Officer Black Belt (2024)

"Will it be fun?"

Officer Black Belt takes the viewer into the world of parole officers who deal with ex-offenders who are still being monitored with ankle bracelets. In South Korea they have martial arts officers who are the muscle for the parole officers when things go wrong. Kim Woo Bin packed on 8 kg/17.5 pounds to look more imposing for his role as a directionless man who finds his direction helping to protect the parole officers and citizens of Seoul.

Lee Jung Do spends his life doing what is fun. Fun for him is martial arts training where he holds third dan black belts in Taekwondo, Judo, and Kenpo. When he’s not fighting for fun he plays video games with his best buds. He also delivers fried chicken for his dad’s restaurant. On the way home one night he comes across a martial arts officer wounded in a fight and takes down the criminal. After receiving an award Parole officer Kim Sun Min offers him a temporary job while the officer recovers. Jung Do soon finds he has a natural affinity for being a martial arts officer and helping people.

Officer Black Belt had action and humor in a film dealing with a terrible subject-sexual assault and child exploitation films. Like Jung Do, most of us will want to taser certain parts off of the perpetrators’ bodies. The film went from a case of the week to an overarching villainous gang and uber-villain. Kang Ki Jung had sexually assaulted 15 children and only received 20 years in prison (that’s a little over a year per child-what is the criminal justice system thinking!!!) Jung Do and Sun Min would have to use all of their skills and put their lives on the line to prevent more children from becoming victims after he was released.

This was one of Kim Woo Bin’s stronger roles as he displayed a range of emotions as the friendly fighter who grew to enjoy the responsibilities of his job. Kim Sung Kyun as Kim Sun Min brought the bro in bromance as he guided Jung Do in his new career. Lee Hyun Geol was creepily effective as the enormous Big Bad villain. There were some continuity issues as day turned into night in a matter of seconds in several scenes. I enjoyed the first half of the film more when the officers went more by the book. In the second half they recklessly went into dangerous situations without calling for back-up. Jung Do relied on his Scooby Gang instead of looping the cops into the evidence they found which seemed irresponsible and put their lives in danger. While Taekwondo is a great competition martial art, Jung Do really needed some additional training in how to hit the vulnerable spots-eyes, ears, neck, knees-if he was going to continue fighting gangs of bad guys or with one-on-one fighting with well-trained bad guys.

Overall, Officer Black Belt was entertaining and Kim Woo Bin’s performance was engaging. There was plenty of action and the fights were well choreographed. The film didn’t break any new ground in the action arena but I did like that they attempted to shine a ray of light into the darkness. When strength was called for, they brought it, and when compassion was called for they brought that, too. To answer Lee Jung Do's question "Will it be fun?" at his interview--yes, it will be fun. When it's not terrifying.

13 September 2024

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Fantastic Action, Meh Story

With Officer Black Belt, Jason Kim seeks to further cement his legacy as a master of the action drama, However, unlike previous works such as Midnight Runners, and Bloodhounds, Officer Black Belt is a movie that falls flat in really everything except action.

Let me start by saying that the action in this movie is fantastic. The choreography is really impressive, well executed, and easy to follow. One thing I really loved about the fight scenes is that there is a dedication to truly incorporating the martial arts that Lee Jeong Do knows. I have been practicing Judo for a good portion of my life, and I watched this movie with a friend who does Taekwondo and another friend who does Judo. One thing we could all agree on about the action scenes is that there were a lot of clearly identifiable moves from both Judo and Taekwondo (I won't be able to speak on he Kendo sadly). You don't see that often in dramas, sometimes they'll use maybe a few moves and then it ends up just being a kinda flail of limbs. In this case there were a lot of moments where we could call out the techniques. The action really is impeccable in this movie, and a lot of work and love went into it. It's fun to watch and really exhilarating.

