This show has become enjoyable only as a mockery-based hate-watch. lol
As the plot becomes more intense the inability of the leads to meet the demands of story and script grow ever more glaring. The bad acting has become embarrassing for them...and me. :)
The story itself could have been gripping; full of wild, sexual/emotional/psychological elements that should have been intense and deliciously disturbing. As played by these middle school-level actors under the direction of an apparent hack, all the dark material becomes laughable. All the five minute-long pauses during melodramatic scenes of past revelations remind me of old American soap operas, when the actors had to pause and stare at each other as the action faded to a commercial break. lol
Takamatsu Aloha, despite his beautiful face, body and name, is really, really bad in this part. Utterly out of his depth. His big breakdown scene after the meanie mommy slapped him remains the most awful, but there have been many other scenes of near-equal levels of FAIL.
I like when Sakurai Yuki resorts to classic, Japanese shriek-acting. He is so bad at it that it makes me laugh and I like to laugh. Also, he finally produced a tear but I'm pretty sure that was as a result of a tear-stick held beneath his eyes. HIs face remained passive as the director got his take of the tear rolling down his cheek. :)
Anyway, this is bad, but has become so bad that it's good, especially since the leads are hot and otherwise visually appealing.
BTW, why has Ren STILL not picked up the freaking phone to call Kazuma? There is no practical, psychological or emotional reason for him not to do so. He just hasn't. Why is he staying with the delightfully evil Yagami who is bad news all-round? Are we to believe that Ren, who has been wildly successful for some time as artistic director of an apparently successful ad agency, has no money, none at all, to pay for a hotel?
If he is just so completely messed up in the head as the reason to be doing that, it doesn't show in the writing or the acting. He's hiding out, but why? He's leaving the firm, why? And now he's apparently going to let himself be slapped around and you know what by that measly little office manager...why? He has no muscles? He can't get off the floor or fight back? Please.
Oh, and Ren punching Yagami in the stomach was the comedic highlight of episode 7! At first, I thought it was written as a joke but no, we were supposed to believe that was a real punch, strong enough to cause Yagami to double over. puh-leeeeeease.
Finally, if Ren still loves Kazuma why has he been trying to do you know what with Yagami? So what if it failed to happen because Ren supposedly can't do it with anyone but Kazuma now? He still TRIED to do it multiple times, which if I were Kazuma would really piss me off and be the final straw indicating that Ren will only be worthy of all this trouble after a couple years in a good mental hospital to straighten him out.
Which leads to another final point: Like many Japanese gay dramas, this one has deliciously twisted shit going on. But the script is too censored and purified to tell the dirty story it is kinda/sorta trying to tell so we get a twisted-light version. To make an extreme comparison, imagine a middle school drama program putting on a parent-friendly, watered-down adaptation of "Dangerous Drugs of Sex." It would be about ten minutes long, which maybe is the length this show should have been.
Third final point: I have to love that the entire plot hinges on Ren being so sexually epic as a 14 year-old that his performance in the sack put Kazuma into a coma, leaving Ren to be slapped around by psycho doctors and parents who stood in a circle of judgement around him afterward. Comedy gold.
I agree about LJS. He is a case study of botox side effects! lol But I liked the movie and its plot.
Calm yourself and grow up. What, are you 13? Well, I'm a LOT older than 13 and I've seen that fake, Barbie-doll nose on 500 hundred Hollywood actors and K-Pop idol wannabees. It is not "slander" to state what one believes to be the truth, and this kid had half his nose cut off, probably while working under SM. They're good at pressuring trainees into plastic surgery on their already-beautiful noses, eyes and mouths.
No one has to have "proof" to state their opinion of what appears to be fact. If you're so certain he's had no work done, what are you all worked up about? Ignore the opinions of those you disagree with and take a nap.
What about plastic surgery is so bad that you think expressing the opinion that someone has had it is "slander?" lol Half the young people in Korea have had nose jobs and "double eyelid" surgery. And the Michael Jackson/Barbie style face they get as a result is what we see onscreen here with the unfortunate Lee Jong Suk.
I agree about LJS. He is a case study of botox side effects! lol But I liked the movie and its plot.
Calm yourself and grow up. What, are you 13? Well, I'm a LOT older than 13 and I've seen that fake, Barbie-doll nose on 500 Hollywood actors and K-Pop idol wannabees. The problem is not that LJS had a nose job; the problem is he had a BAD nose job, likely done by some hack who removes the noses from 30 trainee faces per month.
