Real (2017)

This movie was a complete mess, with only the acting of Kim Soo Hyun that made it watchable.

Wow, what a terrible script. Nonsensical... and everyone who said you had to pay extremely close attention or watch it again to understand it MEANS IT IS A BAD MOVIE. I watched inception, thought it was an ok movie and the plot was easy enough to follow. This was purposefully vague because there was no good story to back it up. Mental illness and drugs are the bad guys. No subtlety at all.

The visuals are stimulating, but they can only get you so far when they relate to nothing. The movie is like watching a series of modern art paintings from a single artist but that has no context for the viewer to position them in.

I don't mind nudity or violence, and I love movies that are normally in this genre eg. Sin City. Here I thought the action senes were subpar and the nudity over the top. I did not believe the two main characters had feelings for each other at all. Sulli felt like she was an object of desire, and nothing else, and she said barely anything in the movie. If you asked me to describe any of the characters personalities I couldn't do it. I didn't feel anything for them because noone felt like a real person. There was no exploration of character, even though this is supposedly what it is all about!

One reason to watch - Kim Soo Hyun gets naked.

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Most reviews said that the plot was terrible and the director was a try hard with the artistic effects and poor action scenes but I tried it anyways because I was craving some badass noir with lots of action and hotness.
Acting from Kim Soo Hyun was 20/10, I was very impressed. He deserves far more movies and he obviously can handle dark/serious material. The international market needs a man like him as well, hello people. Everyone fit into their roles so no issue there, it's just pathetic that the director didn't use them as well as he did with KSMH, and even there that's just because the man is talented enough to pull double his own weight.
The plot was so poor it took more than half of the movie before you realized the parts all of the leads had potentially and then the last 30 minutes before you saw the plot's protagonist, the drug. By then it was too late to see where the drug had been foreshadowed and was a bit of a wtf even when you did care to think about it. It was far too weakly intertwined throughout the story for its importance to the whole scenario. You were also playing around with two MCs and apparently a third aka the real's alter ego who kept on popping up without any reasonable explanation which just made it all more confusing.
The fake and real were poorly managed as in how strongly they were to lead the plot and their relationship with one another. It started off with it being all about the real which is expected, then drifted into it being entirely about the fake even though real should still have been significant considering how the plot progressed, and then the very last scene is a ridiculous spiritual moment between the two which is stupid because they were never allowed enough interactions to get to that point. Kim Soo Hyun was outstanding as both, but it was obvious that his "real" character had so much more drive as a CHARACTER just by how it was written compared to the fake, but he wasn't given enough screen time to live it up. The potential the two characters could have had was sadly disappointed.
The two good scenes were the real/fake bathroom scene and Sulli's last moments with the fake because of the personal interactions going on; very important aspects to any movie because the characters are the life of stories.
The explicit scenes were rather meh imo. KSH and Sulli are beautiful people and were v pleasing to watch together but it was either not enough or the chemistry wasn't given enough coverage.
The director seemed carried away in his fascination with drugged up realities so all his artistic shots reflected that, but that was also unimpressive because it was so obvious and almost exaggerated. Even his action shots were attempts at art ugh. He had many "symbolic" shots which were either so drawn out or obvious that it basically took effort to connect it to a story that lacked any plot depth.

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So, why two out of ten stars for this movie? Because the performances were really good so I had to give them that.

However, the story was ... hmm ... complicated. It didn't make sense most of the time and when it finally did, it just wasn't worth the two hours plus that were wasted watching it. Some of the mature scenes were, I guess, there to make it more edgy, but, for real, there were just unnecessary. The action scenes were okay and the visuals really nice, but they seemed to focus more on them than the story, which was just thinly spread through this lengthy film.

So, overall, two out of ten.

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Wow...what a movie.

Now, before I start, I just want to say that this review is subjective. It is not a disincentive for you to not watch this movie.
Real, is one hell of a movie.
Real, in my mind, 1st watch, was about--sex, drugs, gambling, mob, Kim Soo Hyun. The amount of unrealistic bed scenes in here was too much. But I understand why it was added for some of them.
Real is confusing for me. Now after I was done watching the movie, I read some of the reviews listed underneath here. It makes sense now why Real was so confusing.
If you're looking for a movie that has a easy-to-grasp plot, this isn't it.
The plot is here, unlike what other said. It's just difficult to find. The writer/director decided to create this movie in a difficult way, therefore only few know what the plotline is.
That's why I wasn't one of them.
I couldn't grasp the plot until, what, maybe 10 minutes left of the movie? I had only just known, then, that Siesta was a drug used to get high. The antagonist plot, I didn't get at all. But, once again, if you pay attention to the movie (which I clearly didn't enough), you will understand the movie at a better level.
The acting--Kim Soo Hyun continues to impress me. He portrays the two characters so differently--without changing their physical appearance. The way the two talk, smack their gum in their mouth, their eyes and how they act on their own, their reactions to events--they are different. And that's something that I was amazed by. Jang Tae Young was acted greatly by him.

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Cynically ambiguous--just keep in mind it's about mental disorder.

without reading the reviews, maybe i too would be devastatingly confused. but knowing the plot about mental disorder, every event is understandable especially in conflicting with oneself who's REAL. In the end, one may be invincible and beating every conflict except the "self" and there's no other choice but to let it loose. nice adult movie and good actors.

I would agree with other reviews that the movie is quite dragging. 2 long hours is really too long to build the other self and to be in conflict to the old self or which one is the REAL self. but the ambiguity of the plot really depends on the viewers' perspective. looking at the BPD mental condition, every personality has its own fears that haunts them. it also has its own personal desires that they want to consummate. yet in the end, when these personalities collide, they can conquer all their fears and desires but they could not conquer themselves. (could not kill one other personality).

I haven't known the actors, main lead or support alike. i just stumbled in the recommendation from The Untamed chinese drama. Still, the casts portrayed their roles well, including the "heavy" scenes. I have been watching kdramas and kmovies in a typical conservative acting. that is why i admire the casts for having been performing the explicitly obscene erotic scenes.

Rewatch value supposedly low (4/10) but like what other clamor for not understanding the movie, i set it to 8. although i did not watch it again because you can understand the circumstances if you think that its about the mental disorder. if i haven't read previous reviews, i myself would watch it again just to understand the story. beyond that, i will not spend another 2hours to watch it again.

Overall, it's really a good movie depending on your own perspective towards BPD. It's up to you to read between the lines of the story. Again, just bear in mind that it is the about the one with mental disorder. With the character's mental condition, (between "the thug" and "the mummy") it's up to you also which one is REAL.

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I just dunno am a horny bitch and I thought it's a crime thriller...but dude? whatthe hell with the story?
Just enjoyed watching his chewing gum...and liked the mask...also those tattoo werent that goood so eeee
and man idk what to say about thiss..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

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