Brave Citizen (2023)

Social Issue Movie w/ amazing cast and action scenes.

Shin HyeSun is an amazing actor, and she truly was perfect in this role, with the back-and-forth between the meek teacher and the Catman.

There is always an inner debate about whether one should keep quiet so as not to cause issues or raise hell to allow justice. The bullying scenes depicted were cruel and honestly scary. The brazen harassment of a teacher and other students was allowed via power through parents and the school administration.

Though perhaps unrealistic, I did enjoy the notion that the school and even the bully's gang had good in them at the end and were coerced into the sadistic bullying they did since they eventually turned at the end.

The action scenes though were truly the star of this film from the hallway confrontation to the sequence at the end. I love the realistic overpowering of the female lead at times and the way she is able to fight back through technique and will.

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Reading between the lines

First off I really enjoyed this movie because it genuinely had some really great fight scenes and honestly always love justice for the underdog/bullied stories.
If it was up to me, I would love for this to become a series.

This is a movie about a teacher standing up for her students and giving them a safe space when NO ONE else would. That is what we should get from the storyline .Yes we may have to allow creative intervention (beating him up) take place first, instead of removing students like him from school and jailing him. Which is what happens at the end, when the everyone finally feels safe enough to band together and report all their evidence to the police.

Now do I believe we need a teacher who should kick the snot out of kids who are bullies, of course not. And I don't believe this movies is even really encouraging that either. If you honestly watch it, you notice she is on a journey of realigning her values in life and making "IF you do nothing, nothing will happen" her new mantra. So she is making the choice to not just getting by or giving in, like when she threw the Olympic qualifying match and makes the choice to not to continue ignoring a student who is on the edge of being killed for a promised promotion.

Now I want to address all the negative posts and low ratings for this because " we shouldn't encourage violence against bullying" or "this movie is bad because how can a teacher beat up a student? we shouldn't encourage that!" or " bullying isn't as bad as this movie makes it seem"

Yes bullying, terrorizing is and has always been as bad as it is shown in this movie. It happens all around the world and society condones it by ignoring it and passing it off to someone else to solve. Children and Teenagers are pushed to the brink every day where they consider leaving this world vs going to school so lies about this extent of bullying being fictional is just sad and honestly makes those who say that just as bad as the one who is hurting others.

Allowing social pressures and money to silence you from stepping in and helping someone is something we should feel shame over instead of justifying it by saying "oh the bullying isn't that bad. This movie wasn't encouraging people to beat up students but to stand up for those who are being bullied.

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cool but... weak?

Brave Citizen is an ok movie for me and the reason is because the plot is childish and unrealistic.

I mean, why and how there would be a boxing tournament in a SCHOOL where students are watching and the TEACHER is fighting against a student? 😭
How on earth this would be approved to happen?
Don't get me wrong, the bullying thematic is indeed important but it shouldn't have been so childish.

The Male Lead was interesting but he started to turn into a cartoon villain at the end in my opinion.
Plus, after the whole fight, how the teacher didn't ended up arrested? She beat up her student (the bad boy) and nothing happened? Even though he (student) had a powerful family that could do anything to arrest her?


Well, besides everything i said, the actors did their jobs amazingly, it would be waay better if the whole story had taken a new path so they would have shined even more


obs: i loved the teacher's "meoow" lol

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honest review

movie was shit, what is it with freaking korean movies and bullying and why does it feel like bullies in school is far more threatening to korean society than terrorism like wtf and if you are gonna punish a bully beat the shit out of him and send a message to bullies out there that you are fucked if you bully, why go soft on a bully when a bully is literally killing someone and what was with that cop saying teachers can't beat students but a student can touch his teacher inappropriately, teachers are literally for education and putting some senses into spoiled rich asshole kids 🤨🤨🤨🤨

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Solid acting, classic story - entertaining overall thanks to the cast performances

This movie is relatively classic and predictable as it follows the journey of a new teacher in a high school where she fight against toxic environment with heavy bullying. Despite the classic trope and context, it manages to remain all along very entertaining and griping with an effective storytelling. There is no real surprise and it tends to be a bit too unrealistic for the action sequences in a Webtoon / Anime way, but it is an enjoyable overall story. The production value was good, there are some strikingly horrifying and atrocious bullying scenes. The OST is alright but not memorable.

