My Name

Her Name is Fury

Fight Club meets Infernal Affairs with a dash of La Femme Nikita, Anna, Atomic Blonde, Kill Bill and Villainess, among others. That’s how I would describe this drama in a sentence.

My Name is an utterly visceral tale of one woman’s odyssey of vengeance through the deepest pits of Seoul’s dark underbelly and vicious criminal underworld that is seeped in brutality and cruelty. This drama is not for the faint-hearted for its many scenes of pure, unadulterated violence and bloodshed will most certainly induce much consternation indeed.

Based on an original screenplay, this production is helmed by Kim Jin Min, whose previous works include Extracurricular and Lawless Lawyer, and headlined by Han So Hee, of The World of the Married and Nevertheless fame. The Grand Bell Award-winning composer, Hwang Sang Jun, serves as music director.

The narrative is not groundbreaking, for those acquainted with the genre. However, when the re-telling of a similar concept is executed well, it can be an absolute joy to behold and may open doors to new fans of this dark thriller and suspense genre. My Name certainly accomplishes this, in my humble opinion, through a fascinating take on the classic revenge and betrayal plot with a focus on gritty storytelling infused with incredible cast performances and which does not shy away from highly graphic and explicit visual language. For the most part I’m quite pleased with the direction and tempo of the story development which manages to sustain the momentum of the intensity, tension and suspense. I have no major complaints over the design of certain plot devices and twists as well as the final outcome. The fact that there is absolutely zero comedic absurdity and contrived humour is a major boon for me as well.

Over the course of only 8 episodes at 50 minutes each, I did not lose interest or feel a smidgen of boredom. The action is breathlessly high-octane featuring countless fight scenes ranging from mass brawls to hand-to-hand combats involving the use of a variety of weapons. Despite composing a major proportion of the entire drama, some of the quieter and more poignant moments are interspersed throughout, including an extremely brief romantic interlude in the very last episode.

Likewise, as far as the production quality is concerned, there are no discernible major issues. The high production value is reflected in the art direction while technical execution is outstanding. I love the fact that the cinematography perfectly captures the action sequences because oftentimes these scenes are ruined by shoddy camerawork or poor post-production editing and visual effects, which is not the case here. Credit goes to the relentless efforts of the action choreographer and the cast themselves in performing the rather complicated and dangerous stunts. In particular the varied fight scenes involving mixed martial arts movements and knife fights in open spaces as well as cramped indoor settings.

The biggest praise is reserved for the cast themselves, and none more so than the lead actress, Han So Hee. My Name is a character-driven story where the failure or success is fully dependent on the depiction of the main character in question. Thankfully it is the latter because Han So Hee has unreservedly dispelled the doubts surrounding her ability to tackle this lead role which she does so magnificently with aplomb. Sometimes a role does not suit the performer, which seems to be the massive feedback from her previous performance in Nevertheless, but the characterization of Yoon Ji Woo, the FL here, is such a perfect fit for she truly embodies the persona in totality. The believability in her portrayal of sheer agony and torment, single-minded determination and strong will as well as the physical exertions inflicted from the challenges and ordeals that she faces in her pursuit of retribution. It is certainly not an exaggeration to declare unequivocally that Han So Hee thoroughly slayed this role.

Park Hee Soon deserves praise for his portrayal of Choi Moo Jin. This man oozes class, charisma and screen presence as the mafia leader of Dongcheon gang. Together with the hugely experienced and recognisable Kim Sang Ho as police detective Cha Gi Ho, both these men provide excellent support to Han So Hee’s main character that elevates this production to greater heights.

An aspect worth mentioning is the music. I love the retro beats of synthwave which complements the more contemporary rock element in a captivating combo that makes up the score by Hwang Sang Jun, who additionally composed two tracks out of the 3 OSTs in the drama.

My Name featuring Swervy and JEMINN
Mediocre Life featuring Pre-Holiday
A Thought is Haunting Me by Raphael Lake & Royal Baggs

All things considered, it’s been quite a while since I was last invested in a compellingly raw and savage journey of vengeance by a ferocious female character in an Asian drama. I’ve been dying for a bona fide strong FL in every sense of the word. Not a poser or a pretender but an actual badass who literally kicks ass. This has been an incredibly worthwhile viewing experience. Bravo!

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Good Efort Making the Fighting Choreography, but Lazy Writing

1. At the back of my mind, I always thought this entire show could have been avoided easily if someone talked to her about her dad or took care of her. Instead, she had a crap childhood and was bullied because of her dad's job and was even harassed by cops. Why was she not put under witness protection or something of similar nature? Several parts of the stort felt like it happened just for the plot. Such as: how the crime boss is supposed to be smart and out manoeuvred the police many times, but didn't predict the guy whose face he disfigured would come back for revenge. He let him go instead of killing him by following the chinese saying: "to cut weeds and eliminate the roots."
2. It was shown he easily killed people that betrayed him. Why was the female lead's dad so memorable that he got all sentimental at the end, just because he was an early member, who fought with him and was nice to him? His character is kind of all over the place, both psychopathic and willing to murder people in cold blood; willing to use anyone and everything to stay out of jail and continue his drug business which he cares about. But he is also sentimental and seems to care about the female lead? In the end, he was basically willing to die for her, taking bullets out of his gun. Or maybe he went full on Johan Liebert, in order to see if she would become like him and kill him and become a monster? If he really wanted the female lead to become someone who would never betray him, he should have just went after the police himself and provided her with full on fabricated evidence that the police chief did it instead of using her and risk being found out. That would have been the biggest revenge against her dad's betrayal , having his daughter view her her father's murderer as a friend or guardian, instead of using her as a mole and easily risking her finding out the truth.
3. The female lead is perfect at fighting, and never looses a single fight. I like a strong female lead, but when it's shown she is hardly buff or muscular at all, very pretty and feminine looking, and wrestles and takes down hallways of well trained men armed with swords while not wearing any sort of protective gear is rather unrealistic. Her acting is very good, and the action scenes are very detailed if not very realistic. I felt as if many parts of the plots happened just for the fight scenes and action and final climax, instead of the other way around. Like, the director wanted as many exciting fight scenes as possible.

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