for The Twins Effect 1, The Twins Effect 2 and Twins Mission: "Twins" in the title refers to the Cantopop group of the same name, lead actresses Charlene Choi and Gillian Chung. The plots are not related.
for The Twins Effect 1, The Twins Effect 2 and Twins Mission: "Twins" in the title refers to the Cantopop group of the same name, lead actresses Charlene Choi and Gillian Chung. The plots are not related.
Notably better than the usual 'Emperor' movies. Despite the relatively generic "good cop has to help his informant;…
I find it unclear why exactly the cop is arrested at the end: because he stole money, because he crashed his car, or because he brawled gangsters to the death instead of arresting them? Dee's fate seems rather unclear, or it feels underwhelming to have "well, she's arrested and that's it" as a resolution.
Notably better than the usual 'Emperor' movies. Despite the relatively generic "good cop has to help his informant; any mistake by the informant may mean his death" premise, it's pretty suspenseful. I didn't buy the supposedly emotionally charged subplots and would have preferred a different ending.
In the first minutes only: - ML's rival announces he will leave his previous job where he just got promoted, and the employees APPLAUD IT? - manager of ML's restaurant asks delivery chap if ordering fresh food online means you actually get it fresh, and of course the other person quickly ..delivers.. a product placement for ..... I'm not even sure. a shopping portal? the delivery service? the idea of buying ingredients online? - big fish is split in two at the fish market, and somehow returns in one piece shortly after. - following that, a local politician falls from the heavens to deliver a speech about how a cooking competition will decide the fate of the universe
The visual presentation is very good, but don't expect much from the plot.
Is the movie originally in Cantonese? The Mandarin version felt off.
It's shown in the show as a sort of battling his inner evil, with the help of FL, but it's about using unnecessary violence on people threatening his family and not checking the boxes of https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/psychopathy .
pros:- the majority of the time, the actors do a very good job and the directing is on point as well.- FL does…
missing: - day of the murder of FL's parents is never fully explained, nor is the build-up. I kept hoping to learn in how far it was fully planned or spontaneous, or how & when all relevant characters even get there.
bugs: - EP13, at 54:49 – a dead person's hand shoots up. very curious.
pros: - the majority of the time, the actors do a very good job and the directing is on point as well. - FL does not make wailing or squealing noises while crying. she doesn't cry non-stop anyway. - grisly murders don't make a good place for excessive product placement *
neutral: - you won't find "memorable K-drama songs" here.
cons: - especially with regards to antagonist plans, police negligence and selfish journalists, this show gets WAY too makjang. ridiculously implausible things happen. - the plot is dominated by a serial killer who hits people on the head with a hammer, yet the writers seem unaware that this can have other consequences than being dead or making a full recovery. a lot of the show is oddly black & white like that. - disagreeing with what some other reviewers write, I was disappointed by the amount of dishonesty (hiding fears, pains, worries) between ML and FL. - many of the side characters don't have a purpose outside their relationship to ML/FL. there aisn't anything like memorable comedy characters, either – both Pyo Taek and Chae So-Jin feel like they were at least in earlier drafts considered to achieve this.
*: FL's household has the same vacuum cleaner in two different colours in one spot, and then another characters later on also wields that very same model.
A bit much silly CGI, an overall gripping story, and acting that's not pure clowning around. Unlike some IMDb…
I don't really understand the 'diamonds issue' early on: at 4:25, does Hon kill Undertaker because he wanted the others not to know about the diamonds? But they all do later on. (Had to re-watch 2:25 to see who wears which mask to even get that far)
At ~33 minutes, it's not clear to me how & why the others want to ambush / rob / kill Hon. Does he notice just based on them holding handguns?
A bit much silly CGI, an overall gripping story, and acting that's not pure clowning around. Unlike some IMDb reviewers, I really didn't like the body cam part.
Fully understanding the story might require rewinding to earlier moments once or twice.
Is it just me, or does whoever of Sukjong, Yeongjo, Sado, Jeongjo, etc is played by a popular attractive actor…
- murder charges against Tan vanish. he gets exiled, but returns without issues, and nobody ever looks into his death ledger or trophy collection again. we don't see what trophies he takes from his murders of the two brothers of ML.
- later on, Tan commits mid-air suicide. just why?
- corruption charge against Wi kinda just vanishes.
- Min comes back from a less important post through nothing and takes charge again — just because Wi asks his office for assistance to bully and humiliate the crown prince. I don't follow how he can reclaim Noron leadership. later on he's not even in the mood to lead anything anymore, after he's turned into a heroic good guy.
Is it just me, or does whoever of Sukjong, Yeongjo, Sado, Jeongjo, etc is played by a popular attractive actor always get shown in a more positive light (= as a more benevolent and more competent person), whereas the respective father or previous king is portrayed as more of a tyrant?
I get that Park Moon Soo / Bak Mun-su is some sort of historical corruption-fighting superhero, but after being such a joke character at the start, I couldn't take him seriously later on — neither in his ideological convictions, nor in how he's a (seemingly historically accurate) master of armed combat. Perhaps for me it's not the right choice of actor.
