Vigilante

Nam Joo Hyuk's debut thriller lacks substance and depth

For years, I have always watched Nam Joo Hyuk's shows because I find the plot interesting and Vigilante is no exception. Vigilante revolves around Kim Ji Yong living a dual life — studying as a police officer by the day and punishing remorseless criminals at night.

The story starts with a young Ji Yong who gets shocked by the court's decision to punish his mother's murderer with a short jail sentence. Years pass and the criminal continues attacking innocent people which prompted Ji Yong to take his revenge and ultimately kill him. Ji Yong realizes his mother's case is not an isolated case and that the justice system is being too lenient on criminals. He starts hunting for repeat offenders who easily get away with their crimes and taking the law into his own hands.

Nothing is groundbreaking here but Nam Joo Hyuk ruthlessly killing criminals and embodying Robin Hood was indeed a pleasant watch. His tall and brooding physique yet having a quiet demeanor makes him the perfect mysterious hero.

However, my main issue for this show is how they keep on adding new characters each episode, all of which are underdeveloped.

Cho Heon, the team leader of the regional investigation unit, is an intriguing character. It only took him a short amount of time to catch Ji Yong yet he lets him off the hook. He believes he can convince Ji Yong to be a competent police officer just like him.

My empathy for Cho Heon's motives goes down the drain when both him and Ji Yong didn't have any character growth. Ji Yong's intentions were also unclear to me since he forms alliances with anyone he likes without a rational thought. I also find Joo Hyuk's acting a bit lackluster since he only growls whenever he is confronting Cho Heon or the criminals.

The violent fights and torture were also unnecessary and exaggerated. It feels like the show tries to be a gritty and bloody noir wannabe.

Overall, I enjoyed the first half of the show but not as much as the second half. Everyone is aimlessly trying to bring down the criminals without a concrete plan. The characters also seem to be one-dimensional. I don't find myself watching the second season, if ever there will be one. Vigilante is an entertaining thriller that lets Joo Hyuk show he looks good as a young action hero but the underdeveloped characters and confusing narrative makes this show hard to recommend.

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Short, Crisp, Spicy: Watch it for Nam Joo Hyuk!

As an ARDENT Nam Joo Hyuk fan, I was a little late to the watch party, but I'm glad I watched this and didn't skip it. Let's get straight into the pros and cons of this series:

Pros:
Short episodes: Each episode was 40-45 mins long, and it had just 8 episodes. Quick and easy watch, loved the length of the series.
Acting: The cast had all good actors, lovely job done by the actors. Of course, I must mention Nam Joo Hyuk and how BUFFED UP he's become for this role. Full ogle fest! Also NJH has improved so much... It was so good to see him emote with his eyes throughout the whole drama. One minute, he's got kind twinkly eyes, and the next minute, he has the coldest, deadset eyes, that just brims with anger and vengeance. Brilliant piece of acting by my boy! Yoo Ji Tae also had a strong presence. Special mention to Woo Hyun Joon who played police officer, Nam Yeon Gil. He had a very limited screen time, but in whatever he had, he made his presence felt.
OST: The OST is actually good here. I am not a big OST person, most often I am annoyed by the loud kdrama OSTs, they feel like a hindrance to the watching experience. But here, it was quite muted and appropriate in maintaining the tone of the drama.
Action: Finally, some good action choreography in a kdrama. Also, these guys didn't shy away from showing gore. It wasn't overdone either, so whatever was done, made sense.

Cons:
Story: I understand that it is adapted from a webtoon by the same name, but that's exactly what became its greatest bane. The script had no movement other than whatever was written in the web series, so you can understand while seeing the drama, that it is just stringing together panels into a plot. That's what makes the plot so flimsy. There was potential for more character growth or more development, but the writers didn't bother expanding more on it. Random people appear out of nowhere with just one-line explanations of who they are, much akin to how characters are introduced in a comic. While I like that they didn't explore 50 different things in the series and stayed true to the main plot point (aka the Vigilante and his own ways of serving justice), I wish there was something more to the plot though... it was a little too straightforward at the end of it all. But there's a s2 coming up, so hopefully, they might play on things up a little more then.

Acting: I didn't like Kim So Jin... didn't like her look, or her acting. Her character was an interesting one, I won't lie. But I didn't like Kim So Jin in it, she screamed a little too much, and it didn't look natural enough to me. Also I didn't understand why Nam Joo Hyuk and Yoo Ji Tae had to shout more than half the time to make their point across. Whenever those two conversed with each other, they shouted at each other, which got pretty annoying pretty quickly.

