Local Hero (2016)

There are dramas that start good and become great. And there are dramas that start average and become... really bad. Sadly, Local Hero belongs to the latter. As much as I wanted to prove all those negative opinions otherwise, I just had no chance. It's a wonder that I actually finished the drama although my interest and concentration vanished halfway through.

I feel bad for rating a drama so low because I know that the actors and directors and producers usually put alot of effort in their projects. But I couldn't help myself and I should have known better after seeing the first action scene in the first episode.

So, where to start...
Well, first of all: The drama didn't seem to know what genre it was in. Crime? Suspense? Romance? Comedy? Ridiculous twists? Nothing matched the other. Even if a drama has various genres combined, there should at least be some common vibe during the whole drama. But that wasn't the case.

The plot.
At the beginning it seemed interesting but as it continued it looked like the writers only thought about the next episode but not about the bigger picture. So, everything looked kinda messed up. There were plot-holes and strange behavior by side characters and turns of events that didn't make sense at all. As it went further ahead it just couldn't pull off the excitement and suspense because of all those absurd things that happened as the story continued.

The cast/The acting.
I really, really wanted to give them a chance. It's Park Shi Hoo finally again, dammit. But even he couldn't convince me at at all in the end. His acting wasn't what it used to be back then (That doesn't mean I won't try out other new projects of him though)
I got annoyed by many ridiculous, shallow characters, but most of all by Seo Ahn played by Choi Yoon So. It seemed like she only had one facial expression. She had ALWAYS the same stare. Furthermore, since she was supposed to be the love interest for Baek Shi Hoon (Park Shi Hoo), she had no chemistry with her co-actor. NOTHING.

Choi Chan Gyu was just dump. The actor himself even admitted that he played a dump character who's only good at running. (Well, I'm sure he meant that in a good way. Not me though)

Writer Bae played by Kwon Yu Ri... well, she was average. She had my support regarding a possible love interest but she couldn't keep that up as her character didn't develop at all. But there was definitely more chemistry between her and Park Shi Hoo than with Seo Ahn.

The only one I really, really liked here (among some other side characters) was police officer In Tae Ho (Jo Sung Ha) and his family. All of them were very adorable. He was the only one who actually showed reasonable inner conflicts and a change of heart in the end.

Also, that one bad guy. Yoon Sang Min (Yoon Tae Young) showed more than just one side of him and the actor was convincing in his role.

I'm not blaming all of it on the acting. I'm partly putting the responsibility for the drama's failure on the directing and script. They didn't do a proper job here and they certainly didn't use the full potential of all those (usually) very good actors. There were scenes where they could have shown more emotion whereas in some other moments half of it would have been sufficient.

Action scenes/cinematography:
Bad. Just bad. Camera movements were too shaky. I know that it's also a method to create some mood but in this show it was too much and made the action scenes become either very blurry or just too vivid (not realistic). It also made the fighting scenes look visibly staged or out of focus.

Music:
Well, it wasn't bad but sometimes it was kinda over-dramatized.

Re-watch value.
Not. At. All. Wasted time in my opinion.

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Local Hero is an OK drama. It was hard getting through the first 5 episodes, but it got better after that. The story is interesting and for the most part well written. Beyond being a spy/suspense drama, the neighborhood togetherness and supporting cast stories are more enjoyable. It is weird for me to write that because normally I feel like a lot of characters and side stories are unnecessary in a drama. This time they ARE the story. The whole point is to protect the people and it was nice to get to know the people that are being protected both good and bad. I also liked the dynamics between all of the characters and the character development. It ended as I thought it would.

It was interesting seeing Park Shi Hoo in a drama after his big "scandal". I have always thought he was cute and a good actor. Nothing has changed. Lee Soo Hyuk was excellent as cute, conflicted but loyal Choi Chan Gyu. The other actors are good too.

Yoon Tae Young as Yoon Sang Min stole the show. I know he was a bad guy, but I was totally infatuated with him from beginning to end. He is pretty much the only character that I cared about. I think it was worth watching this drama for him alone.

The music is good in this also.

I won't rewatch this.

If you enjoy community and action dramas, then I think you would enjoy this.

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