Over 9000

Back then, I don't think it was recognised as being a thing.

An honest opinion should, at least, be respected.

What's the actual film like though?

Kim Ki Duk has never made a good anything. But I'm glad you convinced yourself that only REAL adults can understand that this is a REAL film.

So, is this porn?

Lol! Sorry about that.

"Dark comedy"?
Are you on crack? This was a straight-up action-thriller of old that someone put into production way before the script was ready.
There was absolutely nothing funny about this.

How do you know that he was "forced"?

And his character was "pathetic" by design - there wouldn't have been a film at all, had he not been. FACT.

No, the story made perfect sense; it was, however, easy to miss key tidbits of information, the way they were off-handedly delivered.
I agree with the rest of your statement though.

He didn't do anything special asides from look good. Are you sure you're not being bias, due to personal tastes?

I'm putting this as a spoiler, even though it's clear Lim is dead about 10 or 15 minutes into the film, but it never was revealed who killed him.
I suppose, ultimately, it doesn't matter (those paying attention will find out why, in a piece of dialogue it's easy to miss), but it's just another fault in this deeply flawed film.

A pity too, because the concept meant that this could've been really good.

I gave this a 4/10.

I'm all for slow-burn thrillers, but this one had zero thrills and, come the ending, made me look at the screen and ask, "WTF? Is that it?"

The actors all do their parts well - with the exception of the coquettish, Madam, who is too over-the-top and, inevitably, her playfulness soon begins to annoy (no matter how stunning she may be).

The story though... totally MEH.
Honestly: it feels like an early draft which somehow went straight into production; all the beats are there, but none of the substance. There's no real threat to the lead, who just goes about her business of obtaining her due pay-out, the side characters all seem to lack motivation and - performances aside - any real character.

Having now watched 3.5 films from last year (2025, to those reading this in the future), it really does look like Korea's talent is starting to run dry!
I get that the bastards at Netflix are funding a lot, so are sucking all the talent into asinine TV series full of LGBT propaganda, but, by eating from this forbidden fruit, Korea's entire industry seems to be suffering as a result!

The films I've seen (so far) from last year:
- Old Woman with a Knife: really dull and crappy; I ended up turning it off.
- Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint: more of a Hollywood kind of CGI-fest, but I rather enjoyed it for what it was (and was by far the best of the 4, oddly enough)!
- Nocturnal: please skip this - I wish I had!
- Revolver: under-whelming in every sense of the word and a total disappointment, given the action-thrillers Korea became famous for producing.

When I was in Tokyo recently, I could easily spot many of the Korean GIRLS; the men, for some reason, were harder to differentiate.
Then again, I was staying in Korea Town and I probably missed half the women who weren't of Korean origin.

This one: https://mydramalist.com/22899-night-of-memory ?

I've tried to watch it twice, but I couldn't get into it.

I actually very seldom get around to watching anything, because I'm too busy with life in general, so when I finally think, "I'll watch a film..." I spend so much time trying to remember what I wanted to see and looking up what's on the algorithm, that, usually, an hour or so has just flown by and I end up not watching anything!

Cheers. I still haven't seen, The Handmaiden (I probably should), but people are comparing this to that.
I know Handmaiden's supposed to be a classic, but this came up on my feed, whereas the original and Handmaiden might require some effort to find... or not.

Let's see what I'm in the mood for, next time I sit down to watch a film (I just watched, Nocturnal, and it was crap).

Ah, okay, thanks. I came across this flick as a recommendation via an algorithm (probably because it's Korean), and reviews were kind of giving it an erotic-thriller buzz, so I thought maybe I'd check it out.

But now I wonder if the original is instead worth tracking down?

Did you just spoil this?

I never got around to watch, Wolf Brigade, because people were telling me it was o ky so-so.

I really enjoyed the live-action, Bleach though! I thought they did a tremendous job (not as good as, Ajin, but they're completely different styles).

Honestly: I'm not a fan of anything DC or Marvel when it comes to films, but, Avengers, really pulled it off for a LOT of viewers with its all style, no substance, first two crap-outings, before they actually did a pretty good job with, Endgame.

Was, City Hunter, the one where Jackie Chan dressed up as, Chun Li, from, Streetfighter?
If so, that's about the onky part of the film I remember, so it couldn't have been his best flick...

No, this was originally published (to my knowledge) as a "light novel" and I read/was reading it online, on a website which posts translated Asian pop novels... many of which are "web novels" - which is the same as a light novel, but published exclusively online, instead of originally in paper/book format.

There's also a comic version. A lot of manhwa (Korean manga) is nowadays published exclusively online, so have become known as "webtoons".


To be clear: the MC in this film grew up reading a web novel written by some god-like entity, so, by being the only reader when it finished, he has exclusive knowledge of events to come.

tl;dr: Web novel is the text-only format, published online instead of physically; webtoon is the comic/illustrated version of the original work, while the main character was reading a fictitious web novel which depicted the apocalypse they find themselves in.

But I can see how that could be confusing.

Thanks. I looked her up and got results of her being one of the most beautiful women on earth, or some nonsense. Hardly helpful (and, looks-wise, I preferred the other girl from his office too).

Which one was, Nana?