entertaining to watch...
This review is going to be a pretty short one, considering I don't have a lot to say about it.#PLUSPOINTS
=> The music is pretty good, not exactly memorable but pretty decent.
=> The comedy in this series is absolutely hilarious and damn good.
=> The actors did a good job, especially Jo Bok Rae (Ko Yeong Hun) and Yoon Ga Yi (Park Mi Jeong).
=> The drama doesn't take itself very seriously, so you can just take a step back, relax, and enjoy it on a weekend or something.
#NEGATIVEPOINTS
=> The drama does involve a lot of cringy and cheesy scenes, but in my opinion, they can be pretty subjective, and you might not feel the same way.
=> This drama is enjoyable but not exactly memorable or anything. In my opinion, this is just a one-time watch and forget kind of drama.
#Verdict
=> I wouldn't recommend it to go out of your way and watch it, but if you've decided to watch it, the only thing I can say is that it's pretty good and you'll enjoy your time watching it.
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DESPERATELY NEEDED MORE RUNTIME
Introduction:Demon City is an action-packed revenge storyline based on a manga series, "Oni-goroshi" by Kawabe Masamichi. The original manga is still being published with 15 volumes already out in Japan. Due to it having no English translation, I'm unaware of how much of the manga they adapted, neither on how much they skipped. So, this review will be purely based on my opinion regarding this movie and not on it being an adaptation.
Story:
The story desperately needed more character development. Due to the restriction of the runtime, we hardly got to know any of the characters (even the protagonist Sakata Shuhei), their morals, emotions, feelings, goals, or even what drives them to do what they do. So, when these characters die, we as watchers feel nothing but emptiness, as we can neither relate to the pain of the ones they left behind, neither feel sad for the one that left. The story also had a lot of pacing issues, since the story spans decades (the main story spans less of a time period) and trying to cover a whole lot of developments in the story within a given time, leaves less time to give importance to a few minor yet important details that actually let the viewer take somewhat of a fresh breath.
Acting:
The acting in this movie was fairly decent. All of the actors did an amazing job at portraying their characters, especially Ikuta Toma (portrayed the protagonist). Ikuta Toma shined in the action sequences, the choreography, and every little movement he did just made looked so good on the screen. Also, the chosen weapon of the protagonist is really so good and the scene with the elevator where is sitting on the body (the one on the cover) looked dope as hell.
Direction:
The director did an amazing job with the action sequences and made it look so good on the screen. The action sequences are the only good thing that this movie has. The cinematography was also somewhat decent. Other than that, the director fumbled in everything else including the pacing and the character development.
Music:
The music was good, just nothing special that would stand out on its own to me.
Enjoyment:
This movie is somewhat enjoyable due to its excellent action sequences. It was the case for me at least.
Verdict:
It's not something extremely good or something that you have to watch but if you wanna watch it, just know that the only good things are the action sequences and if you were to only look at the action sequences, it's a decent watch.
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More of a Silent Film than a Silent Film itself
Being an introvert and an overthinker myself, this short film feels as if it knew me more than even I knew myself. Being able to understand every single emotion and thought process of a character with minimal dialogue isn't something to be taken lightly. It masterfully tells the storyline more through the visual senses more so rather than the auditory ones.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
A FAIRLY DECENT ADAPTATION!
[THIS REVIEW WILL DRAW COMPARISONS BETWEEN THE SOURCE MATERIAL AND THIS ADAPTATION]#WhatWasGood
==> Acting: Yamada Ryosuke's portrayal of Urashima Eiji was phenomenal to say the least. The ability of being able to portray two characters of such polarizing personalities shows his extraordinary capabilities as an actor. His transition from Urashima Eiji to B1 was simply flawless.
==> Foreshadowing: Since I had already read the manga before watching the drama, and was fairly familiar with the whole storyline and the plot twists it involved. I was able to see the brilliant foreshadowing that was done during the whole drama and was able to appreciate the story much more than before.
==> Urashima Oto's Motives: This was one of the things that, in my opinion, was not handled well in the manga and didn't provide a sufficient answer to the motivation for the character's actions. However, that was not the case for this drama adaptation as it takes the motivation found in the original source material and expands on it to provide a satisfactory answer for the audience.
#WhatWasMid
==> Music: The songs chosen for this drama adaptation were actually fairly decent, and the lyrics matched the main story ongoing in the drama, too. The problem was that they played it at pretty random places, which sometimes worked, and other times it was meh.
#WhatWasTerrible
==> Unanswered Questions: I came across two unanswered questions that were never explained in neither the manga nor this drama adaptation:
1). What happened to Kashiwagi, and why did his behaviour toward Urashima Eiji change so drastically?
2). Why did Yukimura Kyoka's mother abuse her during her childhood?
#ChangesFromTheSourceMaterial
==> Removal of the Character of Shinmyouji Rei: For those who don't know, there is a character by the name of Shinmyouji Rei who helps the main character throughout the story. Nami was only a minor character who appeared for a few chapters. The problem with this substitution is that what was supposed to be done by Shinmyouji Rei is mostly done by the main character himself and there doesn't seem to be any need for the character of Nami.
