Linky
Erotic thriller with high quality plot, acting and cinematography
Beautiful, exciting and perverse, The Handmaiden (by same director as "Old Boy" - which tells you something) is not for the faint of heart. There are a few scenes that border on X-rated. It's well written, well-acted, and beautifully shot. The story keeps you on the edge of your seat. I was captivated and repulsed and thrilled by this movie all at once. But what made this movie stand out to me is the glimmer of companionship and heart that pulls the movie together. Without that it would have been just another thriller that excites and titillates.Was this review helpful to you?
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The GOOD: It's well-produced gore and action- both gross and engrossing. The plot moves at a good pace and keeps you pushing the play button to find out what happens next.
The NOT AS GOOD: The characters are all stereotypical. The heroes are likable but not lovable. The noblemen are aggravatingly corrupt and lame. The peasants are all just one generic group of people that stand for the weak and oppressed. There isn't really any depth to the characters or their relationships with each other.
The BAD: The ending was not satisfying, but that's all I'll say. You're going to have to wait months for Season 2 to get any sense of closure.
But it's a fun watch if you like zombie thrillers.
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The 2 main leads carried this drama. I liked So Ji Sub in "Master's Son" but I LOVED!! his character in this drama. I don't think a personality like him exists in real life, but I guess that's why I am thankful for dramas. His character Kim Yeong Ho is the capable and tough protector that those close to him all depend on. But he also shows a vulnerable and sexy side and an unwavering devotion to the woman he falls for. I really liked Shin Min Ah as Joo Eun too. Her character is bright and cute and is a good match for Yeong Ho. Their relationship is reciprocal and caring and you can feel why they love each other. Together they elevate an uneven and cliche-ridden plot making this one of the more pleasurable and easy to watch shows I've seen. This caused me lots of missed sleep this week. I easily watched the whole thing in 4 days.
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You know how lots of dramas start off strong and peter out? This one starts strong and gets stronger and stronger as it progresses. The story pacing seemed a bit slow to me at first. There may be a few too many dramatic pauses. But it's worth it. As the plot unfolds it really builds to an exciting crescendo that wouldn't have been as powerful or heartbreaking if we hadn't been given the time to really know the characters. The last few episodes are so powerful I can't get some of the images out of my head. It finishes strong.
The story centers around 5 main characters - each intriguing and well portrayed - each with a particular viewpoint and relationship with the country of Joseon. There is Eugene, the slave who escapes to America as a young boy and returns for revenge, Ae Shin, the badass noble woman who leads a double life as a rebel and Dong Mae, the fearsome swordsman with a fatal weakness. Hina is the tough, enigmatic hotel proprieter and Hui Seung is Ae Shin's affable fiance. These characters play off each other marvelously. I love the unspoken and begrudging admiration that develops between them - even when their motives are sometimes at odds. I fell in love with them and I cried for them all.
There are so many pieces to the story and its put together perfectly - a great balance between the history, love story and thrilling action scenes. There's even a little humor and cuteness. Mr. Sunshine is a beautiful historical drama - well written, exciting, emotionally stirring and heartbreaking. Don't miss it!
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The pacing is varied. Many scenes feel overly drawn out, but each episode manages to move the plot forward in unpredictable fits and starts. It is well acted throughout. Some of the side characters bothered me - particularly the female characters, Jung Hee the bar owner and Yoo Ra the actress. They are so over the top pathetic, it's annoying. They take up too much screen time.
Its actually a little surprising to me that I watched this drama all the way through because its not really my taste. There is an oppressing bleakness that permeates everything in this drama - literally shading their world a dismal bluish gray in most every scene. Everyone is having a hard time here - the young, the old, the rich, the poor, the good, the bad, the successful, the defeated. Basically the overall message is that it sucks to be human. At times this message feels pretty heavy handed. There are several too many monologues about the bitterness of life by its many characters. But quality storytelling and character development win out and this drama drew me into its dreary world from the first episode.
Sympathizing with these characters, often stirred up my own feelings of fear and inadequacy that sometimes keep me up at night. Don't watch this if you are looking for a feel good show or are having anxiety in your own life. But I couldn't help being drawn in and hoping that these characters would eventually find some solace or maybe even happiness in their connections with each other.
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The food scenes are a step up from Season 2. Almost every food scene is mouthwatering and delightful. I love how they go on forever and that there is always sort of a second act to each scene. Just when you think it's winding down you find out there's more coming.