It is not "slander" to share what one believes to be the truth. This kid had half his nose cut off, probably while working under SM. They're good at pressuring trainees into plastic surgery on their already-beautiful noses, eyes and mouths.
No one has to have "proof" to state their opinion of what appears to be fact, but I just provided you plenty of it. If you're so certain he's had no work done, what are you all worked up about? Ignore the opinions of those you disagree with and take a nap.
On the other hand, what about plastic surgery is so bad that you think expressing the opinion that someone has had it is "slander?" lol Half the young people in Korea have had nose jobs and "double eyelid" surgery. And the Michael Jackson/Barbie style face they get as a result is what we see onscreen here with the unfortunate Lee Jong Suk. What's extra sad is that most of them looked great BEFORE the work. LJS stands out as a plastic surgery victim in V.I.P. precisely because he is surrounded by older, handsome actors who have NOT had plastic surgery and still look like real people.
I agree about LJS. He is a case study of botox side effects! lol But I liked the movie and its plot.
He IS a good actor, but if you don't think he's had plastic surgery you are being naive. That Barbie-doll nose does not exist in nature. His lips are packed full of collagen too. Too bad, as I'm sure he was handsome before-hand and will now look stranger as he gets older. I've seen this nose a zillion times on K-Pop stars and Hollywood actors.
I agree about LJS. He is a case study of botox side effects! lol But I liked the movie and its plot.
Don't know if you're still around, but to me the problem is not botox, it's that SM or one of the other management agencies he was under talked him into having half his nose removed. I think his lips here are near-exploding with collagen too. In profile he looks like a Barbie doll. Sad too, as I'm sure he was handsome before disfiguring himself.
Wow. Near-flawless political/criminal thriller. Don't know what else I could ask for. Have so state again how I NEVER watched this sort of thing before discovering Asian cinema. Whatever Hollywood gets wrong with this kind of thing, at least as it concerns me, Korean/Japan get every damn thing right.
What a kick-ass cast, eh?
It really is too bad that SM Entertainment or one of the other despicable Korean entertainment giants, had half of Lee Jong Suk's nose removed. He played the part of the psychopath very well, but every time he was in closeup all I saw was an extreme nose-job and lips pumped full of collagen. In profile, he looks like a Barbie doll. As he matures, he is going to regret having that shit done to his face.
Dropping halfway through. For me, the focus isn't staying tightly enough on the relationship between the ML and the little girl. Too much predictable, wonderful-people-in-the-country schmaltz to keep my interest all the way.
The ML is very appealing, the little girl is adorable and is acting the deaf/blind thing very well. Just not working for me enough to see it through.
There is nothing hotter than watching Gong Woo run full-out in his tight suit pants. The man is beyond fine. And a great actor too, as demonstrated in other non-walking-dead-people movies.
I am not a big fan of zombie flicks in general but there are a few that left me breathless. Listed below by preference:
Train To Busan World War Z 28 Days Later 28 Weeks Later Shaun of the Dead
That's it. There are five zombie movies I consider worth watching. Train to Busan is #1 on that list.
This was hardly portrayed as being as easy as "changing clothes." If you have to misrepresent what it is you're…
Gosh, here you are again replying to me and beating up on me and trying to provoke me again...I guess because you're very mature and have lots of other things to do. 😂😂😂
Kim Nam Gil is a fave actor of mine but this is a dull slog. I like slow-burn films but they have to be done well. This one isn't. Sloppy script confuses having HIV with having AIDS from the beginning.
Apparently, the FL is a bad actress. See her in three flicks now; always something off about her performance. Her early confession to the magician scene in the van was embarrassing.
Excuse me. But in what way was switching identities here portrayed as being "easy?" Secondly, the point was clearly…
I'd argue that it's simply not possible for one human to share ALL of themselves with another. We are each an island, yes?
Given all we've speculated on, that bit at the end with cutting off the lawyer in mid-sentence seems a bit...cheesy.
How creepy was it when the bitch wife basically told the lawyer to "get over it and get back to being yourself?" Hell, she doesn't care if that other self he's been presenting is authentic or not, it's the one that fits her expectations and that's all that matters to her. She made not one effort to comfort him or talk him through his angst.
Plus, he made it clear, even though he denied it, that part of his obsession was a feeling that he was running away from...HER.
