274
654
136
12
13
14
12
3
10
32
6
14
1
2
17
25
2
8
5
2
4
2
2
4
7
1
2
4
7
19
19
36
Childish and empty of content.
Level Up tried to have this quirky family drama vibe to it, with some over the top plot points and comedy taken from sitcoms, sprinkled with office romance, and it all just did not work out at all.The drama is full of childish conflict that would not happen in real life in that compaction. There is a difference between there being one egocentric and emotionally immature person, and the majority of the characters failing to act like grown up adults. This led to ridiculous conflicts that should have never happened, or at worst, been resolved during one scene. There was simply not enough content for 12 episodes, so every plot line seemed stretched, slow and meaningless.
I would be extremely cautious to call it office romance, because there was barely any romance and truly no chemistry between the main leads. We get the usual main couple, and both male and female lead having their own sidekick that is in one sided love with them. How cliché is that?
Do you want a well written and gradual character development? Not here. Level Up gives us the 3x speed last minute growth for the main cast, and we are supposed to just accept that after good 10 episodes of them acting like kids.
The acting ranged from good to mediocre (and I’m being nice here). Han Bo Reum, Kang Byul and Jung Soo Kyo served the best performances for sure. Sadly, with how Han Chul was written, Baro could barely show any skills. And Sung Hoon simply failed in the role. I don’t think his skills are good enough to pull off that awkward acting in his character portrayal. What they tried to achieve was something like Go Tae Rim in Legal High, but it ended up just looking like bad acting.
That said, the drama does look nice. The set designs were truly good. I see no flaws in the production value in terms of filming and the technical aspects. It all came down to poor writing, and no directing could fix that.
Overall, Level Up truly does not deliver in any aspect. It’s a show with a level of complexity and writing that would fit children's taste. Small problems exaggerated to ridiculous levels, while complex problems shown in a too simplistic way with miraculous resolution.
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This review may contain spoilers
It’s not a drama, it’s more of a life lesson.
Honestly speaking, I was not as charmed by it as many people, but I still see the value this show has and its perfect execution. It was not an exciting roller coaster that made you want more. It reminded me more of a cup of hot tea that you crave after an exhausting day.There is no real plot, and the whole show focused on the characters and their daily lives. One could assume it’s boring, but the realistic problems they are facing, the true emotions shown through the acting, and the inspiring dialogues serves all that one could ask for.
Turning on the episodes just felt like hanging out with friends - I laughed with them, cried with them, was frustrated and happy when they were. The show had this magical quality that made you feel part of it, included in whatever was happening on screen.
Realistically speaking, romance was the weakest part of the show. With Hye Ri and Joon Yeol dating in real life, their on screen chemistry has been just too strong. Personally, I was team Taek, with how the characters and the story was written, they just made more sense. That said, I could clearly see why so many people suffered from Second Lead Syndrome.
On the other hand, Reply 1988 gave me one of the realest representations of teenage crushes. The intense emotions, lack of maturity that goes into it. How one day you might like one person, to fall for someone else the next day. It all reminded me of my first crushes and how ridiculously over the top it all was back in the days.
My favorite stories did not even include the main teens. I was in love with all the ajummas and their husbands. Even the possibility of any of them getting hurt made me cry.
One complaint I would have - the episodes were too long. I’d rather have 24 episodes and none of them being longer than 1 hour and 30 minutes, than having some of the last episodes almost 2 hours long. Especially since it was a show I enjoyed watching before sleep, and sometimes I truly struggled to finish the episode without falling asleep.
Overall, I enjoyed it a lot. It’s hard for me to describe why. It’s just dear to my heart without me being able to verbalize why.
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Jokes aside, it was not an easy watch. The show is filled with workplace abuse and unfairness, with little happy moments. If you want an underdog winning at the end against all the odds, this ain’t that. Even the positive moments, mostly led to misfortune.