Of the 3 seasons, I enjoyed this about as much as Season 1 - which was a lot. The fact that the last 2 episodes were cut unexpectedly did hurt it. I waver about rating it 9 because, if being strictly objective, the ending really falls short. But I enjoyed it overall enough to rate it a 9. I can't be totally objective because I loved the characters and how this drama made me feel too much. This show is not one I watched for the plot. Each episode just makes me feel good - watching the college friendships and shenanigans, the crushes, and the enticing food scenes. It's cute and funny and warm. I liked seeing the characters interacting and having fun together. I could just watch any episode and enjoy it on it's own without worrying about what happens next.
But the ending will probably bother a lot of people because it is obvious they didn't have time to tie it all up. That is really my only complaint about it. The last episode was a let down. It is a shame because otherwise it was great.
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The main thing I really liked about this drama is that it perfectly captures the magic of falling in love with someone - when even the most mundane moments in everyday life feel more special and and exciting. You feel it when you watch this drama. The first half of the drama treats viewers to lots of happy romantic heartwarming scenes. There's nothing really dramatic or extraordinary about it. There's not a lot of setup. You just get to see lots of scenes of them being nice to each other and enjoying each others company and in lots of dramas those scenes are so rare because there is so much conflict and setup usually. It's the opposite of that in this drama.
The lead characters are just regular people - not perfect. (Though Jung Seon is an unrealistically nice boyfriend- which is probably one of the main reasons I enjoyed watching their romance so much.) Both have their issues and make mistakes. Hyun Soo is prickly and indecisive. Jung Seon has insecurities. They are making their way through life and career challenges - nothing over the top.
The downside may be that there isn't a whole lot of conflict. It's about finding love, then overcoming the obstacles of everyday life or personality conflicts that get in the way. A lot of the conflict falls into stereotypes. There is the rich CEO, the jealous friend and the disapproving parents that get thrown in there to mess with the couple. But these stereotypes are all given more of a normal realistic twist than in most dramas, so conflicts resolve in a low key fashion as most things do in real life. Many people might find that boring and anti-climactic.
For a relatively simple story, the drama is stretched out too long into 40 episodes when it probably could have been told better in half that amount. Many scenes especially in the last half of the drama felt kind of like filler. But having said all this I personally wasn't bored. I enjoyed all the simple happy scenes. There is a dreamy, soft-focus vibe that permeates the whole drama that I found pleasant and relaxing, like sitting quietly and sipping hot cocoa.
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Though I did find the the main love story amusing, I think it's the weakest part of this drama. The premise is so out there that I never fully bought into it and never really understood why they had to get married. It made way for some funny situations, but never really made sense to me. There is a slow halting awkwardness to the mannerisms of the 2 leads that is in character, but can be frustrating to watch. They look like they are sleepwalking from scene to scene for much of the drama. The actors manage to pull it off enough to make it worth it to me, but it did drag a lot when they conversed. Every sentence of their dialogue is punctuated by long halting dramatic pauses that don't reveal much. They had their share of sparky chemistry moments. But I looked for some happy flow in their scenes together and that was missing here. I am not sure if I missed the scenes that made me understand why they fall for each other. Their scenes together often seem like an excuse to make quiet observations about life, love and marriage. But overall the drama is quirky, funny and thought provoking enough to make for an entertaining viewing experience.
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The King's Woman aims to portray a ruthless tyrant as a complicated character that we can sympathize with in telling the story of his true love for a beautiful and talented woman. It's kind of difficult to do well and basically I don't think this drama did a great job at it. It relies too much on the actors' charisma and good looks, slow mo flashbacks, and pretty cinematography rather than thoughtful story writing and good character development.
By episode 40 or so I had a lot of built up frustration and dislike for the main characters so I didn't really care about them anymore. The side characters were uninspiring, but at least Jing Ke and Han Shen were more consistently written and had some good fight scenes. The main characters behave inconsistently and don't feel like real people. The most problematic character is the heroine, Gong Sun Li. She is supposed to be wise, upstanding and tough. As the story progressed I felt more and more repulsed by the idea of her falling in love with the King and being such a martyr for him. He is murderous one scene and then suddenly cute and seductive in the next. The drama jumps into a romantic comedy tone whenever the king does something terrible and they need you to feel sympathy for him and buy into the love story again. It bugged me that an intelligent woman would become submissive to such a man. The main failing in the storytelling is that there was not a compelling reason for her to be won over by him. They didn't portray much of her internal struggle to be with him. It goes against her character to fall in love with him, so give us an explanation. There were hints that she might have done it for political reasons or to protect others. But mostly the romance is portrayed as just fate - that Li was fated to always protect, love and serve the King no matter what his actions and he would always love her because of it. But why? This wasn't enough for me to buy into the romance.
I watched the last part of the drama mostly out of curiosity to see how the events played out. I knew I was supposed to feel the tragedy of it all as a result of the king's fatal character flaws and feel the heroine's selflessness and integrity, but the feelings just weren't there for me. Still, there were ample slow motion flashback scenes to inform me that something dramatic was happening. And every time they played a certain childhood flashback scene (which was A LOT) I knew I was supposed to be feeling how poignant it all was.