Honestly, I thought the lawyer's dad also killed someone. I could be remembering it incorrectly, but as I watched I saw the lawyer pause to look at himself in the reflection of a window and what he saw was a young boy. Then the young boy started walking and it became the scene where he comes home to a bloody hell. So how is it the memory of the lumberjack if it's the lawyer's reflection we see have that experience?
To me, that was why the lawyer does what he does professionally...he too is very conflicted about who he is genetically as tied to a killer. No?
Excuse me. But in what way was switching identities here portrayed as being "easy?" Secondly, the point was clearly…
Well, I took the twist to be that the lawyer had assumed another identity, married the mom and was raising the older boy and little girl with her. But I saw your message to me and it's more likely he's just fantasizing about living some life, combining that of the hot springs owner's brother and the dead lumberjack. But why would he stay with that bitch wife of his after finding out she was cheating on him?
However, if he really was with the mom and kids at the end, what would he be doing sitting alone in a bar at night drinking when he could be home with them? It seems he's probably divorced and living a very lonely existence. So why not calm the mom and hookup with her?
Did you take from flashbacks that the lawyer was also the son of a murderer? The one who came to find his dad covered in blood, who handed him bloody money? I probably need to rewatch the whole flick, actually, now that I'm wondering these things.
This was hardly portrayed as being as easy as "changing clothes." If you have to misrepresent what it is you're…
It's always entertaining when people waste time posting replies to other people to tell them they won't be "wasting time" replying to them anymore. lol Got it.
This was hardly portrayed as being as easy as "changing clothes." If you have to misrepresent what it is you're…
Don't call me "sweetie," Sweetie.
You said switching identities was represented in this movie as being "as easy as changing clothes." That is a deliberate mischaracterization of what was shown in the plot, Sweetie, and thus the point you are trying to make is lame.
You think just because of digital tech, facial rec, etc. that switching identities is impossible. I disagree. There are ALWAYS people who are three steps ahead of the tech we know about and who know how to get around it...Sweetie.
"The script was so bad that Kim Hyung Min forgot to act. Joo Young Soo also had zero depth, unrootable, and was the same zzzzz character throughout."
lol It's clear you have no idea what you're babbling about. The fact you're a fan of the Vengeance trilogy is evidence enough that you have scenery-chewing and acting confused as being the same thing. They're not.
Kim Myung Min is a spectacularly talented and effective actor. I saw him a couple of days ago as Korea's president in "Pandora." He nailed that role just as well as he did this one.
His incredible hotness lies not so much in his looks, though those don't hurt either, but in his natural charisma, charm and ability to naturalistically evoke emotions. I 100% believe him in every role.
The only drawback to this movie are a couple of plot contrivances I could have done without. Other than that, just a great flick. The girl, the mother, the detective, the kidnapper, all are beautifully acted.
The fact that the wife was cheating on Kido was disgusting and made me so mad. My head canon is that he assumes…
I agree with your "head canon," lol
However, I'd suggest you ease up on judging other people and their behavior as "disgusting." You might find yourself on the other side of that judgementalism one day. Or are you not human? Given earlier hints as to that person's character and priorities, the behavior in question did not come as a surprise and gave the other party a perfect reason to escape from an unhappy situation. Looked at in that way, the behavior was actually a good thing, no?
Okay but not great given this movie won many awards in Japan. I wonder did people in Japan can easily impersonate…
Excuse me. But in what way was switching identities here portrayed as being "easy?" Secondly, the point was clearly made that if someone began to really dig into a false identity with the aim of getting at the truth, then all was likely to be revealed. But in how many cases does that happen? 99% of people we meet take us to be who we say we are, and vice-versa.
And as for the very final twist, I'm pretty sure the dude, being an expert in the field, covered his tracks with the utmost perfection. He will never be found out.
1 
1 
As the plot becomes more intense the inability of the leads to meet the demands of story and script grow ever more glaring. The bad acting has become embarrassing for them...and me. :)
The story itself could have been gripping; full of wild, sexual/emotional/psychological elements that should have been intense and deliciously disturbing. As played by these middle school-level actors under the direction of an apparent hack, all the dark material becomes laughable. All the five minute-long pauses during melodramatic scenes of past revelations remind me of old American soap operas, when the actors had to pause and stare at each other as the action faded to a commercial break. lol
Takamatsu Aloha, despite his beautiful face, body and name, is really, really bad in this part. Utterly out of his depth. His big breakdown scene after the meanie mommy slapped him remains the most awful, but there have been many other scenes of near-equal levels of FAIL.