Unfortunately, the action is really the only thing this movie has going for it. The story can't exactly decide what it wants to be, somewhere in between being about following the law, but also about vigilantism. Many characters feel like caricatures of certain archetypes (like gamers, and nerds), and there are a lot of questionable moments logically. Why does no one call the cops early on? Why do people keep turning their backs in fights? Why do people not make sure weapons are out of reach? Why were there no repercussions from authorities? It feels like in an attempt to draw out the action and to have conflict, there are a lot of dumb moves done by characters. There are also a lot of unnecessary triggering scenes, particularly in implied rape and child sexual assault. Which don't really need to be there. We don't need to see a child in distress and about to get assaulted to understand what is happening. At some point it feels like too much, especially for a movie advertising itself as a comedy (the contrast between the trailers I saw and the actual movie tone/scenes really surprised me).

There are odd tone shifts, and the pacing in the movie suffers from a somewhat jilted story-line. The action really is the saving grace of this movie, its fun to watch which is what you want in an action movie. If I were to rewatch this I would probably just skip past all the non-action scenes and just watch the fight scenes. All in all, I think this is a movie you kinda need to turn your brain off for. If you are looking for action, this movie is great, but don't expect anything revolutionary in the way of story line or characters. It's good, not great, and the action really does the heavy lifting in stopping it from being worse.

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Worth the wait!

Like for real! Its been a long time since ive watched anything starring Kim woo bin and when i heard the news and saw the poster about this movie i was anticipating to watch it and really it was so worth it. Starting from the story, the characters, the acting, plot everything was really nice. Story with the anklet thingy was new for me so it was refreshing. (as it wasn't a cliche)
There are moments when it make you laugh with the humour and times it make you cry with their words and certain situations...
The cast was what pulled me to watch the movie but really, it was so satisfying. Anything starring Kim sung kyun is loved and with Kim woo bin it just became even more lovable and amazing! Loved it!
Spoiler included down:
There's one thing i am really sad about, taht the sergeant Cho died by the hands of those thugs, like he didn't deserve it at all!!

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A swirl of emotions

I have seen so many dramas and movies of this genre and I have to say that this is the one of the best I've watched. Watching this movies brings out all the emotions. Joy, sadness and anger. The cast was amazing!! Kim Woobin never disappoints! Even the support casts did an amazing job! The three friends joining him in the end to catch the criminal was just the cherry on top for one of the best movies ever. I watched this movie just for Kim Woobin but fell in love with the entire storyline and the cast. The team leader and his care for his team members, the innocent officer who died on site but left a great impact on viewers with his loyalty towards his captain, the three friends who didn't hesitate for a second to help their friend catch the bad guy, the dad who was worried for his son but wholeheartedly supported him catching the criminal and the little girl who went through one of the most traumatic experiences ever but overcame it strongly, everyone did a great job at bring out the reality of the world these days. Watching this movie made me really wish the world was a much better place for children.

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Check the tags!!!!!!

I think this was a recommendation from Anne. I've just finished watching it. I should have seen the tags beforehand though. It got really uncomfortable at several points. So, do check the tags before going in folks.

Now, let's come to the story, acting and direction part.
Story is ok, typical Sokor fighting crime movie. I liked as it somehow tried to spread some awareness but would have liked it more if they had delved a little deeper into the mission.
Acting is good, from everyone. The movie is a little short to actually go for some character depth, so it lacked in that department. But that's ok.
Direction is average. Saying this because I've seen better action choreography and Korean movies excells in it.
Overall, it's a 7.5 for me. This can't be placed into a 'light watch' nor 'heavy watch'. And that's the dilemma for me.

Now, I don't want to comment on Sokor law enforcement. If I start, I will probably lose track of time. But if a police-law-prison system can't break/rectify a criminal within sentenced period of prison time, that's just total failure. And there should be only one punishment for child sex offenders, hanged till death. I can't comprehend how such a heinous criminal gets 20 years of prison time and still comes out as such trash. Total failure of prison system.

