Will someone please think of the children!
When your introduction to a movie is a mad scientist and then an alligator wandering in the ruins of the city, you know you are in for a wild ride. Badland Hunters won’t be remembered for its riveting plot but when you have Ma Dong Seok swinging his mighty fists and a giant serrated machete it really doesn’t matter.Three years after an earthquake that leveled Korea, Nam San along with teenagers Choi Ji Wan and Su Na live in an encampment called the Bus District. Due to a devastating drought, water is the most precious commodity. Nam San and Ji Wan are hunters for the people. They trade meat for whatever their neighbors can spare. A well-dressed group comes to the encampment looking for teenagers. The newcomers promise Su Na and her grandmother all the fresh water they can drink, shelter, and food at the only apartment complex to survive the quake. In a dystopian future when armed men come promising “heaven on earth”, best to be suspicious. It doesn’t take long for everyone to realize that heaven is not all it seems to be when a mad scientist is running the place. Nam San was ready rain down hell on the complex to rescue Su Na.
It would have been nice to have some background info on our main characters, but in this sort of movie it’s not overly necessary. Though it stumbled about in regards to narrative, the fights were right on point. Nam San had to take the scenic route on the way to the apartment complex so that he, Ji Wan, and newcomer Eun Ho could battle their way through two gangs. While the story didn’t add anything new to the genre except for maybe the whole “I am the Lizard King” angle, the fights were well choreographed. Most of the hand-to-hand combat was in close quarters and bloody. Very bloody. Lots of dismemberments and decapitations. The big draw to a film like this was watching Ma Dong Seok do his stuff. I love this big ahjussi hitter.
The production values were fairly high though some of the destroyed city sets looked familiar from other dramas and movies set in the dry ruins of Korea. Badland Hunters didn’t set itself apart in this genre but it was entertaining. I could have used 25% more ahjussi hitter. I’m just happy Ma Dong Seok is still making this kind of fun action film at the age of 52. If you are looking for a taut script with new thrilling elements in the ruins of the future, you might need to look elsewhere, especially if you’ve seen a number of this type of movie. But if, like me, you enjoy watching the big guy pummel his way through baddies, even ones with long forked tongues, you might want to give this a try.
26 January 2024
Was this review helpful to you?
BADASS ACTION, ACTION, ACTION
The story is quite simple with no twist and turns. U can predict the story but, if u love full on action then its your cup of tea. Some of the scenes are quite brutal but, i love it wholeheartedly. Visual effects and quality are top notch. BGM is good. Acting wise all done a amazing job. Ma Dong Seok action is no dojbt outstanding. Lee Jun young performance is amazing and his bromance and acfion with Ma Dong seok is perfect. Roh Jeong eul done a good job in her role. The antagonist Lee Hee Joon done a crazy job in the mad scientist role. Ahn ji Hye done a quite a action with Dong seok and jun young which was great. Kudos to all the supporting artist who done a fabulous job in the movie.I don't know why the ratings are low but i recommend it you are willing to watch a topnotch bloody badass action movie.
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?
Korean Mad Max
Badland Hunters (or in my language Lovci u pustoši) is a spectacular post apocalyptic action movie. I still haven't seen "Concrete Utopia" nor did i read a Webtoon on which this movie is based of, but that wasn't a problem because this movie works great on its own.The movie starts with a little bit of comedy to attract interest but very quickly continues with brutal and intense action. Fans of action and fighting won't be disappointed. In fact this movie has the best fighting scenes i saw in a while, mostly thanks to, of course, non else then Ma Dong Seok who is playing the main hunter Nam San and reminds me of Mad Max. Actually, while still being quite different, there are many other things here that reminds me of Mad Max movie and I would wish to see more from this world and characters.
The story is also strong and makes us think about the meaning of life in the world without dignity and hope. Goodness and humanity are more important than just surviving.
Was this review helpful to you?
Punch, chop, yawn, shoot, punch, chop...
Mindless, cartoonishly violent melee-fest movies, even those that recycle mad scientist and power hungry soldier antagonists, can be great fun. And "Badlands Hunters" has lots of ingredients for a successful martial arts brawl-a-thon.The setting, a post-apocalyptic wasteland? Check.
Comic relief sidekick? Check.
Young, innocent hope for survival? Check.
A steady stream of gangsters and baddies entering from all sides to be dispatched with a single blow or wound? Checkity, check, check.
And a Michelle Yeoh type martial arts badass female? Ahn Ji Hye crushes this.
But "Badlands Hunters" never quite puts all the pieces together for very long. Instead, it's much like the populace constantly seeking morsels of food and a bit of clean water, the fun appears sporadically and, when it does, too briefly. Part of the issue is that the first half frequently sidetracks for small laughs or plot devices that later turn out not all useful. Another part of it is that there's simply far too much invested in transitioning Roh Jeong Eui's young hope-for-humanity from a wasteland origin to the apartment building as utopia/evil mad scientist's laboratory.
The main issue, sadly, is that the big action star in the middle of it, the legendary Ma Don Seok, doesn't seem all that invested in what he's doing. Or at least not very often. The character is meant to be stoic and business-like. That's expected. But having such a character as a baseline really only works as a contrast to when they are shaken out of their typical personality and a fire inside of them is ignited, the intensity ramps up and they get super mad and go bonkers getting even. That never happens here. It's martial arts and knife fighting and shooting machine guns with all the vibrancy and fireworks of stapling insurance adjuster reports together.