I like when Sakurai Yuki resorts to classic, Japanese shriek-acting. He is so bad at it that it makes me laugh and I like to laugh. Also, he finally produced a tear but I'm pretty sure that was as a result of a tear-stick held beneath his eyes. HIs face remained passive as the director got his take of the tear rolling down his cheek. :)
Anyway, this is bad, but has become so bad that it's good, especially since the leads are hot and otherwise visually appealing.
BTW, why has Ren STILL not picked up the freaking phone to call Kazuma? There is no practical, psychological or emotional reason for him not to do so. He just hasn't. Why is he staying with the delightfully evil Yagami who is bad news all-round? Are we to believe that Ren, who has been wildly successful for some time as artistic director of an apparently successful ad agency, has no money, none at all, to pay for a hotel?
If he is just so completely messed up in the head as the reason to be doing that, it doesn't show in the writing or the acting. He's hiding out, but why? He's leaving the firm, why? And now he's apparently going to let himself be slapped around and you know what by that measly little office manager...why? He has no muscles? He can't get off the floor or fight back? Please.
Oh, and Ren punching Yagami in the stomach was the comedic highlight of episode 7! At first, I thought it was written as a joke but no, we were supposed to believe that was a real punch, strong enough to cause Yagami to double over. puh-leeeeeease.
Finally, if Ren still loves Kazuma why has he been trying to do you know what with Yagami? So what if it failed to happen because Ren supposedly can't do it with anyone but Kazuma now? He still TRIED to do it multiple times, which if I were Kazuma would really piss me off and be the final straw indicating that Ren will only be worthy of all this trouble after a couple years in a good mental hospital to straighten him out.
Which leads to another final point: Like many Japanese gay dramas, this one has deliciously twisted shit going on. But the script is too censored and purified to tell the dirty story it is kinda/sorta trying to tell so we get a twisted-light version. To make an extreme comparison, imagine a middle school drama program putting on a parent-friendly, watered-down adaptation of "Dangerous Drugs of Sex." It would be about ten minutes long, which maybe is the length this show should have been.
Third final point: I have to love that the entire plot hinges on Ren being so sexually epic as a 14 year-old that his performance in the sack put Kazuma into a coma, leaving Ren to be slapped around by psycho doctors and parents who stood in a circle of judgement around him afterward. Comedy gold.
Well, I'm a LOT older than 13 and I've seen that fake, Barbie-doll nose on 500 hundred Hollywood actors and K-Pop idol wannabees. It is not "slander" to state what one believes to be the truth, and this kid had half his nose cut off, probably while working under SM. They're good at pressuring trainees into plastic surgery on their already-beautiful noses, eyes and mouths.
No one has to have "proof" to state their opinion of what appears to be fact. If you're so certain he's had no work done, what are you all worked up about? Ignore the opinions of those you disagree with and take a nap.
What about plastic surgery is so bad that you think expressing the opinion that someone has had it is "slander?" lol Half the young people in Korea have had nose jobs and "double eyelid" surgery. And the Michael Jackson/Barbie style face they get as a result is what we see onscreen here with the unfortunate Lee Jong Suk.
Well, I'm a LOT older than 13 and I've seen that fake, Barbie-doll nose on 500 Hollywood actors and K-Pop idol wannabees. The problem is not that LJS had a nose job; the problem is he had a BAD nose job, likely done by some hack who removes the noses from 30 trainee faces per month.
It is not "slander" to share what one believes to be the truth. This kid had half his nose cut off, probably while working under SM. They're good at pressuring trainees into plastic surgery on their already-beautiful noses, eyes and mouths.
Check out pics of LJS before and after his nose job and eye surgery:
https://www.plasticsurgerypeople.com/lee-jong-suk-before-and-after/
No one has to have "proof" to state their opinion of what appears to be fact, but I just provided you plenty of it. If you're so certain he's had no work done, what are you all worked up about? Ignore the opinions of those you disagree with and take a nap.
