aNinjaGuardian
This review may contain spoilers
TL;DR - Watch this show, its really goodI want to preface this review by saying that I don't write reviews very often
Extracurricular has everything I would like in Korean Dramas. It's a bit of a slow burn which I tend to love in movies and television. It's not a soap opera. It's themes are heavy hitting and its tonally consistent in my opinion. Its not a drama about perfect characters nor does it portray an ideal society. Its not a typical teen drama and its very grounded in its portrayal of school life and crime.
The main characters in this drama are morally grey, grounded, and very human. Sometimes their actions are well intentioned but have negative repercussions. Ji Soo is a coward that keeps his head down but can weasel his way out of situations when truly pushed into a corner. Gyu Ri seems like an aspiring woman but is really suffocated by her parents and turns to delinquency as a means of acting out. Min Hee is truly one of the most tragic characters in the show. She bullies others and sells herself as an escort but is lonely and longing for true companionship. In a sort of Leon the Professional/Taxi Driver way she befriends the man that acts as the muscle for her escort service
The ending is a real clincher and kept me thinking long after the show finished. It's open ended, but its important to remember is that its not about whether Ji Soo and Gyu Ri are caught by the police. What's important is that they began to love each other despite the hardships they faced. Despite the pressure of being caught, Gyu Ri stays with Ji Soo and is prepared to follow him no matter the circumstance.
Overall this show is just really well written with nuanced characters and a plot that is unconventional and keeps you interested.
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Masterpiece romance drama
This show has one of the best concepts I've ever seen for a romance drama. Start with the lead characters getting married. But they don't marry out of love. Only then does the show break down the preconceived notions of love, marriage, and happiness between two people. It questions what marriage truly is and why marriage doesn't automatically mean love between two people.The character development is also some of the best I've seen in a kdrama. The male lead goes through a ton of growth from the start of the show to the end. The female lead all throughout the show wrestles with her emotions for the male lead. By the end of the show you feel satisfied with where the leads end up and the amount of growth each character goes through
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A pretty decent crime thriller
I picked this movie up because Choi Woo Shik was in it. After Parasite going global and winning so many awards, Woo Shik is basically an actor to watch out for in my book.Time To Hunt is a pretty decent crime thriller. The visuals are striking and the cinematography is quite good. There's enough action and thrills to keep you interested and the gun fights are intense.
One of the best things about this film are the performances of the 3 main lead actors. They have good chemistry and you really feel like they're looking out for each other with a strong sense of brotherhood.
The premise and worldbuilding of the universe the characters are living in feels decently fleshed out. There's enough explanation to make you believe this dystopian Korea is real and that the characters are believable.
The only letdown of this film is the writing. The plot seems a bit nonsensical at times and you wish characters did things differently. There's a scene where a gunfight happens in a hospital around other people but the bystanders in the hospital don't react to the violence around them, which I thought was kind of nonsensical and shows how the writers didn't pay attention to the little details of the movie. Also, there are moments where you wish the main characters had common sense and did things differently. The main characters have guns and its them vs the villain but they mess up many times and lack the instinct and motiviation to outwit the bad guy.
Anyway, this a good movie to turn your brain off and enjoy the thrills if you don't mind the poor writing. I would've been more than happy to pay money and see this in theaters.
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