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Deep rooted evil extremity
Humanity's ugliest and greediest traits are all in here, spanning across the adults and their successor made out from the same mould. The evil extremity in this movie is so deep rooted and unbelievable because of how realistic and crooked it is, completely destroying any bit of morality left in their mind. The evilness that is in the gene, they're born with it and become ultimately twisted. The power, the money, the influences, continues to create rot in our society. Meanwhile the powerless will be dragged and beaten until there's nowhere out from this rotten society, and it is only a glimpse of it.Was this review helpful to you?
The world of sleeping
The chilling effect of this movie is very prominent right from the start, setting the threat at the closest person you could ever trust in the most unbelievable way. The acting performances are of course top notch in order to achieve that, even the snoring act was designed precisely to elevate the creepiness of the situation. The storyline buildup was good, the ending though could be better, as the tension control at the end was a little off balance. The way it handles its logical sense was technically ignored as the characters sleep in, and audiences should do the same.Was this review helpful to you?
Unconventional art cinema for a kdrama
The whole shooting style of the drama is unconventional art cinema, it's so niche up to the point it's like a very dark and gritty tech noir. The pace though is painfully slow, there are lots of details to look for but the structure of the story itself is pretty confusing with some unclear intentions by some of its characters. It would be better if they could reduce the runtime of some episodes, but at least the resolution part is quite breathtaking. For the portrayal that is sort of broken romance blended with modern crime, they do hit the mark this time.Was this review helpful to you?
Wild and sophisticated
This is one of the weirdest but also highly clever kdrama in such a long time, a really well thought out storyline and crazy cool proof of concept, but it was done with extremely stylish cinematography and catchy soundtrack, the whole thing just looks wild and sophisticated in an unimaginable way. It elevates curiosity in a steady but surprising pace and keeps you guessing on the direction of the plot, but the end results will be absolutely mindblowing and greatly satisfying, because the vast variety of sensations it has to offer is unstoppable.Was this review helpful to you?
More mind games that lacks impact
Originally a remake of Johnnie To's "Drug War", now they've delved into a wider expansion in this sequel and beyond the initial plot on its own. There's even more mind games this time with new characters, but as much extended storyline was added in, it does not seem that it's posing any bigger impact as it should. There's really not enough stakes to drive the threats onto higher ground, the movie stays within its frame and that's not much different than any other standard drug crime movie, it's just ridiculous why Netflix would even cash in a sequel to a movie they do not own in the first place.Was this review helpful to you?
Extremely heartbreaking journey
Pretty engaging storyline, the tension buildup is brilliant and valid enough, the multilayered emotions worked out really well on screen as it spanned across four decades of timeline setting, though some of it was built directly upon coincidence linkage, the distinctive character design is still highly effective nonetheless, and the striking acting performances definitely gave this drama a huge boost. The mellow cinematography and sombre soundtrack also blended deeply into the meticulously written dialogues, the result is a melancholic artistic drama that is extremely heartbreaking as their journey of bittersweet life unfolds.Was this review helpful to you?
Great depth with insane perfection
Thick storyline and insanely well built character linkage, attention to details are extremely precise along with the flow of plot tuned to exact perfection, the depth in its storytelling is just unbelievably stacked in great suspense and class. Acting performance from every one of the cast is no slouch at all, the tension presented on screen is literally jaw droppingly intensified. This is the perfect example of how a blend of arthouse film and cold blooded action styled retribution theme noir done right and clean.Was this review helpful to you?
Confidential Assignment 2: International
3 people found this review helpful
North-South conflict with Americano blend
The usual formula of North-South conflict but with a style of "Americano" blend, overall a pretty high quality production but does have its shortcomings. Despite the complicated three way multinational storyline, it still pale in comparison like this year's best selling korean movie The Roundup, it lacks defining thrills as the villain doesn't even look intimidating enough, and most of the time it was overwhelmed by comedy all over the place. The meaty part kicks off too late and the first half of the movie is basically lifted only by comedy, fortunately it gets better when the main case is on track which provided a satisfying ending sequence with enough pressure points. Action scenes do look very gripping with accurate sound effects and exhilarating scores, but i guess most audiences will be moved by the visuals of the two male leads which is prominently highlighted in here.Was this review helpful to you?
