luckz

Director's Cut is 2h31m.

It's a shame Netflix doesn't pick up stuff this old.

- what happened with the first 'bullet inside the wall'?
- why was their third member, Xiao Wu, even killed, and with what kind of silent crossbow bone bullet? if it was the police underling, none of this makes any sense.
- how can the mastermind hire to afford an expensive killer, Wang Hai?
- why did Wang Hai seek to kill Ding?
- why would a bone bullet be left in the 'pig shooting wall'? complete nonsense.

I don't think the untangled mystery plot makes much sense.

for The Twins Effect 1, The Twins Effect 2 and Twins Mission:
"Twins" in the title refers to the Cantopop group of the same name, lead actresses Charlene Choi and Gillian Chung. This one at least also has ... twins in the plot, lol.
(The plots of the movies are not related.)

for The Twins Effect 1, The Twins Effect 2 and Twins Mission:
"Twins" in the title refers to the Cantopop group of the same name, lead actresses Charlene Choi and Gillian Chung.
The plots are not related.

for The Twins Effect 1, The Twins Effect 2 and Twins Mission:
"Twins" in the title refers to the Cantopop group of the same name, lead actresses Charlene Choi and Gillian Chung.
The plots are not related.

I find it unclear why exactly the cop is arrested at the end: because he stole money, because he crashed his car, or because he brawled gangsters to the death instead of arresting them?
Dee's fate seems rather unclear, or it feels underwhelming to have "well, she's arrested and that's it" as a resolution.

Notably better than the usual 'Emperor' movies. Despite the relatively generic "good cop has to help his informant; any mistake by the informant may mean his death" premise, it's pretty suspenseful.
I didn't buy the supposedly emotionally charged subplots and would have preferred a different ending.

Something like an alternate ending: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wq29A4x5hl4

In the first minutes only:
- ML's rival announces he will leave his previous job where he just got promoted, and the employees APPLAUD IT?
- manager of ML's restaurant asks delivery chap if ordering fresh food online means you actually get it fresh, and of course the other person quickly ..delivers.. a product placement for ..... I'm not even sure. a shopping portal? the delivery service? the idea of buying ingredients online?
- big fish is split in two at the fish market, and somehow returns in one piece shortly after.
- following that, a local politician falls from the heavens to deliver a speech about how a cooking competition will decide the fate of the universe


The visual presentation is very good, but don't expect much from the plot.


Is the movie originally in Cantonese? The Mandarin version felt off.

Chicago Typewriter is IMO a far better show than Oh My Ghost(ess), really solid overall, but it's not a show focused on ghosts.

Black had the potential to be in the top 3 dramas or so for me, but I really hated the ending.

KR: https://kisskh.at/5534-heavens-soldiers

-> https://kisskh.at/21585-g.i.-samurai

It's shown in the show as a sort of battling his inner evil, with the help of FL, but it's about using unnecessary violence on people threatening his family and not checking the boxes of https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/psychopathy .

missing:
- day of the murder of FL's parents is never fully explained, nor is the build-up. I kept hoping to learn in how far it was fully planned or spontaneous, or how & when all relevant characters even get there.

bugs:
- EP13, at 54:49 – a dead person's hand shoots up. very curious.

pros:
- the majority of the time, the actors do a very good job and the directing is on point as well.
- FL does not make wailing or squealing noises while crying. she doesn't cry non-stop anyway.
- grisly murders don't make a good place for excessive product placement *

neutral:
- you won't find "memorable K-drama songs" here.

cons:
- especially with regards to antagonist plans, police negligence and selfish journalists, this show gets WAY too makjang. ridiculously implausible things happen.
- the plot is dominated by a serial killer who hits people on the head with a hammer, yet the writers seem unaware that this can have other consequences than being dead or making a full recovery. a lot of the show is oddly black & white like that.
- disagreeing with what some other reviewers write, I was disappointed by the amount of dishonesty (hiding fears, pains, worries) between ML and FL.
- many of the side characters don't have a purpose outside their relationship to ML/FL. there aisn't anything like memorable comedy characters, either – both Pyo Taek and Chae So-Jin feel like they were at least in earlier drafts considered to achieve this.


*: FL's household has the same vacuum cleaner in two different colours in one spot, and then another characters later on also wields that very same model.


--
spoiler stuff in reply

After about 36 minutes in, Hon as the antagonist is dead, and all appearances of him are the 'evil side' of the protagonist Dave.

I don't really understand the 'diamonds issue' early on: at 4:25, does Hon kill Undertaker because he wanted the others not to know about the diamonds? But they all do later on. (Had to re-watch 2:25 to see who wears which mask to even get that far)

At ~33 minutes, it's not clear to me how & why the others want to ambush / rob / kill Hon. Does he notice just based on them holding handguns?

Major spoiler next:

A bit much silly CGI, an overall gripping story, and acting that's not pure clowning around. Unlike some IMDb reviewers, I really didn't like the body cam part.

Fully understanding the story might require rewinding to earlier moments once or twice.