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Story: Fast paced and unpredictable, revenged themed, with an angsty love-line thrown in. The ending is WTF!
Acting/Cast: This my first Lee Byung Hun led drama. Well what an introduction it was! Not only is he good looking but he is an amazing actor that was made for this role. He had such an amazing chemistry with Kim Tae Hee. Although I really like her, I think Kim So Yeon kind of stole the show. All of the rest of the lead and supporting actors were perfect. They really casted this one well! Just be prepared to see some characters come and go...
Music: Actually a really good mix that fit when the mood changed (romantic to action scenes).
Rewatch: I loved the entire cast and the plot was exciting so I definitely will watch this one again but not for a bit case the ending left a bitter taste.
Final Thoughts: I dare anyone who hasnt seen this to give it a try if they want an exciting 20 hour ride!
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Of course, this is in the Korean style with some romance and melodrama blended in. Acting is top notch, with Byung-hun Lee in the lead role and a very good supporting cast: Tae-hee Kim (his love interest and fellow agent), Seung-woo Kim (a North Korean agent) and So-yeon Kim (as the gorgeous North Korean sniper). Production values are slick, the scoring is great at times, and the pacing is very fast for a K-drama with plenty of shootouts (a few of which are fantastic) and suspense. Storyline is cliched but the secret organization is intriguing and represents a brilliant little twist on the North/South Korean conflict. Consequently, the relationships between the characters change significantly in exciting ways and the viewer will have an emotional investment in the protagonists. Highly addictive stuff.
Production values are through the roof; various exotic locales, terrific cinematography, blazing gunfights and action scenes…they spared no expense here (for a TV series), and it definitely shows on screen.
Two marines who are friends get recruited by the NSS (National Security System). While there, they meet the primary love interest who is their sub section chief responsible for training them. The 2 friends quickly take to their new jobs as secret agents, and are soon deployed in the field. The NSS is primarily engaged with dealing with their North Korean counterparts, but, it soon becomes apparent there is a shadow organization at work behind the scenes known as Iris…the goal of Iris is too pretty much pit the 2 Koreas (and other nations) against each other, so they can profit and rise to world power.
After the botched mission by the 2 friends/leads, this show basically boils down to a matter of slowly uncovering what everybody's motives are, who's working for whom, who's ultimately good and who's ultimately evil, etc…Along the way, there's your main love interest storyline, the main friendship storyline, people being good and people being evil, characters reconciling with themselves and others over time in regards to what they believe is right and wrong, etc.
This show is very entertaining and highly addictive. I would also like to note that I've always loved the fact that there seems to be no clear delineation between "movie star" and "TV actor" in Korean productions. Main actors and actresses go back and forth between the 2 mediums seemingly at will, and that makes for some terrific performances when you might be inclined to expect less since "you're just watching a television show".
Highly watchable…whether it be for the typical melodrama & intrigue inherent to this Koren Television genre, or for the electrifying gun battles in the rush hour streets of downtown Seoul, or for the story & performances, or for just about anything and everywhere in between.
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So I’m leaving the story line behind with all my rants at the backroom.
Why recommend IRIS after saying that?
The cast (I have fallen in love with the antagonist! Why is T.O.P. one heck of a slick villain???), back drop setting (they actually went to different countries just to shoot) and music was all a just a plus points for the series, what made it really recommendable was THE ACTION. As I have mentioned earlier it was like ALIAS. Kick ass and butt full of action. The fight scenes were really eye popping it makes it hard to think that it wasn’t a movie but just a drama. They outdid themselves in the choreography with the fight scenes, battle up gear and stunts. So yes. I am recommending it for scenes with: Judo moves and gun shots. Run-for-your-life-while-bleeding-on-the-left-side-of-your-gut-crazed-looks while guns are aimed dead-on skulls. Even dying beautifully while tears streaming down the face would be pretty much catchy for me.
Have I gone to the other side by having a man’s taste? Probably. Yet, with Iris. I simply don’t care as long as I get one full hour of action.
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This drama was addicting. I watched it completely in two sittings and one all-nighter. The story was a tale of how evil influences can break even the tightest of bonds. The two main leads, Lee Byung Hun and Kim Tae Hee, were fabulous in their roles. Their romance was burning with passionate skin ship scenes and care for one another. Their acting was emotion-filled and made me feel like I was actually there with them in the scene. I also enjoyed the partner relationship between the 2nd FL and the ML, which was actually supportive and caring without being overbearing. The script completely captivated me into this genre of action spy dramas. The action scenes were well-choreographed and packed with high adrenaline gun fights. The ending was tragic but fitting as it was nearly impossible for the ML to have a happy ending after pissing off the underlying antagonists throughout the series. The OST was great, but the cinematography was terrible with random screen zooms and shaky cam. Was this review helpful to you?
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Not so bad, But definitelly not good
The Serie as a whole is good on maybe 7 or 8 star.But after spending a bunch of time with the story, and the characters, and the end is that bad, i wanted to throw my monitor out of window, it was so bad that i remain without word.
How can someone create a such good story and in the same time bury the whole piece under ground.
In generally, i am curious why are here so good reviews as 9-10 star. If this piece of work have this high pointing, what score these people than gave for example ( in my point of view ) to masterpiece as business proposal, Vincenzo, Descendats of the sun, whats wrong with secretary kim, crazy love, hapiness and more. according the outcome of scoring this drama, the mentioned by me should have score around 50 then.
I do not tell that the whole series is bad... but the ending of it is literally killing it.
More than overall 4.5 is overrated.
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