absolutely much better take compared to some of the Korean "monsterflix" lately that are mostly disappointing. The storyline has a lot of clever surprises along with characters that make hell lots of sense, character motivation is crystal clear even during highly complicated face-offs. The action sequences and graphics are so powerful it's totally top class cinema, the soundtrack plays an even bigger part in progressing the suspense, it's unbelievably well tuned to its fighting scenes. It just works like an extremely solid extended director's cut movie that seriously deserves to be shown on the big screen.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?
Good buildups but there's a tone shift
Spectacular cinematography and insane acting performances, the horror element is effective with a good amount of reasoning behind the plot, though the way it turns out at the end might be a little anticlimactic for some. The third act takes a weird tone shift after all the amazing buildups that were done earlier, more specifically its resolution part was given a superpower treatment instead of supernatural ones. Still, the historical and geopolitical backstory had lots of details which are quite logical, and their quality suspense holds well enough to make this an excellent movie overall.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?
Excellent screenplay and top class acting
Large scale of real historical events told with an excellent screenplay that is great in details and heavy in suspense. It is more towards story focused instead of action focused, and the storyline is actually quite complicated to present but it was done really precisely, somehow they've made the plot easy to follow and characters' motivation very clear to understand. Huge plus from the acting performances, all the actors are absolutely top class and the movie works so great mainly due to those intense face-offs, so much stakes on screen but so meticulously arranged, simply unbelievable.Was this review helpful to you?
Wild and sophisticated
This is one of the weirdest but also highly clever kdrama in such a long time, a really well thought out storyline and crazy cool proof of concept, but it was done with extremely stylish cinematography and catchy soundtrack, the whole thing just looks wild and sophisticated in an unimaginable way. It elevates curiosity in a steady but surprising pace and keeps you guessing on the direction of the plot, but the end results will be absolutely mindblowing and greatly satisfying, because the vast variety of sensations it has to offer is unstoppable.Was this review helpful to you?
Mindless actions for late night fun
Set in the future timeline inspired by Concrete Utopia, this Netflix originals film does little to retain that brilliant legacy, but instead turning it into a trashworthy bloody action B movie that's hot for streaming services. Gone are the deep level of social commentaries, here it's all about mindless actions for late night fun. Make no mistake, the fighting sequences are actually really impressive with striking martial arts techniques and crispy visual effects, but the storyline is such a huge disappointment which is going nowhere. The plot didn't fit well and it felt like they overdid most of the elements without sufficient reasoning, however for those who're ready to see Ma Dong Seok packing mighty punches, this could be great.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?
Monsterfest turning into snorefest
Expensive sets and costumes, but it comes with an absolutely cringeworthy plot that fails to propel into something that was intended to be bigger. The main monster has a good backstory to start with, but the visual design of the monster is bland and not to even say it's anywhere near intimidating. For the worst part there's just something that doesn't work in its script, there's no cohesion in its storyline and pacing is very dull. Acting performances is actually great though but they're not enough to save this monsterfest into becoming a snorefest.Was this review helpful to you?
Unexpected cult comedy
An unexpected cult comedy that is way too excessive up till a point that the whole theme is actually trying to be as excessive as possible, and somehow it turns out to be fun enough. It was metaphorically accurate about lovers' quarrel although most of the situations are obviously exaggerated, but sometimes absurdity indeed does not need much logical sense. Well, the closing part is still oddly satisfying, which is super weird because the plot is something that should be taken with a grain of salt.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?
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?
