Cheese in the Trap (2018)

This was a really long-awaited and anticipated movie for me. Many people thought that the movie adaptation was simply unnecessary, but in my opinion, timeless stories like Cheese in the Trap could have tens of different adaptations and the story wouldn't get any boring!

Cheese in the Trap will always hold a special place in my heart. First of all, it's the first Kdrama series that I'd started watching and that got me sucked into this Korean entertainment world. Second, I really enjoy reading the manhwa of this story. So to be quite honest, I had really high expectations for this movie. From the first glance of the teasers I noticed that the movie's cast is more fitting and appropriate than the original actors of the Cheese in the Trap drama. There is no better actor who could play the dark and mysterious Yoo Jung than Park Hae Jin. I was surprised, that a lot of people didn't like the fact that the actress for our Hong Seol has changed. However, I personally think that the new actress looked more like the original comic book character, and her personality of Hong Seol was more like I've imagined her to be. Now for the storyline, I believe that one movie is not enough to depict the story of Cheese in the Trap. Many important scenes were just not added into the movie and left out. What a bummer. However, the cinematography gave me something beautiful to look at for 2 hours. The camerawork was simply amazing and mesmerizing.

Overall, this was personally a feel-good movie to watch for me to watch. I love the original drama and the storyline so much, that I just can't get enough! I would love for the directors to turn this into a drama with the new cast since, I think that the new actors fit the roles of the characters much better!

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Most times with remakes, I can distance myself enough to compare a movie or drama as its own entity. However, this movie was one of the rare exceptions where I could not. This was mostly stemming from the fact that I had not seen the original kdrama version of this drama, I would not have known what was going on for ¾ of the movie. Thusly, I apologize, but my review will be based mainly on how it compares to the original kdrama (NOTE: I have no experience with the webtoon and therefore cannot compare them).

First off, this storyline format was messy. The original had a better way of presently this story, which in and of itself is actually quite a unique premise. Honestly, in the movie version I was confused. Why did the director choose to put the scenes in that order BOGLES MY MIND… Poor choices were made!! I was unable to understand any of these characters or care about them. They felt flat and these are some amazing actors so that was EXTREMELY disappointing to watch.

In addition, it lacked the intrigue of the original. I was honestly bored…and this is NOT a boring story!! So why was it so hard to trudge through this movie?... I think it was because it lacked the comedy, the mystery, and adorable awkwardness of the original. Not to say the original was perfect. I think it lost focus halfway through. It ended up going in a different direction, that I personally think took away from a drama that had such amazing potential. However, it far exceeded the movie in every aspect!!

Honestly, I cannot really recommend this. Even as a HUGE fan of the story of Cheese in the Trap and someone who waited a long time for this adaption. Truly saddened by its lost potential.

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As a huge fan of Cheese in the trap, having read the webtoon and watched the drama more than once, I've been waiting for the movie to show some aspects that the drama had left out or some alternative ending, or something new at least. But, this one was a disappointment, alas. First of all, even though I'm a fan of Oh Yeon Seo, I can't say that the role suited her. Seo had her own style, had her own introverse character and she was interesting as a character overall. This version of Seo lacked those things. She was blunt and kind of boring. Then there were the Baek In siblings. They supposed to give some edge to the whole story and not to mention to create a solid second lead syndrome in a strong love triangle. However, Baek In Na was no where and her brother was just dull. Hae jin was good in his role again and probably the only reason why this one is worth watching. Because, story wise, this one was kind of a mess. Too many stories, too little time, too confusing. As for the ending, it was okay, but I've found the ending of the drama more realistic when it came to the guy's character and everything that had happened, rather than this one.

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I think the story presentation in this film is what the drama version was shaping up to be before the entire thing fell apart (although obviously expanded and more fleshed out in the drama).

The movie does a good job of hitting a lot of the major points of the story and making them all flow together and make sense in relation to each other, but I do have to wonder about something. If I had watched this without reading any of the webtoon or watching any of the drama, would I have actually understood what was happening? I'm not sure I would. While as I said, they do a good job of making things make sense in relation to each other, they don't do as good of a job making sure it all makes sense as a whole so that the audience actually understands what's going on. The storytelling style reads a little slice-of-life but in a way that is somewhat confusing to follow at times.

