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Anthojay
One-off roller coaster ride
Great setting for a political action movie, but it limits its scale towards more of a one-off roller coaster ride instead of a full fledged heavyweight storyline. Characters design are kept at surface level only, some of the escaping plot also felt like fictional gimmicks to purposefully drive suspense, not necessarily a bad movie but it's just not a very deep premise itself, though acting performance is one of the strongest aspects here.Was this review helpful to you?
Well-chilled suspense
A really well-chilled horror film with quite a straightforward setting but the suspense buildup is extremely well refined and the pacing is highly engaging. The gore and scares are so refreshing as they have plenty of new tactics that were never seen before on screen, most of them rely on naturally occurring objects such as stones and trees. The shooting style is also pretty complex and the panning of the scenes are so good in inducing fear for shocking visuals. The most astonishing highlight is the bloody red tone that was gushing sharply with a shattering blast, those scenes were so well blended it almost tasted like some fine aged wine. This movie will definitely let you leave the theater feeling eerie at the end of the path.Was this review helpful to you?
Intense war along the way but ending was tame
The script is extremely well written, most of its dialogues are very detailed and able to live up to its tension. The pacing is great and the storyline spreads out incredibly, the social media war was well thought out and it's quite informative on how the social media business works behind the scene, the main lead who starts from the bottom and eventually becomes a vigilante that purges everyone else stepping in her way. Every trick and stunt in the luxury market reflects on the current society where humans are divided into rankings or levels, it's all highlighted with contrasty cinematography like a wide spectrum of colors. It's just that the ending is a little tame and expected when the war was fought so intensely along the way, but overall it is already one of the better kdrama this year.Was this review helpful to you?
Extremely mundane but also very surreal
The overall tone of the drama is extremely mundane but also very surreal on depicting the social class struggle, which is so triggering to see when the society exploits them, the whole system that fails the weak since beginning of our birth, and nothing will ever changes in this ongoing hell controlled by predators. Suzy's performance is just perfect for this role, the emptiness in her stare, the hopelessless in every emotions, putting on a fake face and lied through every expressions, when nothing really matters anymore in life as we watch the world burns.Was this review helpful to you?
Need some serious tweaking to perfect it
The premise of this drama is actually an extraordinary one, but the treatment it has gotten lacks precision which limits its potential of being a brilliant drama. Some of the plotlines got really unrefined and the handling is just messy, but the mystery of the crime in it is really thrilling and that's appreciable. They are really close in reaching the level of the legendary Netflix's Extracurricular, but the details of the story need some serious tweaking to perfect it. Still, it's quite remarkable for what they've achieved and the acting performance in here is noteworthy.Was this review helpful to you?
Remarkable milestone for Korean war movie
This movie is a remarkable milestone for the most visually impressive and energy intensive Korean war movie ever focusing on naval battle in ancient warships. Although it's loosely served as the prequel of Roaring Currents and a younger Yi Sun Sin on deck, the naval battle sequences in here that lasted for almost an hour is bigger, bolder and better with enormous clashes due to cinematic advancement. The battle scenes are so realisitic it's unbelievable how they've manage to shot those scenes that contains sheer amount of power in great precision. The intense story buildups for the war campaign, the emotional acting and explosive soundtrack, this is certainly the perfect package for spectacular cinema.Was this review helpful to you?
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Ending that will blow outta mind
Incredible depth in its plot direction, and very conclusive ending that will blow outta mind. This is those movies that doesn't need any over the top flashy action scenes to create hype, but just using its well built tactics and deep character designs, it is able to impress and keep audiences in the edge of their seats. Well of course you can't achieve this without the actors great performances, especially main lead Jung Woo, he's got such a clinical yet dedicated sense, eventually coming off real bloody at the final scene and he did it amazingly.Was this review helpful to you?
The world is hell with or without the zombies
It's a longer ride than usual, with 12 hours of runtime, it works perfectly to capture how the youths are pretty much exhausted surviving the living hell of a society with or even without the zombies. The Koreans are always good not only on the actions during apocalypse, but they further explores the problematic moral views surrounding it, the societal illness which no one else will ever be able to change the system. Definitely appreciate the immense amount of effort from the production team in designing its action choreography and all the great actors, gifting viewers a lively and beautiful zombie series.Was this review helpful to you?
Excessive musical hinders the storyline
The integration of musical elements into a wartime storyline might be a fresh take, but it could also hurt the movie cinematic wise. There's a lot of singing in this movie, like really damn a lot, up till a point that it felt like dozens of music videos stitched together. Don't get me wrong, the musical in this movie is absolutely stellar, but most of the time it hinders the storyline too much, sacrificing its narrative and causing the story of a Korean independence fighter to be the most bare-bones version ever.Was this review helpful to you?
Expensive budget but poorly written
It has a good revenge plot to begin with but the overall premise is technically worthless and an absolute high budget mess, the way it looked like some made up espionage school drama just feels really dumb, and many of the scenes were extremely cliché as if it was intended to be so. The storyline undeniably had some great conflict points that worked quite effectively, but it's incredible how awfully the script was written, character designs are monotonous and the silly dialogues are even more annoying. The only good part will be Lee Chaemin's standout acting performance, for his first lead role he definitely packs some impressive skills on screen, though that's about it while this drama might come down to be the most pretentious kdrama of all time.Was this review helpful to you?
Top tier neo-noir genre
Straightforward but perfect storyline, the attention to details is extremely precise and its neo-noir styling has one of the highest quality ever seen in Korean movies. Action scenes are quite flashy but still able to maintain high accuracy in combats, great use of gore with optimal amount of shock factor, has some of the most perfect panning for its transition shots, and of course Jeon Jong Seo returns with her top tier acting performance while Kim Ji Hoon is great scene stealer as the antagonist in the film. It's a really enjoyable cinematic experience that deserves to be shown on the big screen but still glad that Netflix has produced it really well this time.Was this review helpful to you?
Same poor creature design, just more of them
There is some good cinematography and some decent neo noir shots, but there's really nothing spectacular in its storytelling, and yet they still have the nerves to continue this mediocrity for another season. It's basically the same fashion reuse again in a different setting, which has really poor context leading to those fight scenes, it's totally a waste of effort from all those talented actors, like we just had the amazing Parasyte: The Grey this year and then they showed us this, seriously.Was this review helpful to you?
Intensely heartbreaking
The most impressive portrayal to date of the independence fighter Ahn Jung-geun in Korean cinema, and also the most heartbreaking approach ever as it is an absolutely traumatizing process of what led to this real historical event that lit up the Korean independence movement. The movie has really deep sensitivity into the historical figures, the plot is extremely well designed which keeps the historical accuracy intact while serving cinematic needs with a solid structure of suspense. The technical aspects are even more brilliant, cinematography is extremely classy with some of the most insane shots and that silent suspense is freaking mindblowing, audio mixing is powerfully done and acting performances are just so captivating, it'll be hard to top this level of perfection anytime soon.Was this review helpful to you?
OCN cinematic experience as always
The real OCN is back again, the powerhouse of dark and gritty genre! They've bumped up the cinematic quality great enough to rival any action thriller movies this time around. The monstrosity level for the final battle is absolutely massive. The storyline is also multi directional, instead of solely focusing on the fight of monsters/mutants, it has a deep dive into mystical forces and astral battle. That's an unconventional take on these kind of 'undead' genre. It's definitely another great watch in OCN's library.Was this review helpful to you?
