Tag Archives: Korean Cinema

Mickey 17 – Movie Review

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TL;DR – Weird, I mean profoundly weird, but maybe not weird enough

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film

Warning – Some scenes may cause distress.

Starship over an icy planet.

Mickey 17 Review –

There are some movies that you will see just because they have a specific director attached to them. For me, one of those directors is absolutely Bong Joon-ho. My first introduction to his style of films was Okja, and what an introduction it was. Indeed, I’ll steal a moment from my conclusion and recommend watching Okja right now on Netflix, though it may change the way you view the world. This was followed by the phenomenal Parasite, which made me immediately hit yes when I got the invitation to see his follow-up: a weird political sci-fi about a man who can’t die.    

So, to set the scene, friends Mickey (Robert Pattinson) and Timo (Steven Yeun) made some bad deals on Earth, and to stop themselves from being cut up into little pieces by a load shark, they decided to jump on one of the new colony ships heading out into the beyond. Theirs is going to the icy world of Niflheim, and while Timo can sweet talk his way onto the ship, Mickey must sign up to be an ‘expendable’. This is someone who has his body and mind scanned so that they can take on dangerous jobs, and if they die, we just make a new one. Well, we start the film off with Mickey 17, who is currently in a very precarious position, and I am not sure anyone immensely cares.

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Officer Black Belt (Mudosilmugwan/무도실무관) – Movie Review

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TL;DR – While the action scenes hit, unfortunately, we get a tonally confused film that never quite finds its feet.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix service that viewed this film.

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

Police Car in the rain.

Officer Black Belt Review –

Today, we are looking at a fascinating film that, for all its strengths, never quite came together. Conceptionally, you have an interesting story, the scenario is solid, your leading man is charismatic, and you are exploring an essential area in society. However, even with that strong foundation, what happens when you don’t land the tone? Well, that is what we will explore today.

So, to set the scene, Lee Jung-do (Kim Woo-Bin), who loves the competition that comes with sporting achievement, will try every martial art, race to deliver food orders, even dabble in some esports, anything he can find ‘fun’. He works so hard at this that he has multiple black belts across numerous disciplines. When Jung-do saves a police officer from being attacked by a former prisoner, he is propositioned by Kim Sun-Min (Kim Sung-Kyun) in the Seoul Probation Office to become a Martial Arts Officer to help monitor released felons and intervene if they re-offend. It is a job where you sit around, not doing much, interspersed with high action.

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Goodbye Earth (Jongmalui Babo/종말의 바보): Season 1 – TV Review

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TL;DR – This is an interesting premise that is well acted, but the glacial pace holds it back when there is such a specific counting clock driving all the motivations.  

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix service that viewed this series.

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

The destruction of the Earth mural.

Goodbye Earth Review –

In the past couple of years, there have been two huge surprises. The first was how emotional Greenland turned out to be, and the second was how impactful All of Us Are Dead turned out to be. When I heard that there was a series that could be the Venn diagram between these two, well, I had to check it out. In today’s review, we will be looking at the first six episodes to see if it captures us.    

So to set the scene, we opened in an abandoned construction site for apartments, with cranes left standing, swaying in the wind mid-load, as if society shifted in an instant. In this world, a young girl lives alone on the top floor in a society that is starting to collapse around them because on February the 22nd, 2026, an asteroid Dina is going to crash into Earth, striking the Korean Peninsula, and there is nothing anyone can do about it. There are just 201 days before the end of most life on Earth. While anyone who can get out of Asia is in the city of Woongcheon, Korea, at Cheondong Middle School, people are trying to go on. Now from here, we will be looking at the series as a whole, so there may be [SPOILERS] ahead.  

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Badland Hunters (Hwang-ya/황야) – Movie Review

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TL;DR – While some moments hit hard, it felt like we had a world that was only ankle-deep deep, and you really wished you could dive in.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix service that viewed this film.

The destruction of Seoul.

