1
Anthojay
All style without substances
Incredible cinematography and immersive foreshadowing with over the top sound effects. It boasts two timelines for the plot but weirdly the storytelling of the past timeline did so much better it made the main one felt like subplot, because when they were back to the main course it somehow loses traction quickly, not to mention the absolutely lack of logical reasoning and very murky motivation of the characters. The vision of designing a badass female villain and that deep trauma they're trying to achieve simply doesn't work here, it came out all style without substances, and this story really isn't drama worthy at all.Was this review helpful to you?
Extremely touching and tear-jerking
This movie is unexpectedly great in storytelling, the transition of the plot is so smooth near to a level of perfection, and it's a cute and heartwarming companion for this cold winter season. A lot of realization of life lessons has been implemented even though the story is simple, but this is exactly what makes it special, it is extremely touching and tear-jerking, which made me cried many many times in the theater. When money and fame is not everything in life, but the love and care in human bonding is what gives our life meaning, just couldn't help but to agree that this is what really is all about in the fulfillment of life.Was this review helpful to you?
Unbelievably patriotic historical setting
Extremely good screenplay that covers the whole background story of the political situation within sports, plot is rich enough to highlight the hardships of getting into the marathon competition itself, pacing is smooth throughout the movie and the details are so precise that you could really feel the significant amount of pressure along with the journey of the team, more so for its patriotic reason. The buildup for the marathon race has amazing suspense with soundtrack that's thumpingly brilliant, and I've cried so many times watching it. The production value is simply too high for this movie.Was this review helpful to you?
Unconventional art cinema for a kdrama
The whole shooting style of the drama is unconventional art cinema, it's so niche up to the point it's like a very dark and gritty tech noir. The pace though is painfully slow, there are lots of details to look for but the structure of the story itself is pretty confusing with some unclear intentions by some of its characters. It would be better if they could reduce the runtime of some episodes, but at least the resolution part is quite breathtaking. For the portrayal that is sort of broken romance blended with modern crime, they do hit the mark this time.Was this review helpful to you?
Satisfying comedy effects
A hardcore dumb premise that is absurdly built till a point that it's almost like a cult movie in its own class. Weirdly enough it also has an outrageously great storytelling and acting that gives in a solid performance for the comedy effects, provided that logical thinking is to be ignored completely, then it will be a satisfying ride in its particular sense.Was this review helpful to you?
Gigantic suspense through skies and clouds
The scale of this movie is so gigantic you wouldn't be able to imagine how they were able to build a story development in such an impressive way. The suspense just keeps on rising like climbing through skies and clouds, accompanied by best of class soundtrack that heightens every stakes. The airborne action scenes are of course groundbreaking, but what's more surprising is the depth of its story is so powerful, it's equipped with a lot of factors on a global level, especially in the latter half of the movie it puts human principles into test, spanning across every possible behaviors when they're pushed to their limits. Given its constructive ending, even how ugly humanity is sometimes, they're suggesting a glimpse of hope that we all deserve during a catastrophic situation we faced everyday.Was this review helpful to you?
The final act is the main highlight
It surprisingly turns out that this is less of an action movie than ever, in contrast to its movie poster and trailer that screams adrenaline. The focus on the tension between Hwang Jung Min as diplomat, and Hyun Bin as NIS agent is the main driver that pushes the movie forward, but that could be a hit or miss sometimes. The final act will be the main highlight of this movie, Hwang Jung Min's sheer amount of acting skills during the final negotiation is so prominent that it's keeping the audience at the edge of seats induced in fear. Overall the cinematography was shot with great attention to details, and a storyline that works well, it's still a brilliant movie to be fair.Was this review helpful to you?
Bizarre and hilarious
A cult classic styled comedy horror mixed bag that has an abundance of tricks up in its sleeves and it's hell lots of fun, it never stops throwing surprises around that are relentlessly entertaining. The insane acting performances from Lee Sung Min and Lee Hee Joon overpowering an absolutely dumb plot yet it works ridiculously well for its hilarious effects, what an utterly bizarre movie that was stylish enough to give it some great satisfying laughs.Was this review helpful to you?
The story writing has to be better than this
A standard disaster survival formulaic that bears a lot of similarities to their own Korean counterpart, everything feels too familiar and predictable, done with just a different set of creatures and characters. The setting is surely not a problem, to execute this brilliantly it requires top quality writing, but the emotions just don't hit so well in here, not to mention about the plot holes that are hard not to notice, action sequence is acceptable though it looks too much of a setup on purpose. As one of the two final films of the late actor Lee Sunkyun, his performance is respectable and it will be remembered in the legacy of his works.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?
Realistic modus operandi of tech crime
The storyline has a similar genre to Netflix's Unlocked movie, which is also about smartphone stalking, and the fear inducing hunting has almost the same level of terror as Tving's Midnight, a legendary Kmovie about stalking. Here the movie takes a more practical approach to the notorious tech crime. The plot is really innovative as it features the realistic modus operandi of the criminal, the pacing is great with nail biting suspense. Meanwhile for Shin Hye Sun headlining this movie, I knew she's gonna be great for this role and it really is, her acting performance is freaking insane. The ending is so crazily scary, I'm gonna get PTSD after watching it.Was this review helpful to you?
Caught up in its own cliché but ending was satisfying enough
The conclusion for the series is finally here and to be honest, it was caught up in its own cliché for quite a while as it continues its buildup upon buildup. The breakthrough only comes at the last two episodes but luckily the ending is sophisticated enough to provide a satisfying ending. The resolution is almost seamless even though the plot is highly complex and that's great, it's just that the lack of suspense is evident throughout the whole drama when everything is done as a matter of course.Was this review helpful to you?
Murky line between the hero and villain
Great suspense from the start as the bomb threat started to activate right away and time is tickling down, but it took quite long for the grand reveal to uncover, and the reasoning behind the threat is a bit ridiculous to be honest. However, the way they murk the line between the hero and villain is pretty respectable, the intention of the villain is one that is easy to symphatize with, just as they faced with the biggest question on humanity, that right there is the whole vision the movie aims to present.Was this review helpful to you?
Mind blowing multidirectional intelligence mission
The plot is a totally unexpected mind blowing multidirectional intelligence mission that involves tons of critical stakes at war. The story is so complex it comes with an incredible amount of political factors that one could never imagine, but only to be impressed again and again on how the writer could let it play out in such a way. At the start it may seem a bit generic, but as the story progresses it bites on and keeps getting better by pushing its limits while still able to throw in multiple twists that makes a whole lot of sense foreshadowing on conspiracies of the real political world. The vintage setting and tight action choreography are all in jaw dropping fine quality, they definitely deserve the 2022 Cannes invitation which lives up to its name.Was this review helpful to you?
Finding back the love of learning
A lot of times people have slowly forgotten the purpose of learning like how we used to be. Education had somehow become a tool or an instrument just for the sake of competing for qualifications, to use it as a weapon to threaten others, or it's just another money game to further widen the class difference between rich and poor, as what has been depicted in the movie. In fact, learning should be an excitement of discovering something with the intention of interest in it, instead of just using it to survive, but sadly there's only so few people that do so. In this case, the movie tried to achieve a pure heart for learning mathematics with the chemistry between Choi Minsik and Kim Donghwi that is so impeccable because no matter if we're old or young, learning should be a fun thing as how it always should be from the beginning.Was this review helpful to you?