#Verdict
==> For Fans of the Manga: In my opinion, this is somewhat of a decent adaptation and is fairly enjoyable if you liked the source material.
==> For those who aren't Familiar with the Manga: If you can, I would recommend you to go and read the manga first since that is, in my opinion, far superior to this drama. But if you can't, then this is a good enough place to start. You can go and watch this drama.
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fun and quirky...
City Hunter is based on the Japanese manga of the same name and has been adapted numerous times into various different mediums, this movie being the latest in live-action format as of right now.I am somewhat familiar with the source material as I once watched an anime movie in the past that was based on this particular manga titled City Hunter Movie: Shinjuku Private Eyes. So, the perviness of the protagonist didn't seem strange to me but rather as an accurate depiction of the character as intended by the original author. The protagonist's duality is what provides a rather comedic relief to the story's somewhat dark and grim nature.
Story:
For me, the plot of the movie was good but not all that great or special. The main thing that I liked was the characters and their wackiness. For most serious stories, you usually see a side character being added along with the protagonist to provide some sort of comedic relief but City Hunter doesn't do that, it makes both the protagonist and the side character a comedic relief. Ryo obviously is the highlight in both being the central figure who is an all-cool and dashing mercenary and also the comedic relief of the movie itself.
Acting:
The main highlight of this movie is the brilliant performance of the actors themselves. Being able to adapt the quirky and wacky nature of the characters as presented in the manga into a film format is something incredible.
Direction:
The manga spans across a total of 35 Japanese tankōbon volumes and being able to adapt the basics of that story into a 1 hour and 42 minutes movie while still being able to keep it to a point where it does not get boring and neither feels as if any crucial information is being left out due to restriction of runtime shows the brilliance of the director. Also, the action sequences in this movie were really smooth and fluid including the hand-to-hand fight sequences and the guns-blazing ones
Music:
Throughout the movie, the soundtrack used is good but it didn't stand out to me in any way whatsoever except for the ending song, which was extremely good. I later found that this was a newly arranged version of the first ending theme for the anime. For those wondering about the title of the ending song, it is "Get Wild Continual" by 'TM NETWORK'.
Enjoyment:
This was a really enjoyable movie for me and I extremely enjoyed my time watching this.
Verdict:
For fans of the original manga, I would definitely recommend it as it is a good adaptation, and for those of you who are unfamiliar with the source material, it is a good watch but nothing way too extraordinary.
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THE WEAKEST LINK IN THE VENGEANCE TRILOGY
I have to admit that this is probably my least favorite movie out of the Vengeance trilogy. The most prominent weakness this movie has is its story which is just not as impactful as the previous ones. If we just look at it as a standalone movie and not as part of a trilogy, it is still not a great movie and comes along the definition of just ok enough.The second problem I have with this movie is its conclusion. When you've watched the other two movies in this trilogy, you kind of expect the ending to be unsatisfactory and gritty. But it just kind of changed that, it tried to make the ending satisfactory and didn't even succeed at that.
Final Verdict: I personally don't urge you to watch this. But if you've decided to watch this, I can only guarantee that it won't be completely bad.
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Review for Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002) by Park Chan Wook
Overview: This is my second Park Chan Wook's movie, the first one being Oldboy. I really enjoyed watching this movie, it was amazing. It really makes you feel confused as to who to root for since both sides were given an equal to shine on the screen.Direction: The director did a fantastic job at trying to capture the story of both sides beautifully. The thing that I can criticize the director on is probably his timing for cuts. He would just abruptly cut a scene at probably the most weirdest time possible which sometimes made the scene really hard to understand because some cuts even had a lot of time skip. The only cut that I can appreciate him on is towards the end which I can't say a lot about because I don't want to add spoilers.
Acting: The cast did an amazing job at acting most of the time. The actors did an amazing job of portraying emotions. However, I did spot a problem. I don't know if it's the director's fault or the actors. But in one of the introductory scenes, Ryu smiles as if he could actually hear the radio when in reality, he's supposed to be deaf.
Soundtrack: The soundtrack is good, it's just nothing special that actually stands out on its own.
Final Verdict: If you've decided to watch this movie, I recommend it to you and I guarantee that you'll not regret it.
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TRIES TO CURE THE CAT BUT BITES INTO IT
This is the classic case of a drama trying to break stereotypes but actually falls head down into it. At first, it roasts common romantic clichés found in these types of dramas but as it goes more into it, it just starts doing the same which makes it way more unbearable than it would've been otherwise.Plot: The plot was fairly similar to a historical fantasy romance (e.g. Destined with You), even though it had the addition element of being in a manhwa world, it was hardly able to use that plot point to any good and it just simply got wasted of any potential it had.
Acting: The acting was fairly decent overall and there are no points that I can raise against it other than the some scenes that were just written 'cringy'.
Music: The only good thing in the whole drama is the OST. The only reason I was able to bear this drama for so long was due to its good soundtrack.
Verdict: In my opinion, this drama starts out very strong but only goes downhill afterwards and somehow pulls itself up to the middle at the ending. So, this isn't a drama that I would recommend to someone hoping for a good time.
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