And yet I did not drop it, and it’s all thanks to the characters and their relationships. I guess there is something heartwarming seeing people suffering together and trying to survive the nasty environment. The writer made sure we knew the characters, they seemed real - someone we actually could meet in the office. This helped me relate to them and care for their journeys.
The relationship that interested me the most and slowly I started to pay a lot of attention to was Young Yi and Sung Joon. They had a really interesting dynamic and it was amazing to see the differences between their interactions depending on the situation.
What’s most important - the drama never felt preachy. It shows you various characters with different takes on life, different priorities and ways of dealing with problems and tasks. It highlights how the same trait can be both an asset and a setback, depending on the situation and people you interact with.
The acting left nothing to desire. I felt physically and emotionally exhausted just looking at Lee Sung Min - his performance being one of my favorites. I could just feel the frustration leaking through my screen while I was watching the show. I also enjoyed Kim Dae Myung’s portrayal of a slightly passive, but ready to give a logical and more objective advice Kim Dong Shik.
The whole OST is a masterpiece. While these are not songs I would put on my playlist and listen to, they all matched the tone of the show perfectly.
Overall, I suffered a lot while watching, no idea how I finished the show, and yet I could not rate it lower than 8. That’s the charm - you are grateful for the frustration it caused.
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I appreciated how often the trainees shown in Backstage were the ones who might have gotten less screen time during the episodes themselves.
Is it worth buying VIP just to watch it? No. But taking into consideration all the other additional materials linked to YWY Season 3 like Youth Party which are available for VIP users, all in all, it's worth the money - IF you like the program and the trainees themselves.
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Compared to other body swap comedies, The Dude in Me focuses mostly on Pan Soo’s story and his problems after he travels into Dong Hyun’s body. Even the stories that at first concern Dong Hyun, at the end were connected to Pan Soo himself through his relationship with other characters. It’s a one man story, sadly I was hoping for more of a duet, showing more evenly both sides of the swap.
Jung Jin Young did an amazing job portraying the characters, overshadowing even Park Sung Woong (let’s remember though, that he was far less involved in the story). He delivered with both comedy and action scenes, giving a well balanced performance.
One thing that I must complain about is the lack of redemption arc for Pan Soo. Everything just happens, without much of a reflection on his side. The opening scenes depicted him as too much of a villain, and later not enough work has been done to show him in a better light. The negative relationship between him and Dong Hyun’s dad was also brushed over and forgotten.
Overall: It’s, at times, a senseless comedy, but it will make you entertained. It works thanks to the good performance from the cast and reasonable duration - the movie does not drag.
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The plot was not paced well. I didn't care about the background story, since it was not gradually presented in an interesting way. There is nothing fresh nor groundbreaking about this concept, so one could at least expect amazing execution.
Technically speaking, the movie could still be interesting, if it had a well written set of characters. The Chosen: Forbidden Cave sadly, presents us with empty shells with no interesting traits. A good majority of the cast has a low level of energy, and the only character that presents a semi-personality is Joo Hye In, but even she has been toned down to just a background witness of the plot. While the cast is doing a good job, there is not much to the characters in the first place.
The soundtrack was questionable at best. The final confrontation became comedic with the choice of background music for it. Not to mention the CGI. The design for the demons was just a tragic miss.
Overall... don't watch it. There are better horrors that revolve around shamanism.
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The Rope Curse 2 for sure had a bigger budget than the first movie, but it also had worse scriptwriting and directing. Nothing felt connected, the big reveal about the evil being at the end was not set up properly through the film either. For me, it was just hard to care about anything happening on the screen, because I was not entertained or engaged.
The acting was passable. I have not seen Lee Kang Sheng in any other movie or show, so his questionable performance and somewhat weak line delivery might have been the result of poorly written script.
It honestly felt more like a US remake and not an Asian horror movie. It was filled with cheap jump scares, shallow characters, loosely connected plot points and lack of overall depth.
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