Overall, it was a pretty quick and easy watch. Quick and spicy, watching the show felt like eating a packet of chips. Its good as long as it lasts, and then it gets over quickly, and you move on to watching the next drama. A solid one time watch.

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is it an original plot? No did it manage to make me entirely entrained and hyped over it? hell yeah

It's difficult to start this review without being 100% biased by Nam Joo-Hyuk, I'm completely obsessed with the way he acts with his eyes, you can see the madness and sadness in every look.
Well, talking about technical criteria and not just fangirling over him, this Dorama was very good in general. The plot wasn't that original, the characters weren't that well developed, I felt a lack of dimensionality and depth in the personal motivations of each of the characters.
But can I be honest? I fucking love this.
When I evaluate something, I don't just take into account the production itself, but also the entertainment capacity, If it managed to entertain me and leave me excited with each episode, I will overlook all the script and production flaws.
And if we are talking about entertainment, this show it's a fucking great one.
If you are looking for something extraordinary and original, this may be a slight disappointment.

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impressive, worth the watch!

The acting was really top notch, like Yoo Ji Tae actually builded up for this role, i'm really impressed , like wow , what a transformation!!
All the protagonists did a really good job, i really appreciated Nam joo hyuk 's acting here, he did improved throughout the years.
Since he is enlisting soon or maybe he has already enlisted, we may not had a second season that soon.
I enjoyed the watch, it wasn't boring.
I was rooting for the "vigilante" lol. I get where he came from, and yes at the end of the day it actually seems like the bad guys win.
9/10 because it was an easy watch, and yes i want to boost the ratings on this one lol!

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You won't be dissapointed

The plot is thick here, the main characters are generally fleshed out well, each with their backstory and own motivations, The acting is generally very top notch and even though I feel there was a missed opportunity by not having the vigilantes and the police officer interact with each other more at the same time, it generally delivered.

BUT I feel like it gets a bit rushed, feels like some important parts missed the cut and I think it was remiss of them to not include more episodes, however the director and the producer's still did very well with the episode range given, just feel like 2 more episodes would have allowed them to come as close to perfection as they could.

Also, I have to mention seeing bad guys not getting off lightly realled endeared to me.

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The differences between Disney/Hulu K-Dramas is interesting

Barring my disappointment that Seonwook was hardly in the show and died anyway (💔) this show was okay for a thriller/action drama. It’s still a bit jarring seeing k dramas with this much knife play, blood, and violence in general. The dramas produced for Hulu & Netflix always feel different.

The writing, particularly the scenes about philosophy and morality, were quite heavy handed. There’s a scene where Jiyong and Seonwook play basketball and Jiyong is wearing a black shirt and Seonwook is wearing a white one. We get it; Seonwook believed in reform and second chances and Jiyong thought using crime to fight crime was the answer. I really wish they’d done more to push Seonwook as a character because it just made his death feel unearned (?) because he wasn’t that much of a presence. He was just cute and believed the system could work. Why did he have to die?

Reporter Choi’s character was confusing to me. At the start of the drama, it felt way too over the top. The “okay” thing was odd. I appreciate that she was a tenacious reporter and despite people dying because of some strange choices she made, a lot of things wouldn’t have happened without her.

Honestly, the story beats already reminded me of Daredevil or your average vigilante hero story. The way characters were just tossing grown men through the air, it felt like there was some super soldier serum going around.

Anyway, it’s not my favorite vigilante story, but I thought the lead actor was good and it kept my attention.

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“Maybe I could be a vigilante... if I didn’t have the emotional stability of a cactus.”

Vigilante (2022): 8/10 – The K-Drama That Makes You Think “Maybe I could be a vigilante... if I didn’t have the emotional stability of a cactus.”

⚡ WHY IT’S GREAT:
Imagine Batman with zero patience for “right” vs “wrong” and an extra dose of “I’ve got issues, but so does everyone.” The action is solid—punches land harder than your Wi-Fi on a bad day.

👊 WHY YOU’LL LOVE IT:
Fight scenes? On point. Morally conflicted anti-hero? Check. Villains you kind of sympathize with? Yup. It’s a messy, dramatic joyride where everyone’s breaking both bones and hearts.

😬 THE FLAWS:

Pacing’s a little slow in places.