Then again after all my complaints about this drama again, I never once thought of dropping it. On a basic level it is watchable and entertaining enough to see the good looking costumes, actors, cinematography and martial arts scenes and find out what happens in the end.
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This drama features several love triangles and for people who can't stand the love triangle cliche, this might be an exception to the rule because the characters are so endearing and the acting is so good. The secondary love triangles have their moments and are somewhat cute, but the main love triangle is the best love triangle ever.
Jo Jung Suk was my favorite. I want to watch all his other stuff now. How did he he make his arrogant jerky character so lovable and magnetic? He shows Hwa Shin's inner turmoil, heartsickness and insecurity with a subtle change of expression or shift in the eyes. The second lead character Jung Woon is a dreamy perfect guy and the main character Na Ri is warm and lovable. They all have great chemistry together and the friendship between the two guys is so good too. They stole my heart. Thanks to the great character development and acting, it was actually believable that Na Ri would be so conflicted between these 2 guys that are such polar opposites. I totally understand people routing for the second lead in this drama. I admit I was conflicted too for a few episodes, but finally I was won over and satisfied that Na Ri found her soul mate.
The drama isn't perfect. The secondary story lines weren't as interesting to me as the main one, but they did have their charms. The story slows down a little in the second half and doesn't have the same flow as in the first half, but it's still good and it ties everything up in a satisfying way. Even though the finale took me a little off guard in how it was done, I think it was a fun goodbye to the characters. And the main love story brings the whole thing up for me.
Aside from the heart fluttering romance, this drama is funny and cute and had me giggling out loud many times. It also deals with some serious issues that bring more emotional depth to the relationships, but it never gets depressing or too heavy. If you have been putting off watching this you should do it.
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The GOOD: The best thing about this drama is the 4 main actors. Each actor portrays a different kind of bad guy with an exceptional talent that makes him a valuable asset to a special undercover crime fighting team led by a down and out cop played by Kim Sang Joong. He is great as always. These actors really make you buy into the coolness of their characters. They all have a pretty major dark side, but you just want to see them kick ass. And Bad Guys delivers a lot of slick well choreographed fight scenes where you get to watch them do that over and over and over again. The story moves at a fast pace . Each character's backstory is compelling enough to give the story some heart. I sympathize with these guys and hope they find some redemption.
The BAD: The plot is alright, but there are lots of frustrating scenes where a character behaves in a way that makes me want to just shake him. Several times a character will know a piece of information that would help everyone out but for no explicable reason except to prolong the conflict, they say nothing. There are several things that really don't make much sense, but you just have to go with it because it creates conflict and provides an excuse for another cool fight scene. It's not unbearably bad, but if there were less of those kind of moments in this drama I would rate it higher.
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The script is so tightly written. The story is a cleverly laid out labyrinth with compelling, intelligent characters at each turn. There are no throw away characters who behave stupidly, frustrating plot details, cutesy comic relief or romance just for the sake of adding romance. Every line could have a potential effect on the outcome. If you let your mind drift for a moment you might just miss out on some new clue or development. While watching, I often had the unsettling feeling that everyone is not who they seem and everyone is up to no good. Then a moment later I would often come to the exact opposite conclusion and think maybe this character is exactly who he appears to be after all. It had me on the edge of my seat and guessing up through the last episode. The writing is so impressive.
"Stranger" is really well-acted. The 2 main leads do such a great job. Jo Seung Wo is excellent as Prosecutor Hwang. Playing a cold, emotionless, and calculating character with limited facial expressions, he somehow manages to shine with goodness and integrity, gain our sympathy and win our hearts. Bae Doo Na is excellent as Lieutenant Han who is the more stereotypical good cop character, but she brings her character to life with warmth, passion and toughness. I also particularly enjoyed Lee Joon Hyuk as Seo Dong Jae. He portrays his smarmy despicable character with a lot of emotional range. He's the guy you love to hate and sometimes feel sorry for. All the characters have great chemistry together - both the heroes and villains - though you never really know for sure who is who until the very end when all the pieces fall together perfectly. It's a thrilling and compulsively watchable drama that builds in intensity as the story progresses. I am sorry to be done. I even re-watched the last episode immediately so I didn't have to say goodbye just yet.
This drama brings up ideas about what makes a person who they are. Does a person ever fundamentally change? What make us human? What makes us good or bad? Is it our emotions, our ideals or intentions? Our actions? Morals? A sense of justice? If you are into crime stories you have to watch this. But I also highly recommend this to people who appreciate an intelligent well told story that makes you think.
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