Ballerina (2023)

To start off, I may be biased because I like Jong-seo's acting, and I've watched almost all her dramas and movies. While I agree with most of the reviewers saying the lack of depth of the plot, I believe the movie itself was mainly centered on Ok-Ju's revenge and rage. I was kinda hoping there was an ass-kicking scene between her and the final boss, but it vaporized when he was shot abruptly, making me realize that the final boss was the other mf. Ok-ju and Min-hee's chemistry was okay, considering the focus of the movie. I could grasp what drove Ok-ju to madness through their flashbacks and narration. Overall, a good movie for me, and the fighting scenes served.

I've seen some reviewers on other platforms who go 'woohoo to girl power?' I say, YES WOHOO TO GIRL POWER, because that woman Ok-ju risked everything to not just avenge her bf's death, but ALSO WRECKED A WHOLE CARTEL with women trafficking. That was the take that held me hooked the entire movie. She broke the devil's chain that had the victims shackled in a barbaric way. She saved that one high schooler, even just one, even though people say she showed up randomly, but the high schooler showed what kind of heartless monsters those gangsters were. All of them are dead, that was what made me satisfied. Absolutely love this movie.

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Good fight scenes, but lacking in plot and character depth

I admit that the movie was shot beautifully, with lots of nice camera work and colors. However, I was a bit underwhelm with the story/plot and character development. The action scenes and the good acting were about the only reasons I gave this a decent rating. I just wanted to know more about the two main characters: Jang Ok Ju and Choi Pro. Although the “ballerina”, her best friend’s death and revenge request, was what promulgated Jang Ok Ju to action/violence, I wanted to know more about Jan Ok Ju and Choi Pro. I also didn’t quite know the timeline such as how long Jang Ok Ju and the ballerina, Choi Min Hee, had been best of friends. It seems they knew each other from middle school and met-up again as adults. So maybe Min Hee was everything to Ok Ju since it looked like Ok Ju didn’t have many friends or even family. In all honesty, I had two lingering disappointments or maybe disbeliefs. The first is that Choi Pro was really not the all powerful and independent villain since he was in a gang and reported to someone more powerful. That kind of took his evil aura and mystery away. The second is after Jang Ok Ju went and asked a former colleague in her security firm for some firearms/weapons. I was expecting this lady to hand over some cache of modern automatic rifles, etc., but she ended up dealing with an old couple in a rusty RV with even more rusty and old handguns and revolvers. I think it would’ve been better if they just cut out the whole gang and gang overlord scenes. They didn’t add any more value to the movie. Even the high school girl could be left out. Would I watch it again? No, but I did enjoy the action/fight scenes.

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Visually Orgasmic With Brilliant Colors and Fight Scenes

The storyline is very simple.
Revenge for a female friend.
Revenge for all those that came before or after her.

The cinematography is what makes this movie. The spins, the angles, and the brilliantly placed COLORS. Like something straight out of the Cyberpunk world: there are neons that highlight and low-light the entire film. It's fast-paced, and the angles are perfectly planned like something straight out of a well-drawn graphic novel. It doesn't require a heavy amount of brain-power, but is an absolute feast for the eyes. I would definitely suggest you watch. For any videographer, photographer, artist, or even for your one-time viewer. You won't be sorry you spent your time watching it.

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Despite flaws in writing / characterization, entertaining action movie with beautiful filmmaking

This action movie has a pretty simple and straightforward premise carried by some beautiful filmmaking and solid acting. It is pretty short but delivers efficiently and brutaly on the action side.

The story is very predictable (even the endingwas super obvious while satisfying) but it is enteraining and well-paced. I wish the characters would have been more developped as well as their respective background but the writing did not really focus on building them. That's why the protagonists and antagonists seems pretty caricatural.

Fortunately, the acting convinced me much more than the writing of the characters. Jeon Jong Seo is quite good in the action sequences and Kim Ji Hoon is adequately playing this repugnant villain.