Badland Hunters Review –

The thing that makes the post-apocalypse setting such an excellent world to explore is that you can explore human stories without the frameworks that hold everything in place. But if you are going to dive into that world, you need to bring something to the table.

So to set the scene, a scientist, Yang Gi-su (Lee Hee-joon), was involved in many unethical experiments in an attempt to bring back his daughter. However, just as the authorities reach him, Seoul is struck with an earthquake so severe that it destroys most buildings and leaves much of the Korean Peninsular a barren wasteland. If you are lucky, you will find a place to barter on what food and water is left. If you are unlucky, you will see yourself set upon by cannibals. Nam-san (Ma Dong-seok) and Choi Ji-wan (Lee Jun-young) work as hunters bringing food to the local settlement, but when people kidnap Han Su-na (Roh Jeong-eui) with a bad habit of not dying, well, that is not on.   

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The Moon (더 문/Deo Mun) – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A film that is fundamentally frustrating, but even with all that, you can’t help but get caught up in the emotion.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There are mid-credit scenes.

Warning – contains scenes that may cause distress.

Disclosure – I paid to see this film.

Hwang Sun-woo on The Moon.

The Moon Review –

Today we have a fundamentally exciting film because it strikes two vast divides. On the one hand, it was a compelling work of fiction that captured my imagination and emotions. However, it was also an entirely frustrating endeavour at times. These two halves should not work in the same film, but today we see an example where it does.

So to set the scene, in 2029, five years after South Korea decided to strike out on their own in the space race that led to their first mission exploding and killing all three astronauts, they are back for a second attempt. Everything has gone well as the craft approaches the Moon until a large coronal explosion from the Sun fries everything onboard. Lee Sang-won (Kim Rae-won) and Cho Yoon-jong (Lee Yi-kyung) have exited to fix the ship when tragedy befalls them, and Hwang Sun-woo (Doh Kyung-soo) is left alone on a failing vessel where no one can help.   

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Jung_E (정이) – Movie Review

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TL;DR – It sets up an interesting conundrum about a world of combat AIs and then revels the story.     

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix service that viewed this film.

Many Jung_E's in a row.

Jung_E Review –

We are thankfully back at the point where there are multiple new films every week. While this is great, it leads to the problem of trying to find which one of the many you take the time to watch? Well, when you hear that the creator behind Train to Busan has a new film out, that choice becomes quite easy.

So to set the scene, it is the far future of 2194, where humanity has wrecked the planet, and after climate change leads to drastic sea level rises, most humans escape to shelters built near the Luna orbit. With those left on Earth working in the factories. But this respite would not last as some banded together to create the Adrian Republic waging a decades-long war against The Allied Force. Everyone is trying to find a way to win the battle before humanity is wiped out, and for Yoon Seo-hyun (Kang Soo-youn), that weapon is the cloned android of a great leader of the past Jung_E (Kim Hyun-joo), or as she knows her as, mum.

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The Pirates: The Last Royal Treasure (해적: 도깨비 깃발/ Haejeog: Dokkaebi Gisbal) – Movie Review

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TL;DR –  A fun romp across the ocean that does lean quite heavily into that slapstick world but nearly always lands the joke.  

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix subscription that viewed this movie.

The Pirates: The Last Royal Treasure. Image Credit: Netflix.

The Pirates: The Last Royal Treasure Review –

Ever since the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise floundered, I have been looking for another film to step up and show just how good pirate films can be. Well, it turns out to find just such a film, I needed to dive up to Korea into a world of comedy and adventure.  

So to set the scene, in 1388 Goryeo Dynasty was collapsing, and some patriotic generals plundered the Dynasty’s wealth and took it far out to sea. Sometime later, we open with a group of bandits led by Woo Moo-chi (Kang Ha-neul) floating on a wreck ready for death when they are rescued by the famous pirate Hae-rang (Han Hyo-joo). Three months after the recuse, there is still friction between the two as they capture Japanese Pirate ships. However, this particular ship they captured is searching for a treasure, a lost ship of Goryeo treasures, and now they have the map.