The moral dilemma? It’s like walking through fog—you can’t always see where it’s going.

Some monologues feel like “let’s just talk about justice for five minutes before punching someone in the face.”

🎯 VERDICT:
It’s a dark, action-packed ride full of “Is he a hero?” moments.
Watch if: You want a morally gray, action-heavy drama that makes you question everything.
Skip if: You need a clear-cut good guy and more than 3 seconds of happiness.

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GOODDDD

I started the series with a lot of excitement since there were two elements that I LOVE: Nam Joohyuk ofc lol and the fact that it's an action/crime series.
To be honest the first part was so good but I don't know about the second part... I got a little lost, maybe it was my fault but I think I would have preferred a different dynamic between the characters.
It was DEFINITELY too short but apparently there will be a sequel AND THIS IS GOOD, I CAN'T WAIT.
Nam Joohyuk's acting gave me goosebumps and it's not the first time, I hope to see him again soon (we miss you <3)
Overall I really recommend it!

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Started of strong but fell flat

I am hooked by korean thrillers ever since I watched Beyond Evil and one day, I came across Vigilante. Since I am a huge fan of stories that explore the matter of justice vs self-appointed law enforce, I decided to watch it, especially since I had seen some people calling it underrated.

While I overall enjoyed the series, I think that there was room for more developement. I am aware of the fact that it's based on a webtoon and since I haven't read it, I will assume that it was overal a faithful adaptation.

The plot was interesting, I liked the exploration of corruption, abuse of power and the fight for justice. It's just that even though it was quite short, it dragged, especially towards the end. The first episodes were the best imo and I think the series should have focused more in the moral battle of law vs taking the matters in your own hands. I would have loved to see more psychological battles between the characters, especially between Jiyong and Heon. The first episodes focused more on the psychological and ethical aspects while the rest focused more on the action. Which was not bad but it didn't allow the series to go more into depth about its themes. Plus, the fights in the last episodes were kinda funny, the plot armor was going crazy for the main characters. So many thugs and no one could beat them?

The characters were interesting but I believe that some of them could have been explored more. Jiyong was definitely the most fleshed out character and I would have loved to see more of his battle between bad vs evil. Jo heon was fun and cool and I liked his dialogues with Jiyong. However, I felt like I desired more once I finished the series, yes, we got to see him reconsider his own believes which was good but I think he came across as a little bit one dimensional at times and the series relied a lot on the gimmick about his size and power. Still a very cool character though. As for the rest, I really liked Choi Mi Ryeo, she was such a badass and I found her to be quite complex in terms of actions and believes. Gang-ok was actually quite fun, he was such a fanboy for Vigilante and his obsesion with Jiyong was just so hilarious, one sided toxic yaoi at its finest.

The acting was really good, especially Nam Joo-hyuk's and the ending, albeit frustating, was pretty much realistic. Overall, I liked the series, it's just that I think it had potential to become something more. As I mentioned above, if it followed the plot of the webtoon, I will understand the lack of exploration on some of the themes but they could have done something more to fully flesh them out. I also believe but for a series that tackled many interesting topics, it should have been longer, say 10+ episodes.

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Good Enough

Korean Drama '' Vigilante '' is a webtoon-based action drama.

The theme of the drama is quite interesting, and there are a lot of crime cases that are dark and intense. The antihero twist was also nicely handled, and the performances of the main leads were strong enough to support the plot.

However, the drama suffered from its short length. Halfway through, things started getting rushed and the story didn't develop as smoothly as it should. At least the action scenes were enjoyable.

So, overall, six out of ten for the Korean Drama '' Vigilante ''.

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Could have been far better!

The story of a dark hero leading a dual life fighting for justice has always been a popular one. Most of us have grown up watching the likes of Batman. Now we are presented with a Korean webtoon adaptation of the dark hero character called Vigilante who fights crime in the shadows and doesn't mind to kill.
But the story doesn't seem much appeasing as the events could be predicted pretty easily from the early parts of the story. The life of the connected characters' and how they ended up where they were at that point in time should've been better flushed out. Instead all we get is just simple brooding MC and his vigilantism activities. But the funny thing is that the MC doesn't even bother covering his face in a well CCTV connected country like South Korea and he gets away with it every time.
Hope the next season, if it happens, have a decent storyline and better flushed out characters.
Here hoping and even with all its faults I have to admit this really was a good one time watch.

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