This review may contain spoilers
The film should be just named Song Joong-ki in Colombia…
It was just a normal wednesday evening when I decided that I would watch a movie. I knew about this piece for some time and it also has been in top 10 in my country so i just clicked on it and now Im disappointed.
But for the start lets name the positives of Bogota: City of the lost …
The sets overall look really aesthetic - the colours, the wild streets full of people and so on. The movie works very well with making the movie feel like it was a real Colombia (as far as I can tell). The main thing of the movie - the leading Song Jong-ki also didn’t disappoint with his skills in the “thriller”, “crime” genre. And that is about it if you ask me.
At the other hand if you tell me to imagine a “mid” movie this would be as of now on the top of my list.
Let me start with the bad aspect that in my opinion go hand in hand with the positives I named:
First the looks of the set made a good impression on me however the camera did not. It is a thing that I certainly really care about more than many people but hear me out. Every shot felt soooo boring, aside from few exceptions. The camera was still, and just wasn’t playfull at all - just concentrated on the people talking, and when they moved the camera moved and that’s it. If you have such a rich background why don’t you just film it properly? That is such a wasted potential - there were many repetitive smoking scenes, which could be at least filmed differently. Also sometimes I couldn’t just shake off the k-drama feeling - it was filmed just the same. Don’t take this the wrong way but I expect a bit more from a high-budget movie.
Next the screenwriting. I just got bored. The dialogues have no emotions in them, they just swear a lot and think this is the peak of acting as a gangster. The repetition of some words or phrases feels just forced - they always have to just remind us that we are in a Colombia, ok sherlock I had no bloody idea! The big flaw is also that the characters are flat as a piece of paper and I mean a white paper without any text on it. The screenwriter just relies on the actors but they have frankly nothing much to work with in my opinion - the actors in this movie feel like a single person, they all have kind of the same non-existent personality. Even the male lead dosen’t have chance to truly present himself and for me non of them felt relateable. Maybe that was because their whole personality was being a korean smuggler / seller in Colombia!
The story is nothing outstanding. It doesen’t even feel like the film has it honestly. There are few series of events that relate to each other but I don’t know if i can call it a proper story. That is the most evident flaw for me personally - the movie skips the most important events. Spoiler alert! For example the male leads father just becomec a hopless alcoholic but like when did it and why did it happen? Also male lead had grown into a very talented and powerfull smuggler with a load of conections on hand. When? Who knows, they even added a time skip in this case!
Maybe it is just me not really finding the movie interesting but the decisions of the characters are kind of a mystery unsolved and make no sense to me sometimes.
Lastly let’s just say it is a film you watch when you don’t want to think much. From this perespective it is fine I guess but from my perespective it has too many flaws, for a movie that i would call good. So do I think you should watch it? No, I can’t think of a audience this was meant for - the action is boring, the movie is filmed badly, the caharacters are non-existent, etc. I didn’t even need to deeply analyze this movie to tell that it is not the sharpest pencil in the case.
But for the start lets name the positives of Bogota: City of the lost …
The sets overall look really aesthetic - the colours, the wild streets full of people and so on. The movie works very well with making the movie feel like it was a real Colombia (as far as I can tell). The main thing of the movie - the leading Song Jong-ki also didn’t disappoint with his skills in the “thriller”, “crime” genre. And that is about it if you ask me.
At the other hand if you tell me to imagine a “mid” movie this would be as of now on the top of my list.
Let me start with the bad aspect that in my opinion go hand in hand with the positives I named:
First the looks of the set made a good impression on me however the camera did not. It is a thing that I certainly really care about more than many people but hear me out. Every shot felt soooo boring, aside from few exceptions. The camera was still, and just wasn’t playfull at all - just concentrated on the people talking, and when they moved the camera moved and that’s it. If you have such a rich background why don’t you just film it properly? That is such a wasted potential - there were many repetitive smoking scenes, which could be at least filmed differently. Also sometimes I couldn’t just shake off the k-drama feeling - it was filmed just the same. Don’t take this the wrong way but I expect a bit more from a high-budget movie.
Next the screenwriting. I just got bored. The dialogues have no emotions in them, they just swear a lot and think this is the peak of acting as a gangster. The repetition of some words or phrases feels just forced - they always have to just remind us that we are in a Colombia, ok sherlock I had no bloody idea! The big flaw is also that the characters are flat as a piece of paper and I mean a white paper without any text on it. The screenwriter just relies on the actors but they have frankly nothing much to work with in my opinion - the actors in this movie feel like a single person, they all have kind of the same non-existent personality. Even the male lead dosen’t have chance to truly present himself and for me non of them felt relateable. Maybe that was because their whole personality was being a korean smuggler / seller in Colombia!
The story is nothing outstanding. It doesen’t even feel like the film has it honestly. There are few series of events that relate to each other but I don’t know if i can call it a proper story. That is the most evident flaw for me personally - the movie skips the most important events. Spoiler alert! For example the male leads father just becomec a hopless alcoholic but like when did it and why did it happen? Also male lead had grown into a very talented and powerfull smuggler with a load of conections on hand. When? Who knows, they even added a time skip in this case!
Maybe it is just me not really finding the movie interesting but the decisions of the characters are kind of a mystery unsolved and make no sense to me sometimes.
Lastly let’s just say it is a film you watch when you don’t want to think much. From this perespective it is fine I guess but from my perespective it has too many flaws, for a movie that i would call good. So do I think you should watch it? No, I can’t think of a audience this was meant for - the action is boring, the movie is filmed badly, the caharacters are non-existent, etc. I didn’t even need to deeply analyze this movie to tell that it is not the sharpest pencil in the case.
Was this review helpful to you?