I also have to be honest and say that I don't think the cast here is as good as the cast in the Kdrama (even including Park Hae Jin; his character just feels different in this movie, not nearly as sinister and mysterious as the Kdrama version, and I'm honestly more impressed with his portrayal in the Kdrama), but they definitely all still do a good job, and I didn't hate any of their performances.

As for the ending, probably one of the most important aspects of the movie since the drama ended so terribly and the webtoon author was forced to change her ending because of it so we'll never actually see how she originally intended it to end, I don't think it's really the direction the story Deserved to go in, but at this point, I'll allow it. I think everyone deserved a happy ending after having to put up with the mess that ended up being the drama.

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As far as the casting, I much prefer this movie than the series. Well, Im not really to compare the two because it will never do justice. TV vs Movie vs Webtoon. You can never judge it since their are constraints andlimitation on how they able to showcase the very theme or story.

The development on this rendition is satisfactory though it lacks some spice. I'm not really a fan of the webtoon or the story itself, I just enjoyed it. But still, the movie is still good for a social or movie date actually.

I also like the pairing of yeon soo and hae jin.

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I have read the webtoon multiple times and also watched the drama version. I was so looking forward to the movie version because Hong Seol in the drama was so disappointing. And I think I got disappointed again. OYS is a great actress but her execution of Hong Seol was rather flat and boring, I can't even imagine the webtoon Seol in her. PHJ was amazing and intimidating as Jung. Dara was fantastic as Bora and Kim Hyun Jin was as cute as Eun Taek, I wanted to see more of them! In Ha was kinda sweet here lol idk maybe LSK showed a very twisted In Ha that I forgot how webtoon In Ha may show sweetness to those who can give her what she wanted. In Ho was adorable and everytime he's kicking the ass of OYG makes me wanna shout.

It's kind of slow and the character development was nowhere to be found. The romance was limited and I get so much cringe whenever Seol acts cute in front of Jung because come on! The picture on walls gave me so much chill. The accident of Bora made me cry because Bora doesn't deserve that shit! The brick guy made me shout so much and the scene where Jung stands behind him was so thrilling!

The flashback at the ending was so cute, ahhh I want a webtoon version of it. Even in the drama and the webtoon, it was my favorite scene. At least they didn't make Jung disappear on Seol! Though I'm still so craving for more. Maybe they'll make a part 2? So much parts were cut. Sorry for the long rant!

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This was, predictably, a huge miss. Cheese in the Trap has four loooooooong volumes, the drama was already too limited to tell the story, so a film? oof, so much was rushed, and so much got excluded.

Everything was underdeveloped, the characters, their relationships, their history with one another. Seol's academic life is non-existent, we just see her attending class, but we don't see how much her college education means to her, her money issues are also not discussed, her family was not even introduced, so you miss out on the complicated and interesting relationship she has with them, she really only exists as a love interest.

The Baek siblings were also a huge victim of the script. In-ho's passion for the piano was barely discussed, and the psychological struggle he's faced since graduating from high school was cut, In-ha's goals and how she was stifled by her family was also excluded, really the siblings had no depth here, just one or two flashbacks and a bunch of scenes of them being violent. And the relationship between In-ho and Seol? There's nothing there, you would never guess this story is supposed to have a love triangle subplot.

And then there's the cast... one thing I can't complain about the drama was how well-casted it was, truly perfect, from the leads to the supporting characters. The film's cast was missing a lot, from charisma to chemistry, it was completely devoid of emotion.

(I also truly disliked the editing and score choices, it was so chirpy and quirky at times, it threw me off).

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Personally, I preferred this over the show

I watched this movie after watching the show and I have to say I preferred the movie. There wasn't a lot of ancillary stuff going on, and Park Hae Jin's character (Yoo Jung) was more likeable (although, not really until the very end). The storyline was still dark and you didn't often know what to think about him. Seol was very standoffish throughout, so I couldn't really warm up to her. In this movie version, though, I really got the sense of them BOTH being square pegs in a round hole, and the fact that they were both different drew them to one another. I didn't like seeing girls get hit by a man, but I realize that was part of the storyline. I didn't feel the strong sense of disappointment at the end of the movie that I did at the end of the show.