Human greed is the root cause of destruction
Based on true events, the legal battle in the movie against a company misconduct on a widely used household product is highly intriguing, which in real life has even caused fatality and permanent damage to its users over a decade. The narrative has really good pacing and well arranged details, it comes with a serious tone and even has a hint of espionage flavor in it that gives a pleasant surprise for viewers. In the end, it's all about the greed of human beings especially those who are at the top of the food chain, and those government officials neglecting their responsibilities, at last the ones who pay the price are common people like us.Was this review helpful to you?
Stylish execution with high emotions
This is some really serious deal of gritty crime and cop noir thriller with a mix of religious and inheritance mystery on top of it. The cinematography is truly brilliant, it has some of the most perfect landscape shots and rural ambience in a kdrama, acting performance is also insanely good. The storyline is extremely complicated to perform but the execution is very clean. The best part is their ending is unbelievably immersive it runs on high emotions, the effect is absolutely intense and satisfying.Was this review helpful to you?
Fight scenes lacks precision on martial arts techniques
A fairly simple storyline that doesn't have too much complexity going on, pacing is quite slow at the beginning and it has largely inconsistent tones, jumping back and forth between dead serious and then light drama out of sudden, which is a weird choice of direction.Now when it comes to action sequences and fight scenes, it was acceptable but nothing extraordinary, it lacks precision on martial arts techniques, and even the use of surrounding props is very minimal. For very big amount of fight scenes they're just throwing punches repeatedly and it's really tiresome to watch.
For instance, I was just comparing it to some of the best Korean martial arts film, like Jang Hyuk's "The Swordsman" and "The Killer", Ma Dongseok's "The Roundup" franchise, and even Netflix own originals "My Name" had much better fight scenes than this. To be honest, they could've reduced some of the fight scenes and mainly focus on a few big ones to improve quality not quantity.
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Quite artistic
The horror setting is fairly good at the start, and surprisingly very serious story driven and glad that it's not relying on excessive jump scares to force cheap horrors. It also has one of the better cinematography for a Korean indie horror film, some dark scenes were shot beautifully and it's quite artistic, but the plot development is on the weaker side and messy arrangement makes the flow a little awkward. Luckily the backstory reveal looks pretty sick to give the curse a solid pass of validation.Was this review helpful to you?
The best modern political kdrama ever made
The whole production value is just too mindblowing, the depth of the storyline is incredibly insane and the level of scale is unimaginable, it's leaving you speechless over and over again literally after every plot twist. This will go down as the best modern political kdrama ever made in history and it's soaring past others by a very huge leap, almost monumental for any kdrama scene. The screenplay has extremely precise execution of political strategies and intelligence battles, every single threat design is carefully handled based on logical consideration that fits seamlessly into multiple environmental factors and connections, like a perfect art of war. Acting performances are needless to say, they're best in class and definitely the strongest hold of this drama, it's like watching real politicians strive against each other in reality, a total reflection of modern politics in today's world.Was this review helpful to you?
Superb duo and superb action
Extremely brilliant storytelling and highly intense action sequences, the director who got his fame with Kingdom series surely never disappoints with this diplomat ransom storyline. The chemistry between Ha Jung Woo and Ju Ji Hoon is impeccable as their characters went through an oddball collab to rescue the kidnapping of a Korean diplomat in a war torn country. The humor within it is subtle but cleverly implemented, and the action is packed with strong impact as they've made one of the best car fight scenes ever in the Korean cinematic history. The ending is especially tear jerking, mixing with complicated diplomatic relations while stressing the importance of media freedom and democratic society, what a meaningful action movie this is.Was this review helpful to you?
A separation between predators and weaklings in this hopeless world
It reminds me on some of the great tvN and OCN hardcore crime dramas back in the day, though it now becomes more of a rare genre these days. This drama going digital on TVING is actually a wise decision, there's no more limits on the level of gore and psychotic scenes, which makes it intensely sick. The concept is extremely terrifying yet it feels so convincing because the sentiment is so strong in here. A technical reasoning on the separation between predators and weaklings, how some are able to gloss over their sins so easily and how some will be suffering for the rest of their life in this completely hopeless world, this drama will be able to speak for losers out there, fictionally at least.Was this review helpful to you?