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This needs a lot of trigger warnings
Honestly the lvl of anxiety, stress and blood boiling is high, and this barely had any comedy, 1%

this heavily revolves around criminals getting discharged, and under “neighborhood arrest” so I thought like thieves and embezzlers
but it’s focused on rapist, and serial child rapists , how is the death sentence not a thing? Especially knowing the burning sun criminals got out after their measly 5 year sentences,
So nothing was graphic but knowing the truth about how that one movie, hope, rapist got out and lives right next to that poor kid, this is blood boiling

Also, calling them officers but no guns, or backup or actual cops interfering? Frustratiiiiinnnnggggggggggggggg

I wonder how old wobin is pretending? Cuz he wasn’t acting like a 35 year old, he was as naive as WDH in bloodhouds
And this became heavy near the end too, a repetition of the plot, knowing it's the same screenwriter & director, as well as midnight runners.. it's more disappointing, atleast in bloodhounds, they had a lot more "adults" to help, eventho they died too


no cops got involved but 4 geeks saved the day, I’m gonna assume they’re less than 35 too, so the whole authorities were MAI....

And tho it ended "cutely", I wish they also talked about the dark web criminals, like saving one kid doesn’t mean the 10s still getting hurt is ok

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really good plot, horrible execution

loved the story, i shed a few tears. it's has an emotional storyline. however, the male lead did not fit the role, it felt really stiff and out of character. the persona of the main character was meant to be this carefree, only out there for fun, joker kind of guy. the male lead on the other hand did not give that vibe so it felt really odd. the acting was not that great either for the other cast. and they killed of a character for no reason at all. there wasn't any emotional impact or anything to it so I found it quite odd. it was rushed and felt all over the place. other than that, I liked it, but I would not recommend watching it

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Worth watching

December 2024
A unique setting of the S.Korean Probationary Service, which was interesting, if very likely far from reality (but, I have no real idea).

I found the feel of this film to be a little odd, in that at times it came across quite tongue-in-cheek, whilst at others it was far more serious. It was like some kind of Super Hero movie, but then at other monents more like real life. I think dry humour rather than some of the more unsubtle stuff, would have worked better, imo.

But.... I so enjoyed it! KWB was great. His gentle character (Lee Jeong-do) matured no end and for someone who tried to feign disinterest and detachment... well, he failed. Watching the character learn, find a purpose and grow from it, was very feel-good.

The pairing of character LJD with that of Kim Sun-min was excellent. They complimented each other so well and there was nothing in KSM not to like.

I also liked LJD's relationship with his father; a character who was quite layered.

LJD's 3 friends were amusing and all quite different. Nerds united, but so likeable.

Some of the felons were, as expected, awful, and I admired Sun-min's ability to stay impartial. Doubt very much I could!

This film has plenty of action and it's all very nicely packaged.

As a footnote, I rather liked a slightly rough, bleach blonde, black roots Woo-bin, too ;~)

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Trigger Warning!!!!

TRIGGER WARNING FOR RAPE AND CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE.
NO COMEDY.

I need to remember to check the tags on here before watching anything on Netflix. Still, here it's also tagged as comedy and simply no. While there are comedic moments towards the beginning and a couple towards the end (and they were actually funny), the main tone of the film is NOT comedy. The comedy was very good and I wished they kept it for all the film, I guess also because that's the main reason I decided to watch it in the first place. ML's snarky remarks and comments were of the best in the film.

Please BE AWARE this gets quite dark in terms of themes and I was really not feeling like watching something like this right now and it did make me feel uncomfortable at times.
While most of the scenes are not explicitly shown they're very heavily implied or they're partly shown, so please be aware of this!!!

Leaving that to the side, acting is very good, Kim Woo Bin did a great job. Plot is generally ok and follows a good pace although I wished in a way it had been longer and we had more bonding between characters or in-depth into the main one since at points it felt like we were jumping from one thing to another without much introspection or personal development, but as a plain action film it works. It has its flaws plot wise and characterization wise with some stereotypes in the mix, so it's not outstanding but it's not bad either.


But seriously, no comedy and it's quite anxiety inducing.

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This by no means was a comedy and shouldn't have been labeled as such

This was a hard movie to watch due to the subject matter. The evil in the world is never easy to watch. That said, I really enjoyed the acting and the action. Kim Woo Bin does such a fine job with micro-expressions, and I really liked the development of his character. There was a possibility of him going down a certain path, and I'm glad they didn't take that direction. Also, thank you for not trying to add in romance. (though I'd love to see him in a romance!)

I thought that the action sequences were very well-done.

Personally, I was glad this was a movie and not a series. It got straight to the point without wasting time.

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