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Fell way short. Personally, from the camera work and music to the script and acting... Nothing really hit the spot. No cohesiveness, nothing fresh-- it felt more like a collage of scenes from the webtoon than an actual production of its own. (... the music was especially disappointing since I liked the music from the drama a lot)

I would have even been okay with the script concentrating on just one section of their relationship, one brief fraction of time instead of this vast net it tried to cast. There needed to be more depth, more pauses, more connections for the audience to feel anything for these characters, regardless of whether they've read the webtoon or not. I can't recall if it was more due to the direction, script, or acting, but as a whole, it was pretty bland. A pretty big disappointment to me since I was so looking forward to this, especially after being a fan of the webtoon and drama for so long.

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Nothing new in this movie same as drama or can more confusing . Can say drama is far better but drama ending I don't like and movie is so confusing .In additions actors in drama are more good ,and their acting also good but in the movie all have pale expressions. Nothing is connecting me .Sudden past story and present story for a second confusing me and male lead suspicious behaviour not had been clear. Then other two character to whom male lead upset that his father adopt them ,their entry is good but their past story with the lead actor total messed up .On the other hand lead actress's friend love story is so beautifully executed I the drama but such thing didn't seen in the movie.

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i think the movie did well with what it got. the screenplay was written by soonkki so it at least did better than the drama in that department. imo cheese in the trap is a very korean story. a lot of subtleties in the narrative western audiences wouldn't understand. i think that's part of why the movie isn't as popular in the west as it was when i came out in korea. as someone who's read the webtoon and loved it, i think it allowed its audience to understand and fall in love with seol and jung without following the webtoon to a T. obviously some things it could've done better and the amount of violence in the movie was a little unnecessary but it understood the complexities of jung and seol's relationship and why they continue to choose each other much better than the drama ever did lmao. anyway i, like the korean audience, much preferred the casting choices in this movie over the drama. i thought they did pretty well with what they got.

i like to think of this movie as a preview or an extended promo of the webcomic. if you think of it like that you'll enjoy it a lot more.

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More mature and darker than show..

I just finished Cheese in the Trap the series a day ago, and I wrote a very positive review (please check it out lol) and now I'm back with the movie version. You could say I'm hooked with this story. Cheese in the Trap the Movie is more dark, disturbing, and violent than it's predecessor. It focuses on the psychological side of the story and the crimes against women by men, such as stalking and assault. Like I warned with my review of the series, if you are looking for a fluffy cotton candy romance, Cheese in the trap is probably not for you. There is however far more cute romantic scenes in the series than in the movie. In fact, there is hardly any romantic scenes in the film. I recall only one kiss scene between the two leads and it was filmed from a distance.

Park Hae Jin reprises his role as the deceptively charming sociopath, Yoo Jung. This time around he plays Jung creepier with more edge. He gives a bone chilling performance and there were times I was actually scared. Was I watching a horror? There were two scenes that were my favorite in the whole movie. The first scene is when Yoo Jung is walking Seol back to her dorm. He smiles as she turns and walks into her building. When she is out of view, Jung's whole face changes and his mask comes off to reveal the eerie apathetic person he really is. It's all in the eyes with this scene. Park's eyes go from warm and loving to soulless like a shark, equal parts calculating, and cold. It's amazing acting. The other part of the film that was my favorite was when Jung was at a shooting range and another scene is shown simultaneously of one of his cat and mouse revenge games being played out as he had planned. His victim doesn't know what hit them and when Jung gets his target back at the shooting range it shows that every gunshot he made was a bulleye to the chest. This was an artful clever way to show Jung's brutality and that he never loses. He shoots to kill and never waivers. This scene was brilliantly accompanied by classical music. So it is safe to say Park Hae Jin nailed this character yet again. This is what you call perfect casting. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for any of the other characters in this film including the actress that played the female lead Hong Seol. She gives a very weak performance and I partially blame the script. It doesn't even seem like the same Seol from the series. Weak, pathetic, and not all there. It was like the lights were on but no one was home. Absolutely awful. I also really hated how they styled the female lead's hair. Seol is called "dog fur" by In Ho (2nd ml) because she's supposed to have wild frizzy curly red hair. This movie version Seol basically has straight hair with a slight wave at the ends so In Ho's endearing nickname doesn't even make sense here. Anyway, there are way too many issues I have with this movie to list them all, but I'll name a few...too many characters and not enough time to flesh them out, a non cohesive storyline, poor casting, rushed underdeveloped romantic relationship with the two leads etc.

And yet I rate this a 7.5. With all its faults, I still think Cheese in the Trap (movie) is worth watching. It's missing a lot and might be hard to follow if one hasn't watched the series first though. It has glimpses of genius and is a notable addition to the original webtoon story.

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