On the other hand, what about plastic surgery is so bad that you think expressing the opinion that someone has had it is "slander?" lol Half the young people in Korea have had nose jobs and "double eyelid" surgery. And the Michael Jackson/Barbie style face they get as a result is what we see onscreen here with the unfortunate Lee Jong Suk. What's extra sad is that most of them looked great BEFORE the work. LJS stands out as a plastic surgery victim in V.I.P. precisely because he is surrounded by older, handsome actors who have NOT had plastic surgery and still look like real people.
Have so state again how I NEVER watched this sort of thing before discovering Asian cinema. Whatever Hollywood gets wrong with this kind of thing, at least as it concerns me, Korean/Japan get every damn thing right.
What a kick-ass cast, eh?
It really is too bad that SM Entertainment or one of the other despicable Korean entertainment giants, had half of Lee Jong Suk's nose removed. He played the part of the psychopath very well, but every time he was in closeup all I saw was an extreme nose-job and lips pumped full of collagen. In profile, he looks like a Barbie doll. As he matures, he is going to regret having that shit done to his face.
9.5/10
For me, the focus isn't staying tightly enough on the relationship between the ML and the little girl.
Too much predictable, wonderful-people-in-the-country schmaltz to keep my interest all the way.
The ML is very appealing, the little girl is adorable and is acting the deaf/blind thing very well.
Just not working for me enough to see it through.
I am not a big fan of zombie flicks in general but there are a few that left me breathless. Listed below by preference:
Train To Busan
World War Z
28 Days Later
28 Weeks Later
Shaun of the Dead
That's it. There are five zombie movies I consider worth watching. Train to Busan is #1 on that list.
9.5/10
Apparently, the FL is a bad actress. See her in three flicks now; always something off about her performance. Her early confession to the magician scene in the van was embarrassing.
So...dropping. 1/10
Given all we've speculated on, that bit at the end with cutting off the lawyer in mid-sentence seems a bit...cheesy.
How creepy was it when the bitch wife basically told the lawyer to "get over it and get back to being yourself?" Hell, she doesn't care if that other self he's been presenting is authentic or not, it's the one that fits her expectations and that's all that matters to her. She made not one effort to comfort him or talk him through his angst.
Plus, he made it clear, even though he denied it, that part of his obsession was a feeling that he was running away from...HER.
Honestly, I thought the lawyer's dad also killed someone. I could be remembering it incorrectly, but as I watched I saw the lawyer pause to look at himself in the reflection of a window and what he saw was a young boy. Then the young boy started walking and it became the scene where he comes home to a bloody hell. So how is it the memory of the lumberjack if it's the lawyer's reflection we see have that experience?
To me, that was why the lawyer does what he does professionally...he too is very conflicted about who he is genetically as tied to a killer. No?
However, if he really was with the mom and kids at the end, what would he be doing sitting alone in a bar at night drinking when he could be home with them? It seems he's probably divorced and living a very lonely existence. So why not calm the mom and hookup with her?
Did you take from flashbacks that the lawyer was also the son of a murderer? The one who came to find his dad covered in blood, who handed him bloody money? I probably need to rewatch the whole flick, actually, now that I'm wondering these things.
Not gonna argue with you. There are always people who are three steps ahead of what we think is "current" tech.
You said switching identities was represented in this movie as being "as easy as changing clothes." That is a deliberate mischaracterization of what was shown in the plot, Sweetie, and thus the point you are trying to make is lame.
You think just because of digital tech, facial rec, etc. that switching identities is impossible. I disagree. There are ALWAYS people who are three steps ahead of the tech we know about and who know how to get around it...Sweetie.
lol It's clear you have no idea what you're babbling about. The fact you're a fan of the Vengeance trilogy is evidence enough that you have scenery-chewing and acting confused as being the same thing. They're not.
His incredible hotness lies not so much in his looks, though those don't hurt either, but in his natural charisma, charm and ability to naturalistically evoke emotions. I 100% believe him in every role.
The only drawback to this movie are a couple of plot contrivances I could have done without. Other than that, just a great flick. The girl, the mother, the detective, the kidnapper, all are beautifully acted.
9/10
However, I'd suggest you ease up on judging other people and their behavior as "disgusting." You might find yourself on the other side of that judgementalism one day. Or are you not human? Given earlier hints as to that person's character and priorities, the behavior in question did not come as a surprise and gave the other party a perfect reason to escape from an unhappy situation. Looked at in that way, the behavior was actually a good thing, no?
And as for the very final twist, I'm pretty sure the dude, being an expert in the field, covered his tracks with the utmost perfection. He will never be found out.