Welcome to the Korean Matrix

This movie tries to incorporate multiple genre into one single movie. It had elements of historical Korea that was under Japan, underlying suspense, horror elements and school drama. The majority of the cast used Japanese and Korean to underline the historical situation. The big reveal for the underlying suspense was underwhelming. I was expecting a big gang or organization controlling everything behind the curtains but was disappointed and it didn't seem grave enough.

The horror/spooky elements felt unnecessary and fell flat. Lots of repetitive scenes that didn't add much value to the story nor did they help move the plot forward. It felt like a drag a lot of the time. The entire movie can be portrayed in a matter of 45 minutes to an hour at best. Many plot holes didn't help either.

Many of the young cast including the FL looked a lot like each other and many a times it ended up confusing me. Especially, when they were using two sets of names (Korean and Japanese). The uniforms and hairstyles made it worse. The girls were at the dormitory due to being sick but apart from FL and Kirra, I didn't see any of the other cast display any symptoms or being under IV/Medication. The FL had IV drips for half of the movie - repetitive for no particular reason.

Some of the most inane scenes in the movie were the school drama between the girls. The rivalry and bullying for the top two "healthiest" girls in the class was uninteresting. Lots of "slice of life" type of scenes between the FL and her friend including the one at the lake, with the diary, in the basement, in the dorm, etc. only contributed in increasing the screen time of the movie. I really wanted to increase the playback speed to 2.5x.

The action scenes during the climax were childish, maybe funny(?). It felt like I was watching the Korean matrix. Half expected Keanu to show up.

Some mysteries were left unanswered. Like what the hell was that sticky liquid that the older Shizuko or whatever dropped all over the place?

Overall, interesting premise. Bad execution. Worthless dragging. Pointless drama. Lots of confusion. No Keanu.

Read More