The biggest asset of the movie resides in its filmmaking, there are really a lot of beautifully filmed scenes and the saturated colors of the decors are working superbly bringing the story together. It gives an indie feel but with big budget at the same time, with some strong artistic choices. The music did not leave a strong impression on me but was okay overall.

I would recommend this movie to people looking for an action movie and who enjoy revenge trope. It could have been much better in terms of scenario and characterization but it has a nice pace and with very pleasant for the eyes filmmaking. Be mindful of the triggers as it is very violent and includes a lot of problematic and traumatic elements.

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I enjoyed it

People saying that this has no plot, I don’t agree with that. The plot is basically clear. She’s out for revenge for her dead friend, how more clearer can it be? The movie is a revenge drama and doesn’t pretend to be anything more than that. It delivers for me in what it sets out to accomplish. The fight scenes where actual very decent although some suspension of belief is required at time, it had overall good/decent fight scenes.
She took my face and my Lamborghini should be an iconic phrase. Lol.
It’s not something I would rewatch but I do recommend for a one time watch.

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Known concept, interesting execution

The amount of movies and dramas I have seen about this kind of topic is high, but this particular movie stood out for me. The storytelling and the movie's portrayal were really good and kept me hooked for the whole time. I liked how some of the cast members reunited from Money Heist: Korea and it was nice to see them together again. Although there were some moments that I didn't find interesting, but they were important for the action passages and other scenes so it's okay. Finally, there was a movie where revenge was really what I wanted and it was a book example of how to avenge people.

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Kick ass movie with fresh action

This proves Korean cinemas ability to make high quality quality action flick with a woman as main lead even better than John Wick. It has a strong drive, very strong villain and excellent music. The strong female lead drives it through with her charisma and thoroughness. Such a well made movie. No nonsense sex scenes like the ones in Hollywood. There is no lag in the movie and the movie swings by in a zippy. This is a needed movie. It shows how today’s clubs massage parlours still have shady things and shady people. This movie literally kicked me out of my drama slump and out of the couch. I feel so energised after seeing it. It’s definitely not for the faint hearted.

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Emotional, Dark, Sweet Revenge.

This movie is about a girl who is on a mission seeking revenge on behalf of her friend. She encountered a dark world of blackmailing, extortion and drugs.
If you're into action and revenge stories ( John Wick style ), then you gonna love this movie.
The lights, the cinematography, the choreography of the fights, everything is amazing.
The story is good, some people say it's superficial, I don't think so, it's a MOVIE, not a series, so ofcourse it won't have so much details.
The soundtracks are top notch, and acting was great!
Overall, an amazing movie to watch, I'm sure if I get the chance I'll re-watch it many times!
I would love a sequel!! 😍

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Ballerina is a perfectly adequate female-led South Korean actioner.

Korean revenge. Another one. I'm this close to making a list!
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Stunts - 79/100 | Some fine stunts in there, but the actual award here would go to the sound editing in this movie, which was really on-point.

Narrative - 71/100 | It's pointless to try and reinvent the wheel in the revenge genre. Martial arts movie lovers want their martial arts movies to end in a fight scene. Revenge movie lovers want their movies to be about revenge and to end in revenge. That's just how it is. In this one, we've got both, but the movie didn't excel at either.

Fight Choreography - 70/100 | The ending fight scene, although a bit brief, was delightfully chaotic. The rest was messy but still managed to be decent. This is an example of how you can still have good (but definitely not great) fight scenes even if they're over-edited. We can follow what's going on through the cuts.

Enjoyment - 70/100 | If my job as a Producer was to hire a director to make a Korean revenge story that's representative of the genre as a whole with decent action and visuals and a story that's engaging enough, I'd hope and hopefully expect to receive about this in terms of end product. And I'd be fine with it and consider it a job well done and money well spent.

So, basically, thumbs up

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