INSANELY GOOD PLOT - for a specific target group!
I don't understand people claiming that the story is bad or the movie in general poorly written. I have high standards and I can confirm that this story is PERFECT. Everything was so unexpected and so many things about this drama stand out. The story and the description of the movie may sound boring - at first I didn't want to watch it because I myself believed that this would be a low budget movie without high results.However the movie exceeded any expectations and has perfect rewatch value. I wouldn't want to rewatch it now but maybe in a few months after I forgot most of the plot. I think the target group of the movie plays a huge role.
Noh Woo-Sung, as explained in the drama by the "journalist" is the potrait of the average young adult fulfilling his dream of buying a house. In general, he is the most average person and most relatable. I could relate so much with him which made the drama more touching. It was almost as if I felt the same joy/anger he felt. So in the end I believe younger people, which nowadays make up a lot of overseas kdrama population, would not like the movie as majority of its plot aims to be relatable.
However for young adults or even people who already had to go through these rough times this is the PERFECT story for a movie that doesn't take up much time.
I feel like the ending was a bit rushed which made it less exciting than the 2nd & 3rd quarter of the movie, however making it a limited series probably would have ruined it with too many plot fillers. As a movie it is a 10/10, for me. The actors weren't really standing out as everyone fulfilled their role for the plot. There is nothing to criticize about the cast. I don't want to spoiler, whereas I can just say that I have too many questions for it to be more than perfect. Nevertheless I am proud to say that this movie is among my new favorite movies next to great movies like Ballerina or Escape.
Thank you for this masterpiece!
Was this review helpful to you?
BIGGEST SCAM OF KDRAMA
The first season of Squid Game was PERFECT. No one can disagree with that fact. We all had to wait years for season 2 to be published only for it to come out as action kdrama with many mistakes that went viral. It had the biggest hype a Kdrama could possibly have, especially overseas and we all hoped for something great. Season 3 is simply the continuation with a different genre. It isn't just action now its a DISGUSTING sad drama. Sad because people dies, but also because a BABY was used to make it exciting. It should not be normalized to have a gun being pointed at a baby.I understand the message, yes: money turns people into inhumane monsters which would even do that. However it isn't necessary. In season 1 we already saw the extent of human corruption, trying to top it with a baby was too much.
The fight scenes were nice, however many seemed just too similar, kinda repetitive. (and they definitely can't compete with recently published dramas)
Jo Yuri failed as actress and even though she continued to build up hype this drama was just insulting her talent. Visuals were cleary underpresented and it felt like she had one line and just stayed the "pregnant girl" throughout the drama, until she finished that.
Wi Ha Joon did great like in Season 1 - 3 nothing to criticize here. Sadly he sits in a sinking boat that.
Player 333 was so disgusting and contributes to the controversy regarding babies.
Lee Jin Wook's character was nice and I appreciate that at least he got a happy ending, however I'm not fine with the fact that he didn't even get to know his savior, even though she sat right in front of him.
The last thing that entirely destroys this drama are the VIPs. I understand that they had to be changed as they were criticized in both season 1 and 2, but this definitely wasn't it. My deepest hate to all the American actors who failed this great role. Jane Wong did perfectly, she was the only one who portrayed the rich & elegant vibe of a multi-millionare/billionaire. The other ones tried to be funny American dads watching sports and celebrating it. Total failure. Squid game was supposed to be a critic towards the elites especially with that Rothschild-like theme. Failed enormously with S3 VIPs.
The ending is actually fair. Every character got the ending they deserved in some way. However I really hate the idea of an American Squid Game
Overall, it is unfair to give it less than 4 stars, however I could understand a 0.5 rating because that's what it deserved, if we compare with other dramas released this month. Could've definitely spend time watching better dramas. I hope they don't try to expand the Squid Game franchise because they definitely don't deserve further success with this drama.
Was this review helpful to you?
Drama with a lot of potential!
I was very hyped for Arin's next work and finally I could watch it. S Line is very unique and different from any other dramas released this year whereas it was nice to be entertained with a new thriller and unique mystery plot. In my opinion, the plot has a lot of potential to develop and I am open for the next episodes. By now I am not disappointed in any category, everything from the actors to the screenwriting seems perfectly fit for the plot and the drama's atmosphere.Thank you Arin for your hard work in this drama so we could enjoy it! I hope my expectations will be exceeded in the next episodes.
Was this review helpful to you?
