MattPeddlesden
Kent, UK
This one's a mindblower! I was hooked from the beginning to the end! Romance element is weak imho, but the overall story and presentation MORE than makes up for it. Bit of gore and a fair bit of gun violence, but you're not going to be seeing body parts hanging off or anything extreme like that, no worse than i've seen in Joseon dramas.
If you're familiar with Augmented Reality mobile games like Ingress or Pokemon Go then some basic elements of this are going to be familiar, the idea of playing a game out in the real world, where real world locations are important - you need to go to real world locations and complete tasks to play. Alhambra takes this several steps further - merge those ideas with Call of Duty and other current video games and you start to see where things could end up.
If you watch this with a tech mind you're going to start wondering how sword fighting works that causes reaction to your arms, if all you're wearing is contact lenses. There are many other questions you'll ask yourself. Stop. Sit back. Just relax and enjoy the drama, you're thinking too hard. :)
Video FX is outstanding, the way the video game world is layered onto the real world is seamless, just as i'd expect it to be if the game were for real. Simple actions like how the player changes or stores weapons and how things like the armory and so forth are done - perfectly executed. I absolutely and firmly believe that enthusiastic gamers and/or real game designers were involved in the AR game elements because nothing jarred at all (and I say that as a game designer myself).
The story itself is a twisty rollercoaster that goes all over the place, in both Spain and Korea. Nothing is obvious, and the way the story jumps around is at first confusing but once you get the hang of it, it actually makes for an interesting approach. You'll see a sequence of things happen e.g. a,b,c,d, and then later you'll see what actually happened between c and d - or some additional facts will be played out between c and d that totally changes the way you'll understand the meaning of what happens in d. None of this is in a random way either, as the viewer you become guilty of taking a few facts and drawing a conclusion involving additional facts that you made up out of inference or the way something was presented.
Park Shin Hye was great in this, one of my favourite dramas with her in it. After seeing Doctors recently with her where I didn't really buy her performance (or her character) - but this was superb.
Hyun Bin - well this guy just can't put a foot wrong, can he. Exactly the right actor for the job.
The only weakness for something that was just such an epic drama to watch, was the ending. I mean, I get it and I liked where they went (though not how they did it as it feels incomplete), but I can absolutely see why so many people didn't, it's just a tad too subtle imho. There are other reviews which go into detail on explaining it so I won't add to that, but suffice to say if the ending seems "eh?!" to you - read them AFTER you watch and all should become clear.
Overall thought this one was brilliant. Rewatch is a tough choice ONLY because I didn't enjoy the ending as much as I was hoping.
If you're familiar with Augmented Reality mobile games like Ingress or Pokemon Go then some basic elements of this are going to be familiar, the idea of playing a game out in the real world, where real world locations are important - you need to go to real world locations and complete tasks to play. Alhambra takes this several steps further - merge those ideas with Call of Duty and other current video games and you start to see where things could end up.
If you watch this with a tech mind you're going to start wondering how sword fighting works that causes reaction to your arms, if all you're wearing is contact lenses. There are many other questions you'll ask yourself. Stop. Sit back. Just relax and enjoy the drama, you're thinking too hard. :)
Video FX is outstanding, the way the video game world is layered onto the real world is seamless, just as i'd expect it to be if the game were for real. Simple actions like how the player changes or stores weapons and how things like the armory and so forth are done - perfectly executed. I absolutely and firmly believe that enthusiastic gamers and/or real game designers were involved in the AR game elements because nothing jarred at all (and I say that as a game designer myself).
The story itself is a twisty rollercoaster that goes all over the place, in both Spain and Korea. Nothing is obvious, and the way the story jumps around is at first confusing but once you get the hang of it, it actually makes for an interesting approach. You'll see a sequence of things happen e.g. a,b,c,d, and then later you'll see what actually happened between c and d - or some additional facts will be played out between c and d that totally changes the way you'll understand the meaning of what happens in d. None of this is in a random way either, as the viewer you become guilty of taking a few facts and drawing a conclusion involving additional facts that you made up out of inference or the way something was presented.
Park Shin Hye was great in this, one of my favourite dramas with her in it. After seeing Doctors recently with her where I didn't really buy her performance (or her character) - but this was superb.
Hyun Bin - well this guy just can't put a foot wrong, can he. Exactly the right actor for the job.
The only weakness for something that was just such an epic drama to watch, was the ending. I mean, I get it and I liked where they went (though not how they did it as it feels incomplete), but I can absolutely see why so many people didn't, it's just a tad too subtle imho. There are other reviews which go into detail on explaining it so I won't add to that, but suffice to say if the ending seems "eh?!" to you - read them AFTER you watch and all should become clear.
Overall thought this one was brilliant. Rewatch is a tough choice ONLY because I didn't enjoy the ending as much as I was hoping.
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