The acting was certainly the strongest point of the film. The ensemble cast did a very good job. I had some trouble to reconcile the image I had of Lee Jun Young as the main villain here. It was such an unexpected contrast with the only role I had previously seen him (in Love & Leashes) that it kinda blow my mind. He was impressively frightening as this monstruous student thirsty for blood and inflicting deep suffering on his fellow peers.

The stand out performance for me is Park Jung Woo playing the main victim : he has some ultra memorable and painful scenes that truly amped the stakes. To be honest, both Lee Jun Young and Park Jung Woo are difficult to picture and find believable as highschoolers, but I'm not complaining of their casting in the roles given the quality of their performances. Next to them, Shin Hye Sun does an honorable job but she pales a bit in comparison and feel not as credible in the fight sequences.

I would recommend this to people that are looking for a vigilante story, featuring some teaching moments and action akin to webtoon/anime style fighting scenes. The overall story is classic but very entertaining, supported by strong performances. Be mindful of the tags if you have any triggers, as it is pretty graphic in the violence showcased.

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Shin Hye Sun is the Reason to Watch

Overall, a good movie to watch and enjoy, especially if you like the bully getting it in the end. Shin Hye Sun was great here and I loved that she was taking hits and wasn't just beating the bully up.

It's a hard watch though but a lot of the bully movies and TV shows are. I mean the level of vitriol that bullies seem to have against people they consider less than is just wild. The fact that schools and administrators and the police often don't do anything either not to mention Korea's lack of discipline when it comes to minors who do horrible shit. It's a lot to unpack. Just a terrible situation that Korean society seems to be ok with.

5/4/25

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Bullies are just over the top

I would suggest to watch this movie atleast once. The story was not that phenomenal, the regular school bullies taking it to the next level and school authorities are just letting them be, until finally someone steps forward. The same old rich power trip continues, but the characters acting w as on point.
I fell in love with the FL, the movie made me realise how pretty one looks when fighting for the right thing.

Hats off to Shin Hye -sun, l was aww struck by her acting and that of Lee Jun young.

Some thing that felt lacking would be Han Soo Kang having a backstory. He has a step mother and some rumours about his family and that was all. It was up to our imagination, to make up as to why he is the way he is.!!

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those final punches

If you are on Twitter (X) you can see many instances where students dare to provoke teachers and even fight with them. This movie is, of course, a fictional story about something similar, a teacher who if provoked into fighting with a student. The story is quite simple but unexpected, and the resolution is well prepared and realized. There is action, comedy, drama, all mixed into a cute and yet brutal high school experience. Boy, I am so happy that i am not in high school anymore.

This movie is not a super hero blockbuster, even though at one moment it seemed to be going into superhero direction. I am glad it didn't and that the women strength is depicted as realistically as possibile in the logic of the movie. Also, i just read here on the site that this is based on a webtoon and i must say that the movie gave me that vibe and reminded me on "Lookism" and "Moving". And yes, those final punches were straight from the comics.
.. 요 or should i say Meow!

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Loved it!

I loved this sooooo much!! I was searching for a good K movie,then I wanted to try this and I think I found a genre that I love bully male student - female teacher. She is sooooo badass and I loved seeing that student get what he deserves.. I know it's unpopular but the absolute sexual tension between them was 🔥🔥. Tho obviously they are mortal enemies.. I really felt bad so bad for the bullied student! So trigger warning looots of bullying and blood and fights in general. I loved her dual faces, one is a cute airhead teacher and the other is badass boxer cat. This is a 10 for me.. It just hit every good spot

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