Watch the Movie First
TBH I liked it, and it was cool to see how they transitioned the mini series into having the vibe of it having been intentionally made as a movie, but to me it kind of made it feel more low budget? Like the mini series production value felt like your run of the mill mini series production value. Made into the movie, however, it just felt cheaper.
Almost all scenes had more white noise where there were previously voice overs, and just noise pollution in general instead of a clean sound. Plus the music was randomly loud and overbearing, especially adding on to how it didn't always fit the scene to begin with.
In some ways, taking out the voice overs gave more room for the audience to simply read into the characters' feelings from the actors expressions (which were always on point, might I add). However, there were some things which I feel like I gained from the voice overs in the mini series. With them, I still enjoyed the actors expressions and all, and they weren't there just to add exposition and move the story along (obviously, if the plot was still able to function after removing them) but I just felt they gave us more insight into what they were thinking at that moment, instead of leaving everything more ambiguous and only being able to see the pain and longing, and not the reason behind it or the words going through their minds. (i.e. Kang Gook staring at Tae Joo kissing the girl. In the movie he just looks hurt. In the mini-series he says it's because as a bodyguard he needs to always be watching him, and you can further hear the hurt in his words, which I feel just add a whole other layer to what we're already seeing).
All in all, I did enjoy the movie. I enjoyed seeing them rework scenes and editing to give it more of a movie feel, and how they went with slightly different story-telling choices than they had previously. I do, however, recommend watching the movie first. Not because it's better, but exactly the opposite. I feel like you'd have more satisfaction from loving these characters and making your own assumptions before watching the mini-series and learning even more from their actual thoughts. Kind of like reading a book a second time and finding all the foreshadowing you'd missed previously.
Almost all scenes had more white noise where there were previously voice overs, and just noise pollution in general instead of a clean sound. Plus the music was randomly loud and overbearing, especially adding on to how it didn't always fit the scene to begin with.
In some ways, taking out the voice overs gave more room for the audience to simply read into the characters' feelings from the actors expressions (which were always on point, might I add). However, there were some things which I feel like I gained from the voice overs in the mini series. With them, I still enjoyed the actors expressions and all, and they weren't there just to add exposition and move the story along (obviously, if the plot was still able to function after removing them) but I just felt they gave us more insight into what they were thinking at that moment, instead of leaving everything more ambiguous and only being able to see the pain and longing, and not the reason behind it or the words going through their minds. (i.e. Kang Gook staring at Tae Joo kissing the girl. In the movie he just looks hurt. In the mini-series he says it's because as a bodyguard he needs to always be watching him, and you can further hear the hurt in his words, which I feel just add a whole other layer to what we're already seeing).
All in all, I did enjoy the movie. I enjoyed seeing them rework scenes and editing to give it more of a movie feel, and how they went with slightly different story-telling choices than they had previously. I do, however, recommend watching the movie first. Not because it's better, but exactly the opposite. I feel like you'd have more satisfaction from loving these characters and making your own assumptions before watching the mini-series and learning even more from their actual thoughts. Kind of like reading a book a second time and finding all the foreshadowing you'd missed previously.
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