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Anthojay
Unbelievably patriotic historical setting
Extremely good screenplay that covers the whole background story of the political situation within sports, plot is rich enough to highlight the hardships of getting into the marathon competition itself, pacing is smooth throughout the movie and the details are so precise that you could really feel the significant amount of pressure along with the journey of the team, more so for its patriotic reason. The buildup for the marathon race has amazing suspense with soundtrack that's thumpingly brilliant, and I've cried so many times watching it. The production value is simply too high for this movie.Was this review helpful to you?
Unconventional art cinema for a kdrama
The whole shooting style of the drama is unconventional art cinema, it's so niche up to the point it's like a very dark and gritty tech noir. The pace though is painfully slow, there are lots of details to look for but the structure of the story itself is pretty confusing with some unclear intentions by some of its characters. It would be better if they could reduce the runtime of some episodes, but at least the resolution part is quite breathtaking. For the portrayal that is sort of broken romance blended with modern crime, they do hit the mark this time.Was this review helpful to you?
Realistic modus operandi of tech crime
The storyline has a similar genre to Netflix's Unlocked movie, which is also about smartphone stalking, and the fear inducing hunting has almost the same level of terror as Tving's Midnight, a legendary Kmovie about stalking. Here the movie takes a more practical approach to the notorious tech crime. The plot is really innovative as it features the realistic modus operandi of the criminal, the pacing is great with nail biting suspense. Meanwhile for Shin Hye Sun headlining this movie, I knew she's gonna be great for this role and it really is, her acting performance is freaking insane. The ending is so crazily scary, I'm gonna get PTSD after watching it.Was this review helpful to you?
Bizarre and hilarious
A cult classic styled comedy horror mixed bag that has an abundance of tricks up in its sleeves and it's hell lots of fun, it never stops throwing surprises around that are relentlessly entertaining. The insane acting performances from Lee Sung Min and Lee Hee Joon overpowering an absolutely dumb plot yet it works ridiculously well for its hilarious effects, what an utterly bizarre movie that was stylish enough to give it some great satisfying laughs.Was this review helpful to you?
Powerful immersion of lifelike characters
A story about a North Korean defector who escaped from China en route to Europe, his journey comes with a handful of twists, and there are a few fresh takes on this genre. Acting performances are definitely the most powerful aspect of this movie, the level of immersion into the characters is just insane from all the actors. The story is quite fast paced and lots of details going around, plot development is effective in pushing the emotions to a higher ground every time when uncertainty takes forth. The ending could be a little too dramatic, but in a sense that the director may seem to have wanted to paint the characters some hope, given how lifelike they were written, weren't we all just wanted to be hopeful even during the dreadest situation happening in this unforgiving society.Was this review helpful to you?
Seamless movie within movie
A film that focuses on behind the scenes in a classic movie production studio, where the movie director was inspired to shoot a retake for an alternative ending despite multiple challenges and restrictions ahead of it, while a new genre of cult classic was born in the making. The flow of the storyline is actually extremely complicated to execute, yet the script was able to handle the movie within movie seamlessly. A great proof of concept that works well though it may not be a crowd pleaser, luckily it's still pretty entertaining amid the chaos. The final act of that one take sequence is definitely the reason why this movie was selected for Cannes screening of this year, it's simply brilliant.Was this review helpful to you?
Deep rooted evil extremity
Humanity's ugliest and greediest traits are all in here, spanning across the adults and their successor made out from the same mould. The evil extremity in this movie is so deep rooted and unbelievable because of how realistic and crooked it is, completely destroying any bit of morality left in their mind. The evilness that is in the gene, they're born with it and become ultimately twisted. The power, the money, the influences, continues to create rot in our society. Meanwhile the powerless will be dragged and beaten until there's nowhere out from this rotten society, and it is only a glimpse of it.Was this review helpful to you?
Caught up in its own cliché but ending was satisfying enough
The conclusion for the series is finally here and to be honest, it was caught up in its own cliché for quite a while as it continues its buildup upon buildup. The breakthrough only comes at the last two episodes but luckily the ending is sophisticated enough to provide a satisfying ending. The resolution is almost seamless even though the plot is highly complex and that's great, it's just that the lack of suspense is evident throughout the whole drama when everything is done as a matter of course.Was this review helpful to you?