This is surely in the top5 dramas I've seen in terms of the amount of product placement thrown at the viewer...…
- the assassin must be on ALL dashcams in the country, not just the victim's, after the murders in ep1 - why does assassin initially want to abduct FL's kids? that just makes more of a fuss out of the "heart attack". VERY counterproductive. - how does assassin/cleaner have the same listening stickers as the top secret NIS R&D? (in ep14 waved away with "they use them too") - how does ML control NIS stickers he gets from SFL? he steals them and they're brand new tech, so he surely doesn't have a manual or control software. - continuing: why can't ML use his NIS sticker to listen to the conversation with the abductors in ep5 to know he doesn't need to rush in guns blazing to rescue FL? - ep7 secret door should not work with the power off - ep9 instead of living in his apartment and not leaving, to avoid NIS supervision, ML goes in and out of the house 3x per day to pass messages to FL – of course right under the eyes of hostile NIS agents. - ep9 how does he get his blue sports car back from police/NIS? he jumped off the bridge where he left it. - ep11/12 "death protocol" first has everybody die, then has everybody successfully get out, all while being watched from behind? like the two armed officers exited out of the door at the back of the van, but from behind the van doors never opened. just ???.
"Twins" in the title refers to the Cantopop group of the same name, lead actresses Charlene Choi and Gillian Chung.
The plots are not related.
"Twins" in the title refers to the Cantopop group of the same name, lead actresses Charlene Choi and Gillian Chung.
The plots are not related.
Dee's fate seems rather unclear, or it feels underwhelming to have "well, she's arrested and that's it" as a resolution.
I didn't buy the supposedly emotionally charged subplots and would have preferred a different ending.
- ML's rival announces he will leave his previous job where he just got promoted, and the employees APPLAUD IT?
- manager of ML's restaurant asks delivery chap if ordering fresh food online means you actually get it fresh, and of course the other person quickly ..delivers.. a product placement for ..... I'm not even sure. a shopping portal? the delivery service? the idea of buying ingredients online?
- big fish is split in two at the fish market, and somehow returns in one piece shortly after.
- following that, a local politician falls from the heavens to deliver a speech about how a cooking competition will decide the fate of the universe
The visual presentation is very good, but don't expect much from the plot.
Is the movie originally in Cantonese? The Mandarin version felt off.
Black had the potential to be in the top 3 dramas or so for me, but I really hated the ending.
- day of the murder of FL's parents is never fully explained, nor is the build-up. I kept hoping to learn in how far it was fully planned or spontaneous, or how & when all relevant characters even get there.
bugs:
- EP13, at 54:49 – a dead person's hand shoots up. very curious.
- the majority of the time, the actors do a very good job and the directing is on point as well.
- FL does not make wailing or squealing noises while crying. she doesn't cry non-stop anyway.
- grisly murders don't make a good place for excessive product placement *
neutral:
- you won't find "memorable K-drama songs" here.
cons:
- especially with regards to antagonist plans, police negligence and selfish journalists, this show gets WAY too makjang. ridiculously implausible things happen.
- the plot is dominated by a serial killer who hits people on the head with a hammer, yet the writers seem unaware that this can have other consequences than being dead or making a full recovery. a lot of the show is oddly black & white like that.
- disagreeing with what some other reviewers write, I was disappointed by the amount of dishonesty (hiding fears, pains, worries) between ML and FL.
- many of the side characters don't have a purpose outside their relationship to ML/FL. there aisn't anything like memorable comedy characters, either – both Pyo Taek and Chae So-Jin feel like they were at least in earlier drafts considered to achieve this.
*: FL's household has the same vacuum cleaner in two different colours in one spot, and then another characters later on also wields that very same model.
--
spoiler stuff in reply
At ~33 minutes, it's not clear to me how & why the others want to ambush / rob / kill Hon. Does he notice just based on them holding handguns?
Major spoiler next:
Fully understanding the story might require rewinding to earlier moments once or twice.
Sadly the last sequence stops adhering to any previously established universe rules.
- later on, Tan commits mid-air suicide. just why?
- corruption charge against Wi kinda just vanishes.
- Min comes back from a less important post through nothing and takes charge again — just because Wi asks his office for assistance to bully and humiliate the crown prince. I don't follow how he can reclaim Noron leadership. later on he's not even in the mood to lead anything anymore, after he's turned into a heroic good guy.
I get that Park Moon Soo / Bak Mun-su is some sort of historical corruption-fighting superhero, but after being such a joke character at the start, I couldn't take him seriously later on — neither in his ideological convictions, nor in how he's a (seemingly historically accurate) master of armed combat. Perhaps for me it's not the right choice of actor.
Some plot complaints in the spoiler below.
- why does assassin initially want to abduct FL's kids? that just makes more of a fuss out of the "heart attack". VERY counterproductive.
- how does assassin/cleaner have the same listening stickers as the top secret NIS R&D? (in ep14 waved away with "they use them too")
- how does ML control NIS stickers he gets from SFL? he steals them and they're brand new tech, so he surely doesn't have a manual or control software.
- continuing: why can't ML use his NIS sticker to listen to the conversation with the abductors in ep5 to know he doesn't need to rush in guns blazing to rescue FL?
- ep7 secret door should not work with the power off
- ep9 instead of living in his apartment and not leaving, to avoid NIS supervision, ML goes in and out of the house 3x per day to pass messages to FL – of course right under the eyes of hostile NIS agents.
- ep9 how does he get his blue sports car back from police/NIS? he jumped off the bridge where he left it.
- ep11/12 "death protocol" first has everybody die, then has everybody successfully get out, all while being watched from behind? like the two armed officers exited out of the door at the back of the van, but from behind the van doors never opened. just ???.