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If you put John Wick and Red Dead Redemption together...
...you get Song of the Bandits. Congrats! This is a good thing by the way. Will keep this review short & sweet since I'm a year late to watching it----but for people who haven't seen it yet, it's definitely worth your time.If you enjoy wartime dramas (specifically, Joseon era between late 1890s-1945), great action sequences, a lovable main cast/squad, casual plot twists and a badass male lead (Kim Namgil is the one who incited me to yell "John Wick?!" to my screen), this is an easy and satisfying binge. BTW, he is unbelievably attractive here (although he always has been).
Unfortunately, it was supposed to be 20 episodes but being forced to cut this down to 9 episodes is absolutely foul. Lee Yoon's squad has some of the most interesting written characters, yet we only get to understand their intentions on the surface. We really needed those 11 additional episodes to flesh out their backstories and help us understand why(?) and what(?) brought them to join hands with Lee Yoon. Let me feel their characters. Let me get attached to them, dangit.
I say this as someone whose favorite kdrama is Mr. Sunshine, so if you also really enjoyed that masterpiece, you will likely enjoy Song of the Bandits too. There's not much to critique personally, except for the obvious lack of backstory. For an already fast-paced kdrama I wouldn't have minded a slower pace for a much more fulfilling story. Netflix, when I get you....
Need that Season 2 badly. Please give it to us.
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You need a brain, your heart, and the guts to watch this
Dark and psychological, save for the glaring "thriller" tag. I should start by saying----this drama is for a mature audience.You are not just watching, but analyzing every subtle action, the twitch of a gaze, the cut of multiple scenes, a lieu of emotions that are never spoken but present in each character's eyes. There is so much hidden tension, betrayal, romance, and trauma waiting to spill out, but it never does and it leaves us, the audience, taking it all in instead. I felt very emotionally exhausted by the end, because Blood Free is a whole cinematic, intimate experience. This is very hard to achieve in a 10-episode series with a lot of sociopolitical world-building, by the way.
BF is more than just a company that discovered how to culture meat. It's a group of emotionally intelligent, successful individuals w bigger goals and intentions----the "meat" part of it was actually just to hook you in. It's highly political and delves into the power-hungry antagonists, but even I wasn't sure which side to be rooting for at first. They even had me questioning if curing world hunger through cultured meat was worth eliminating whole industries already in charge of it. Again, the meat plot is just to distract us because there's a hellhole to dive into in this mastermind of a company. Without a doubt though, CEO Yun Jayu is THE most badass woman in this universe.
No one in the team really says anything about themselves, but you can tell so much about what kind of character CEO Yun is (calm and calculative but a huge risk-taker), her bodyguard who is stoic yet has the cutest cat in the world, and her team, who had some of the best written (and developed) characters I've seen in a while. You can't really get too attached though.
I want to keep this review short and sweet----but basically, the first 2-3 episodes will tell you if this drama is for you. It's slow, and wants to make you feel every second of intensity and suspense, then suddenly moves on fast while you're still drenched and dwelling in it. It's mature, and requires you to take out your brain and critically think.
Like the cells that merge in cultured meat, you will be consumed by this drama. That's why I loved it so much, and hope people will be willing to unwrap the many layers of this sci-fi universe that mayyy not be so far from our reality after all.
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"I want to do everything in my power. No regrets."
I am one of those people who thought this was a kdrama, and when I finished this movie, I STILL think it should've been a kdrama.I was so intrigued by Kim Woobin's character, his friends, his boss and the people that surround him at work---I wanted to know their stories, their families, motivations and how they, too, might continue to inspire others. This is one of the major themes of the movie, which inspires us to find intention in what we do as a living beyond the simple happiness we might find from it. Because the one thing that transcends happiness is the ability to share the pouring passion from your heart and watch as this passion transfers and glows in someone else. Thanks to Officer Jeongdo's dad for that, by the way. Their scenes together as father and son made me cry.
As a sucker for action films, this definitely reached my expectations and I was excited to see how he combined moves from his holy trinity black belts in taekwondo, judo, and kendo. The action scenes were well-orchestrated and made it believable enough that he could take down tens of men at a time.
Now, the surface issue is presented as monitoring ex-convicts with ankle monitors for any suspicious activity, and to especially be on high alert for those with a high chance of committing the same crime. The deeper issue tackles at Korea's criminal justice system, which gives out way too generous sentences for serial rapists and rapists, period. 20 years for permanently damaging 15 children's lives really made me scoff.
But it's true, this is happening as we speak and it's important movies and dramas like this have been bringing light to the issue----recently No Way Out has done it as well. That's why I thought the movie deserved more storytelling that could possibly dive not just into our beloved main characters' lives, but also the journey to combating the system.
That's enough of my spiel though, and my real review is that this was a fast-paced, heavy-themed, but motivational movie. It makes room for you to ponder these issues like I did, appreciate the amazing action performances, and grieve after being emotionally wrecked. The lighthearted comedic moments give you a little bandaid in-between. I love Kim Woobin's simple-minded character so much, even his life motto is so simple, which is to "have fun" at everything he does. And it's crazy how much character development we got from him in less than 2 hours, because beyond this "fun" bloomed his purpose to continue serving, saving, and inspiring.
Hats off to this amazing cast for bringing this movie to life.
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