Perfect Movie yet many questions (with theories)
partly spoilers at the end, however I'll note again. My theories and answers to open questions are at the end.I haven't played the game tho I know about from social media and I know about the movie from social media. Didn't think I'd be excited to watch it as movies about games usually are mostly flops or just overhyped. But the hype here is relatively non-existent (perhaps because it didn't enter western markets yet or so I assume)
However I finally decided to watch it (language barrier yet I was able to understand most of it) and it was really good. For the length it's a very good movie and has great rewatch value (though exciting things probably made the movie better)
I know some things from the game as I watched the gameplay a month ago or so when I saw the trailer for the movie, therefore it was even more exciting.. So my first suggestion is to watch the gameplay to know at least some anomalies etc.. However this shouldn't turn you away as there practically isn't any anomaly from the game copied 1:1, instead just some that are similar to the game's anonalies. So I praise their efforts for investing time in making new anomalies though I think that's given. The plot itself is very good and it isn't that scary at all, however some CGI or editing things whatever they use nowadays looked very very cheap so that's something that couldve gone better (or I just have high standards) but it didn't ruin the plot at all. The camera setting and cinematography in general is perfect like they match the game's vibe a lot and were used very efficiently. The music is very basic yet creates another atmosphere every time though it was very misleading very often.
Spoiler section!!:
I mean the monster rats, I think they would've been actually scary if they looked realistic or something. Because after all the movie isn't scary at all but at least they didn't use jumpscares to artificially blow up its scariness.. But after all the game itself isn't really scary, though it's known as horror game. Perhaps the idea of being stuck in a never-ending loop is the scary thing.
There are some things that bug me here, especially the kid. It seems like it's the child of his girlfriend and therefore his child too, however not born yet. I thougth its an anomaly at first too, and kept thinking so for a while, because after all in the game there is an anomaly where the sign continues to show 0 until you turn back again, I thougth that was the case here.
I didn't like the story of the running man or the walking man because it made me thinking they'd just skip characters and that this movie has no meaningful ending, because why would you just skip the ML at the most exciting part? and the man really wasnt more than a plot filler, the anomaly of the wrong ending is in the game too, that's like the only anomaly they've copied 1:1, because even the "blood tsunami" wasn't a blood tsunami here.
What's bugging me more is that the child could hear the ML scream when he already passed (as we could see in the child's POV for short) but in the end he couldn't hear the ML approaching even though there were just like a dozen seconds apart?
What I didn't understand was the part where the anomaly was everything being yellow, did this mean it was radioactive or something because he seemingly had an asthma attack but that and his reaction might've just been because of him experiencing this as this probably was his lowest point in the movie.
We can notice a huge development of the ML which is too huge in my opinion, first of all its visible by him not needing the asthma spray anymore and second of all his behavior in general. Of course the development might be symbolic e.g. him protecting a child etc but like he seemed very insecure in the beginning and was about to lose it so the development was too quick, perhaps the length of the movie contributed to this.
The ending already seemed off, I already thougth the exit was wrong. Perhaps it's a new wrong exit anomaly, because the ending in the game is different too. It doesn't end at 8 but you have to do the 8th round again, to pass. I think the ML didn't do the 8th round and the entrance with the number 8 on the sign appeared right after he finished 7 where there was no anomaly. So level 8 itself was an anomaly and he just reentered the loop without knowing,
OR he did know or did not know but still wanted to reenter the game to find the boy, because after all why did he board the train again if his initial goal was to head home I guess, why would he board the same train?
After I rewatched the beginning to check something (I forgot what I wanted to check but it was still worth it to rewatch the beginning). In the beginning the scenes are practically the same (as they were just recycled in the ending when switched to POV lol) however what I noticed is that when he scrolled on his phone at the beginning some anomalies were there like I saw the giant rat with the human ear and the beach he dreamed from. Furthermore, I think when we are able to see him through the reflections of the door's windows we can see that he doesn't wear a bag (or its straps aren't visible because they are really similar colours to his jacket). This either was a film mistake or intentionally to show that the ending and the beginning are practically the same, as his bag isn't visible until the POV switches.
So my main theory is that the guy is aware of being stuck in a loop and perhaps boarded the same train to reenter the place to look for the boy. After all a call with his girlfriend was already an anomaly, and both times, so when he was stuck in the exit and at the end, there were baby screams coming from the phone even tho I assume the baby wasn't born yet as there were none at the beginning. But if you have other information I missed because of the language barrier feel free to correct me.