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Minari – Movie Review

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TL;DR – It captures a snapshot of a life so perfectly that it is almost difficult to watch sometimes because you feel like a voyeur eavesdropping on someone else’s life.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Disclosure – I paid for the Stan subscription that viewed this movie.

Minari. Image Credit: Madman Films.

Minari Review –

Some films you can tell are works of personal nature because of the breath intimacy at every turn. You feel it in the story, the world, and the characters. This makes it a more intimate film, but it also can be more challenging to watch. Today we look at a movie that might be the most personal film I have ever seen that wasn’t a direct autobiography.

So to set the scene, in the 1980s, the Yi family make the trek inland from California to Arkansas. Jacob (Steven Yeun) picked the house because of the land, but his wife Monica (Han Ye-ri) is less than impressed that Jacob bought a trailer and not a house. Jacob wants the land to be a farmer to grow Korean crops for the diaspora, while Monica is fearful that they are too far away from the cities as their son David (Alan Kim) has a heart problem. Things get better/worse when Monica’s mum Soon-ja (Youn Yuh-jung) arrives to watch David and his sister Anne (Noel Kate Cho) as Monica and Jacob spend their days sexing chickens in a local factory.  

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Space Sweepers (Victory, Seungriho, 승리호) – Movie Review

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TL;DR – An odd film that I loved from start to finish   

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Nominated: Most Fun & Fascinating Worldbuilding

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix subscription that viewed this film.

Space Sweepers. Image Credit: Netflix.

Space Sweepers Review –

I have seen a lot of excellent Science Fiction in the last little while. However, I have been looking forward to something different, something odd, something that does not fit the mould. Well, today we get just such a film out of Korea that blends the farcical with the serious all while screaming around Earth’s orbit.  

So to set the scene, in 2092 the biosphere started to break down on Earth, soon deserts spanned the globe as the plants died off. But all was not lost, led by UTS and its company director James Sullivan (Richard Armitage) people were able to escape into space. Well, the rich anyway got to flee to orbital biospheres in orbit while 95% of people are left on Earth or work on ships clearing up space debris hoping to earn enough money to buy UTS citizenship and escape. One such crew is of the ship Victory, including Captain Jang (Kim Tae-ri), pilot Tae-ho (Song Joong-ki), engineer Tiger Park (Jin Seon-kyu), and android Bubs (Yoo Hae-jin). All is going, well not well, when they open up a ship they salvaged and found Dorothy/Kot-nim (Park Ye-Rin) an android girl that everyone in the system is after.

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Peninsula (반도, Bando, Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula) – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A film that unfortunately cannot reach the heights of its past.    

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Peninsula. Image Credit: Well Go.

Review –

A few years ago, I stumbled across this fascinating Korean film called The Train to Busan. It was a zombie film where every character acted consistently and understandably throughout its run time. In a sea of mediocre zombie flicks, it instantly rose to the top, and since then maybe only Cargo has come close to meeting it. Thus, I was excited when I heard there was going to be a sequel to that great film. However, now I have seen it. I realise I should have modulated my expectations before going in.

So to set the scene, we open in on the day that South Korea fell. With Seoul burning in the background, Captain Jung-seok (Gang Dong-won) is racing through mountainous back roads to get his family out on the last refugee boat. While driving, they came across a stranded family with a baby and just kept on driving. They make it to the boat in time, however, as it is leaving one of the passengers turns and before they can stop it all of Jung-seok’s family is dead bar his brother-in-law Chul-min (Kim Do-yoon). Four years later, in Hong Kong living in squalor waiting for refugee status, Chul-min and Jung-seok are offered an opportunity by a local gangster to make some real money. All they have to do is go back to Inchon, in what is now just known as The Peninsular, under cover of darkness and recover a food truck with 20 Million Dollars in the back. What could go wrong?   

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