This review may contain spoilers
Who allowed someone to make this? And who allowed me to watch it?
Non Spoiler Part -STORY: This had a lot of potential, but in the end became really disappointing. The writing was kinda bad. It didn't portray any emotion. As I am writing this there is no synopsis available (I’ll add one after I write this), so I went into this completely blind. And I immediately became confused. It was like the writer’s expected you to know what was going on. It took me like 30 minutes to figure what this story was about. FUCK SAKE I AM SIMPLE MINDED HOW DO YOU EXPECT ME TO KNOW? Also, sometimes it felt like you accidentally missed an entire scene. It was really jumpy. The plot itself was good enough, but it was just poorly written. Pff, overall meh.
DIRECTING/EDITING: BASIC BASIC BASIC. I swear if I have to look at another shot reverse shot I might puke. It wasn’t enticing but bearable. It just became continuous. Some transitions were really awkward as well.The special effects were okay-ish for a small budget movie.
ACTING/CASTING: Some acting was okay-ish. Bearable. Some of it was really bad (like in the fight scenes). Emotion wasn’t displayed well enough. A lot could have been improved on but whatever. The guy who played Ouyang Zhou was probably the best.
MUSIC: I didn’t really care about the music. I was to focused on the movie's shittiness . But I’m guessing the music was average.
REWATCH VALUE: I will probably never watch this movie again. Because there is nothing to rewatch. No special scene that made my heart flutter. NONE.
OVERALL: Disappointing. Nothing that memorable. However, it was a good enough to pass time. Watch it if you want, I don’t really give a shit.
MY THOUGHTS ON THE ENDING (kinda a spoiler):
I know China likes it’s sad endings with these types of movies. But normally after those endings I cry or feel empty inside. HOWEVER I FELT ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. I just stared at the screen like, "the fuck?" And I believe there to be three reasons to why that is~
First reason: The acting. I felt nothing when it came to the acting. No special place in my heart. They portrayed emotions quite badly. The characters didn’t really appeal to me. There was no connections or chemistry. The skin ship (aka shoulder touching) felt forced and faked. The scene where Mige was crying and punching the punching bag should be a very emotional scene. But it wasn’t. He should be displaying all his anger, sadness and frustration on this punching bag. But instead I was laughing.
Second Reason: The writing. They did terrible at expressing the character’s emotion. I feel like this was my level of writing. And I am absolutely shit at writing (if you couldn’t tell by this review). They had so many opportunities to make me cry, to make me feel something, ANYTHING but instead I was blank. Probably worse than the acting.
Third Reason: The clothing. I know this probably isn’t a big deal. But to me it is. Mige looked like he was in pyjama pants half the time. Also, this links back to the scene where Mige was crying and hitting a punching a bag to let out his frustrations; BUT HOW THE ACTUAL HELL DO YOU EXPECT ME TO FEEL EMPATHETIC TOWARDS HIM WHEN HE IS WEARING A GREEN MESH SHIRT WITH A FORMAL WHITE BLAZER WITH SOME CHEAP ASS GOLD ON HIS NECK THAT I KNOW IS FAKE? Ahhh, who dressed these people?
Due to that I was unable to feel unhappy by that ending and also thanks for wasting for your time reading this shit review. YAYYYYYY.
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ACTING/CASTING: I have read a lot of comments stating that they don’t like Go Ah Ra and her acting. Saying that she portrays the character to be a whiny brat. Her acting was mundane but it was satisfying enough to display the character. As for the other actors/actress’ I believe that the acting was wonderfully done, showing true emotions. I couldn’t stop crying during episode 17 and 18 because of the Song Seung Heon’s acting. Also, Woo Hyun’s portrayal of his character was accurate and remarkable.
MUSIC: The music was standard but I really liked the original sound track. My favourite from the OST would be Another Me sung by Min Chae. But I also loved the others. If you haven't checked out the original sound track for this show, you definitely should!
REWATCH VALUE: The re-watch value is kinda high. I have already seen some episodes twice.
CONCLUSION: Black is a good K-Drama. I recommend this drama and I hope you give it a chance. I am sad that it’s over. It had its good and bad parts. Beautifully shot as well. Massive credit to writers, the director, actors/actress’ and other staff for making this drama. And I know I might be biased but this drama does hold a special place in my heart. No matter how boring some parts were.
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DIRECTING: To me, Amo occasionally felt as if I were watching a documentary. But after some research, I found that it was supposed to be like that. I like it. There were frequent times when the camerawork was shaky. Amo also included awkward and unwanted close ups and pans. LIKE OMG JUST CUT TO A DIFFERENT ANGLE. It probably annoyed me more than it should. Also the editing for some of the shooting seemed really unprofessional. But some of the camerawork was really well done.
ACTING/CASTING: Wow! Probably the best thing about this series. It wasn't awkward and it was professionally done. I was very impressed with their acting. If anything was awkward it was due to poor character writing. I only found some of the extras' acting weird, but who gives a shit. Props to the main actors.
MUSIC: Nothing really special, the music suited the situation. Although the guy who was always on the street rapping was one sick lad. If anyone knows the theme song, just let me know I kinda liked it after hearing it 13 times.
REWATCH VALUE: I would probably re-watch this if one of my friend's wanted to watch it. Might re-watch some scenes I found enjoyable.
OVERALL: I liked it and found myself learning about the Philippines' drug war and corruption. I looked it up and found an article about the drug war and Amo. At least the writer's managed to portray the crime correctly.
Here is the article if you are interested ~ https://www.bustle.com/p/is-amo-based-on-a-true-story-the-filipino-drug-trade-drama-is-causing-controversy-8736239
I enjoyed it. Nothing in this series is that graphic. Just a lot of drugs, about two very basic sex scenes, swearing and a lot of violence. Give it a try! I do recommend it if you have nothing to watch, you might learn something new.
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It was good but then .....
Honestly, I really liked this drama at the beginning, the main couple were so cute. It was just pretty much fluff without plot. It started out as an 8.But over time, this drama just went down hill for me. It became confusing. It became way to intense way to fast. The low budget really started to get to me. Which was weird because quality visually and audio wise normally doesn't bother me. But you can literally see how lazy the director is with shot and angle types. The lighting is consistently off. The audio when the characters were out in public was just terrible and it was occasionally bad when they weren't out in public. Some side character's acting felt so forced and fake. But worst of all the story felt "stuck". Neither the characters or plot have developed charmingly in any way.
Notice how in the beginning of my review I said "fluff without plot". I lied. This drama had fluff (cuteness) and 'somewhat' of a plot. The plot wasn't good but it was still there. Then about halfway through we lost the plot and then we lost the fluff after that. So now we are just stuck with this "drama".
I have been really disappointed with GMM's dramas this year. The Gifted is the only one that looks like it is worth something (even though I haven't seen it yet). Although I am hoping Wolf and Friend Zone will be good.
WHAT'S ACTUALLY GOOD? :
Mork's and Tee's actors have great chemistry. Also the intro song is a bop.
This drama has been okay and is an overall meh.
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