Satisfying comedy effects
A hardcore dumb premise that is absurdly built till a point that it's almost like a cult movie in its own class. Weirdly enough it also has an outrageously great storytelling and acting that gives in a solid performance for the comedy effects, provided that logical thinking is to be ignored completely, then it will be a satisfying ride in its particular sense.Was this review helpful to you?
Calm and soothing cinematic kdrama
The cinematography is really one of the best ever produced for a kdrama, even a simple scene is shot beautifully with amazing perspectives and delicate touches. The storyline setting is also quite refreshing, the buildup it has is insane right from the start till the end, the pacing could be a little on the slower side but still totally serviceable due to its artistic choices of the drama. The acting performance though is just unbelievable, the chemistry between Kim Young Kwang and Lee Sung Kyung is over the roof, their gaze is magnificent and perfect for the roles. For those who want to get into a calm and soothing cinematic kdrama, this will be the best of this year.Was this review helpful to you?
The final act is the main highlight
It surprisingly turns out that this is less of an action movie than ever, in contrast to its movie poster and trailer that screams adrenaline. The focus on the tension between Hwang Jung Min as diplomat, and Hyun Bin as NIS agent is the main driver that pushes the movie forward, but that could be a hit or miss sometimes. The final act will be the main highlight of this movie, Hwang Jung Min's sheer amount of acting skills during the final negotiation is so prominent that it's keeping the audience at the edge of seats induced in fear. Overall the cinematography was shot with great attention to details, and a storyline that works well, it's still a brilliant movie to be fair.Was this review helpful to you?
超曬水準
編劇呢次真係超曬水準， 史前未見嘅震撼性，振奮人心嘅深入演技同台詞設計，精心策劃嘅港產片精神終於返嚟啦！故事嘅層次編排做得乾脆利落，冇漏洞亦都唔會好倉促，係一步一步推進劇情，案件仔細度同人物設計接近完美。尤其是喺最後一場嘅結案陳詞係完全爆破性十足，而且因為香港正喺白色恐怖時代，簡直係對個現實世界抗議發聲，睇到我飆曬眼淚，今次掂過碌蔗！Was this review helpful to you?
Murky line between the hero and villain
Great suspense from the start as the bomb threat started to activate right away and time is tickling down, but it took quite long for the grand reveal to uncover, and the reasoning behind the threat is a bit ridiculous to be honest. However, the way they murk the line between the hero and villain is pretty respectable, the intention of the villain is one that is easy to symphatize with, just as they faced with the biggest question on humanity, that right there is the whole vision the movie aims to present.Was this review helpful to you?
Mind blowing multidirectional intelligence mission
The plot is a totally unexpected mind blowing multidirectional intelligence mission that involves tons of critical stakes at war. The story is so complex it comes with an incredible amount of political factors that one could never imagine, but only to be impressed again and again on how the writer could let it play out in such a way. At the start it may seem a bit generic, but as the story progresses it bites on and keeps getting better by pushing its limits while still able to throw in multiple twists that makes a whole lot of sense foreshadowing on conspiracies of the real political world. The vintage setting and tight action choreography are all in jaw dropping fine quality, they definitely deserve the 2022 Cannes invitation which lives up to its name.Was this review helpful to you?
Finding back the love of learning
A lot of times people have slowly forgotten the purpose of learning like how we used to be. Education had somehow become a tool or an instrument just for the sake of competing for qualifications, to use it as a weapon to threaten others, or it's just another money game to further widen the class difference between rich and poor, as what has been depicted in the movie. In fact, learning should be an excitement of discovering something with the intention of interest in it, instead of just using it to survive, but sadly there's only so few people that do so. In this case, the movie tried to achieve a pure heart for learning mathematics with the chemistry between Choi Minsik and Kim Donghwi that is so impeccable because no matter if we're old or young, learning should be a fun thing as how it always should be from the beginning.Was this review helpful to you?