However as already said this movie was very great and blew my expectations, will we get to see a second movie (not necessary tbh) where the ML is still looking for the boy? If the boy is his child I still don't know why he wasn't an anomaly.. For a monent I thougth the ML would've died in the tsunami and the boy survived, which could make sense as the FL already is pregnant and the boy could come to existence by exiting. However my biggest fear was that the FL would've lost contact to him (as he died in the loop) right after she told him she's pregnant which would've probably led to even worse things.
Was this review helpful to you?
Very unexpected plot!
This movie really has an unexpected plot. Unlike other thrillers, everything was very exciting and it didn't feel like the movie was too long or had unnecessary side plots.Furthermore, the movie managed to despict the true nature of politicians while also showing how hard their decisions must be.
In the end, it was a really hearthwarming story and more than just a regular action movie. However in the end, I still do not understand: why was the ransom so high? As said, inflation adjusted, it is 70x higher than in the 1975 scenario. If there really were no big intentions, why is the ransom so high and not just an understandable amount?
Was this review helpful to you?
Great YouTube Show
I usually don't watch Korean shows but am watching Tsuki's Workdol because of how great it is. It is VERY funny, it includes a lot of comedy - but luckily not this forced comedial genre but it's a genuinely funny show. Tsuki is very charismatic and her personality is obviously carrying the show, even though it was great with the other MCs too, like recently other idols from Babymonster.However not only is it a funny show but also informative, especially for those wanting to learn more about Korea. It offers great insight on the job market and how the daily life in Korea is. Funny enough is that Tsuki, Japanese, is teaching more about Korea than any other idol (in my eyes).
I hope Tsuki will never stop being that outgoing and funny - that way Workdol will continue being a great show (at least compared to other idol-ran shows)
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
I am eagerly waiting for the 2nd movie :)
Usually I don't like horror movies however I stumbled across this one when I was watching another movie. The story and description of the movie was very captivating and it didn't disappoint me! The story is very unique and I haven't seen something like this yet.What I can say is that the plot is very good and it is more than just horror: there is an actual cute story line and character development. Seeing things like outsiders joining a friend group with class presidents under these scary circumstances made this something fun to watch. However what it lacked in my opinion was more realism in the story line, because it felt like they would just take dying every day until they finish the Body Search. The beginning and introduction into the Search was pretty cut short. Nevertheless it was a good movie and everything was good. As I'm not that much into JDramas I can't say anything about the actors or music, however it felt decent.
As for me, the ending wasn't really necessary. But knowing that there is a 2nd movie the ending probably was just a reference for the movie. In my opinion the 2nd movie will be similar, however now the FL of the 1st movie is the one dead! I don't know why she died, but it seems like that maybe we don't know everything about the actual ending. At first some people disappeard when they were eaten and then they didn't disappear? Maybe there is more to the ending..
Thanks for hearing my opinion and I hope you will share your opinion on the movie too, to support the actors 🙏
The movie seems pretty unnoticed overseas, just 6,000 watchers for this good movie
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Disappointment
I didn't bother to watch EP2 and I think I'll drop:the first half of EP1 was great and couldve been a perfect opening for a time-travel revenge drama like Reborn Rich.. Jang Da Ah would've been perfect cast for both timelines like back then when Song Joong-ki aced Reborn Rich. The cast was all that made Reborn Rich perfect and here it could've been perfect too.
I'm not saying Jang Da-Ah's acting was perfect in EP1 it really felt bad compared to how she acted in Pyramid Game. However I won't criticize her acting because the opening was great nevertheless and she just didn't have a proper chance to show her skills.
The 2025 scenario just messed up by giving another twist etc... Instead of having her time travel the 26 years or just wake up in another body or something like in Reborn Rich they just messed it up and lowered the excitement. I understand that this drama is probably just going to be about the integration of a ex-star into society as an average woman or something as they already implied 1999 was her all-time high of happiness in her life, however the opening was just too exciting.
I think there will still be some revenge aspects but then again without Jang Da Ah it will feel bad. The other cast is perfect too but I don't like the energy of the FL it's just too much of a romcom when they had such an opening for a revenge drama.
My guess: Director Choi probably hired someone to end super star Im Se Ra after she wasn't cooperative in being a pleasure to himself and his ultra rich clients or something and then the other star who saw Im Se Ra as competition took the role or something with her brother supporting this girl.. Not an amazing story but there's nothing else I could think of after this opening, however as said with Jang Da Ah it could've been better.. I'm not glazing her just saying I watched it mostly for her and because I expected something more than a romcom with it being the like 100th ish that dropped in Q3... Could've been the Reborn Rich of 2025!
Was this review helpful to you?