Punch. Stab. Shoot. [sigh]
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
A mindless entertaining popcorn action movie
Set in a post-apocalyptic world, this dystopian tale is as predictable and bland as it comes, but the action is entertaining and serves it's purpose of being a popcorn movie to pass the time. Ma Dong Seok is again typecasted into the heavy fisted fighter role and savior that he always plays. Lee Hee Joon plays the mad scientist. Ahn Ji Hye plays the rogue special forces soldier who teams up with Ma Dong Seok. I think you can pretty much predict how the story will unfold from there.None of the characters have depth and you don't really get much explanation for the plot. This is a simple movie to just show action scenes which for the most part was entertaining. Ma Dong Seok's role was a bit cliche (his one punch wonder schtick is a bit corny & old, but if you're new to his roles then it'll probably be fine). I do admit I laughed a lot at his comedic one liners. The whole crazy dragon lady scenes were funny as well.
Ahn Ji Hye is the one that stood out to me. I specifically remembered her from the movie Slate where she impressed me with all her action scenes and the fact she did it all herself with no stunt double. She continues to impress here although I'm not sure if she did all the stunt work again, but it sure looked believable. I like when women can kick some ass so I may be a little bias here. I think if she and Lee Si Young did an action movie together, I'd probably die from excitement.
If you like popcorn action movies and don't mind a shallow plot, then I would suggest giving this movie a try. You probably won't remember it in a week, but I thought it was a good enough escape for an hr or so.
Was this review helpful to you?
The sceneries looked quite fake here and there and the lighting felt wrong. CGI was well done sometimes, and bad other times.
For a postapocalyptic environment they displayed not enough desperation of the people.
Without getting into too much detail, the backstory was too short (there was just too less explanation of everything), the introduction of the characters was almost nonexistent, which made it quite hard to get their motivations - just a bunch of stereotypes colliding - and the action scenes were all over the place. There were too many action scenes and even though the fighting itself looked good, the shaky cameras and blood/body parts flying everywhere turned it into a bad rollercoaster. A lot of "deaths" were totally exaggerated.
If they made the movie a bit longer, put more effort into the backstory and its characters and created a more logical rescue mission, this could have been an enjoyable movie.
I can't believe I'm saying this, but don't waste your time on this, guys.
Was this review helpful to you?
Not Rewatchable
The movie was focused too much on Ma Dong Suk Prowers,plot is the normal plot
this is the very first time, that this is the only thing that i wrote on a review
only 1 interesting character is Suna , other characters its the same bad guy good plot
not much to review but if you like some action scifi you can try this movie, but it will not pique your interests.
Was this review helpful to you?
Weak Movie, Too Much Action
Hmm, how can I say this? It was decent at most.Yet another film with a post-apocalyptic premise, where the main threat is human instead of a natural disaster or wild animals. Wow, I did not expect that. Can we get something unique?
The introduction of the film is too fast; they might as well not show the earthquake scene. It was too brief, and the introduction of the seductive character isn't good enough. Secondly, how? How did the organization find those teens? How did the female sergeant find Nam San? Why did she need him? She specifically asked him and emphasized his name like she knew him but didn't bother to explain.
The plot is weak, with nothing interesting. The female sargeant (Ahn Ji Hye) and Suna (Roh Jeong Eui) acting is soooo bad. Especially Ahn Ji Hye, her acting is soulless. The action is brutal but at the second half of the movie, it became dragging, with to much action.
As much as I love Ma Dong Suk, I did not enjoy this movie. Not recommended at all.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
What is even this plot?
The plot goes nowhere. What caused the earthquake? What is the mad scientists backstory? What does the serum actually do? How does it work? What are the main characters relations and how do they meet? etc. I could line up many more unanswered questions. The glimpses of any sort of backstory were directly told to us in an unnatural placing, and what wasn’t told to us is left to for us to guess with much uncertainty. I watched this for Ma Dong-Seok and was left disappointed as his character was so terribly written I somehow managed to dislike him despite the writers attempts to make him the righteous, unbreakable character.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
The power of three
I like Ma Dong Seok when he portrays action movies his chubbyness makes him even more cute. It's like he is trained enough to fight non- human in Train to Busan hehehe... I love the action scenes in this drama the fighting and gun fights are very well executed. It's amazing that only 3 person that fight that bad community.Dr. Yang is so desperate to save her daughter's life the he uses different kind of subjects for his experiment no matter of he risk other people's life.
Good thing Ji Wan and Nam San the great hunter come to save Su na. In saving Su na they need to fight those bad guys, they are not only saving Su na but the entire community that has been abducted by Dr. Yang's people.
Lee Jun Young shows his action moves here I'm starting to like him already.
Was this review helpful to you?
If you're bored: this is a great watch.
I don't think this deserves 5 stars. It really isn't that bad.The cinematography and characters were nice. I liked them. I enjoyed the plot, and even though some things were predictable, it wasn't as bad as some other shows. The fight scenes were also well-made. Yes, there isn't huge character development, but this is not surprising for a movie.
Some parts of the movie didn't make much sense, which is one negative aspect of the movie. Some things could have been explained better or delved into more. Though it isn't that big of a problem. I would like a second movie, but I don't think it will happen.
Aside from that, I recommend this movie. It's a great watch.
Was this review helpful to you?
