breathtaking series if you put the effort into piecing it together
Now before I start this review I'm gonna say a few things. One, I'm not gonna sugarcoat anything or say "The series was a perfect 10/10 with no flaws wowiee!!" because its not perfect, and everything has its flaws. Two, I'm going to share both perspectives that you could have after watching this throughout the review, one of them is mine and everyone else's who gave a high review, and the other which isn't mine but everyone whose reviews were probably more negative. Its gonna be a long review but I cover most things you might be wondering about that I think a decent bunch other reviewers haven't.
Note: The only reason the rewatch rating isn't that high is because I'm not big on reconsuming media unless its something that's like literally rewired my brain after watching it or something(e.g. Not Me or Payback, mostly political-with-a-side-of-BL shows).
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tl;dr If you're good at playing detective then you'll love piecing this show together. If you're not but want to give it a go for the great acting, crisp cinematography and absolutely beautiful intro, then definitely do so and just watch an explanation on YouTube or something if you didn't understand. If you're not good at playing detective and don't wanna watch an explanation, OR don't wanna pay attention and don't like imperfect shows, then don't watch it.
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Here's my full review, and this is my first MDL review ever so i'll try to keep it as non-story-repeating and honest as possible. I found this series absolutely amazing. The premise was interesting but the storyline and plot itself was absolutely fascinating and exciting while also keeping me on my seat. Before watching 4Minutes I read a few reviews, and all of the more positive ones told me that I should "PAY ATTENTION TO THE DAMN SHOW", and I completely agree with them. 4Minutes isn't a show that you can just play in the background or watch passively if you actually want to understand the story. You DO need to pay attention, and you need to be able to connect the dots and fit the story together on your own because absolutely no part of the show spoon-feeds you the answers as to what the hell is going on. I'm not exactly the brightest or most intelligent person ever but by episodes 6 and 7 I managed to figure out what was happening and why the story was told in such an odd order(because I agree that it is, but not in a way that you wouldn't know what scenes go where if you tried sorting it out), and by halfway through episode 8 everything clicked satisfyingly into place and all I could do at that point was sit back and watch the ending.
I also read a few reviews that said the ending felt a bit open or they felt like the creators ran out of time to film or story to tell, which I frankly disagree with. I won't reveal what the ending is but I can say that it definitely felt like a proper ending that made sense to me AND for the most part it explains the odd story order up until that point. Something else is that, it did feel like there were a few very small loose ends that weren't 100% tucked away but they're not that bothersome if I'm being honest, if things like even the tiniest question marks by the end bother you then maybe the show might not be perfect for you. I also wanted to add that the cinematography and camera work were absolutely PEAK. I loved the visuals and atmospheres during different scenes with different emotions because they just felt so right. And the combination of visuals with the music just added the cherry on top. The songs, background music, AND intro/outro music were all so amazing and felt like they fit the scenes almost perfectly.
Speaking of the intro, the music didn't even have lyrics and the graphics were basically one SFX scene, but the whole thing just gave me a sense of "Yearning, inevitable doom, potential separation and desperation" in the best way for some reason, kind of like saying "The characters want something. but that something might be slipping away and they don't know how much time they have left" and its pretty effective for a show that centers all on the concept of time(if the title didn't give it away lmao). The chemistry between the leads was pretty nice, and at some moments their moments had me hooked in, but if I'm being honest, during most other times their chemistry just felt more normal, and not like the fiery electric tension or passion i was expecting from a dynamic like theirs. Nonetheless I enjoyed Bible and Jes's pairing. I think the second couple had LOTS of chemistry but their romance itself fell off slightly for me personally due to a few things that happen in the story that I thought weren't fully resolved. And my last point, I also personally thought there were a few too many NC scenes during the first half of the show that I had to skip over half of them for my sake, but I can't deny that they were ALL pretty realistic and done well by the actors, so praise to them and everyone else who worked so hard on this amazing series.
Note: The only reason the rewatch rating isn't that high is because I'm not big on reconsuming media unless its something that's like literally rewired my brain after watching it or something(e.g. Not Me or Payback, mostly political-with-a-side-of-BL shows).
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tl;dr If you're good at playing detective then you'll love piecing this show together. If you're not but want to give it a go for the great acting, crisp cinematography and absolutely beautiful intro, then definitely do so and just watch an explanation on YouTube or something if you didn't understand. If you're not good at playing detective and don't wanna watch an explanation, OR don't wanna pay attention and don't like imperfect shows, then don't watch it.
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Here's my full review, and this is my first MDL review ever so i'll try to keep it as non-story-repeating and honest as possible. I found this series absolutely amazing. The premise was interesting but the storyline and plot itself was absolutely fascinating and exciting while also keeping me on my seat. Before watching 4Minutes I read a few reviews, and all of the more positive ones told me that I should "PAY ATTENTION TO THE DAMN SHOW", and I completely agree with them. 4Minutes isn't a show that you can just play in the background or watch passively if you actually want to understand the story. You DO need to pay attention, and you need to be able to connect the dots and fit the story together on your own because absolutely no part of the show spoon-feeds you the answers as to what the hell is going on. I'm not exactly the brightest or most intelligent person ever but by episodes 6 and 7 I managed to figure out what was happening and why the story was told in such an odd order(because I agree that it is, but not in a way that you wouldn't know what scenes go where if you tried sorting it out), and by halfway through episode 8 everything clicked satisfyingly into place and all I could do at that point was sit back and watch the ending.
I also read a few reviews that said the ending felt a bit open or they felt like the creators ran out of time to film or story to tell, which I frankly disagree with. I won't reveal what the ending is but I can say that it definitely felt like a proper ending that made sense to me AND for the most part it explains the odd story order up until that point. Something else is that, it did feel like there were a few very small loose ends that weren't 100% tucked away but they're not that bothersome if I'm being honest, if things like even the tiniest question marks by the end bother you then maybe the show might not be perfect for you. I also wanted to add that the cinematography and camera work were absolutely PEAK. I loved the visuals and atmospheres during different scenes with different emotions because they just felt so right. And the combination of visuals with the music just added the cherry on top. The songs, background music, AND intro/outro music were all so amazing and felt like they fit the scenes almost perfectly.
Speaking of the intro, the music didn't even have lyrics and the graphics were basically one SFX scene, but the whole thing just gave me a sense of "Yearning, inevitable doom, potential separation and desperation" in the best way for some reason, kind of like saying "The characters want something. but that something might be slipping away and they don't know how much time they have left" and its pretty effective for a show that centers all on the concept of time(if the title didn't give it away lmao). The chemistry between the leads was pretty nice, and at some moments their moments had me hooked in, but if I'm being honest, during most other times their chemistry just felt more normal, and not like the fiery electric tension or passion i was expecting from a dynamic like theirs. Nonetheless I enjoyed Bible and Jes's pairing. I think the second couple had LOTS of chemistry but their romance itself fell off slightly for me personally due to a few things that happen in the story that I thought weren't fully resolved. And my last point, I also personally thought there were a few too many NC scenes during the first half of the show that I had to skip over half of them for my sake, but I can't deny that they were ALL pretty realistic and done well by the actors, so praise to them and everyone else who worked so hard on this amazing series.
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