Extremely brilliant storytelling

First screened at the Berlinale 2023, this has one of the most complex plotlines ever seen in a Korean movie and yet it was executed perfectly due to its brilliant storytelling. It's sort of an assassin story driven in classical melodrama styling and vintage visuals. The story centers around a killer agency that runs like a hotshot entertainment company where they define contract killing as putting on a show, while Boksoon has the highest rank in the agency, she's also a mom of an adolescent daughter which plays another bigger part of the story. There's a lot of social commentary within its storyline and every bit of it hits the mark sarcastically with black humor. The cinematography and transitions were handled with some spectacular camera movements, every scene was shot beautifully and the action sequences were really breathtaking, and how they treated the ending with love is just impressive.

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Good buildups but there's a tone shift

Spectacular cinematography and insane acting performances, the horror element is effective with a good amount of reasoning behind the plot, though the way it turns out at the end might be a little anticlimactic for some. The third act takes a weird tone shift after all the amazing buildups that were done earlier, more specifically its resolution part was given a superpower treatment instead of supernatural ones. Still, the historical and geopolitical backstory had lots of details which are quite logical, and their quality suspense holds well enough to make this an excellent movie overall.

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Very addicting suspense and powerful surprise

The cinematography is extremely brilliant in this one, the suspense and thrill is heavily packed right from the start, pacing is just perfect as it keeps getting more and more addicting while the truth uncovers one over another. The storyline is really well arranged even though it's quite a simple one, but the surprise factor is very strong towards the end, while glossing it with some comedy to keep it stylish. Although this is the first feature film that Kim Seonho acted as the main lead, his performance is so breathtaking, he's charismatic in action and his humor simply steals the show. Everyone else's characters were also thoughtfully designed, the fight is so intense for some very ironic reasons, while the characters strike out with the best they've got.

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He remembers

It's quite a straightforward premise but the attention to details is simply unbelievable, the plot is really precise from the start till the end, taking audiences onto the journey of a man's last mission. The intention of the protagonist unfolds just like him remembering his past as he latches onto the next target, with action sequences that will blow minds. As always Lee Sung Min never disappoints with his masterful class acting, but the more surprised performance from Nam Joo Hyuk really steals the scene a lot, the chemistry between them works so well it just makes the closing scene highly emotional, exactly like how a bittersweet remembrance should be.

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Beautiful and intriguing

Park Chan Wook director is back in 2022 Cannes and won the Best Director award this time around. His signature touches are so precise that it looked like beautiful portrait shots with extremely fine details for each and every of the scenes and frames, even the editing and transition is extraordinarily stylized. He has the ability to find the beauty of the broken love in this wicked romance story which works wonders, where even a subtle affection comes in great effect on a person's mindfulness, and reaching it through extreme means might be of utmost importance. The broken ones will definitely understand the intention of this film where protecting that little love in this shattered world is what all we had left.

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Digging so deep into the humanity hell

The script was able to dissect multiple levels of depth regarding humanity, when there's competition to limited resources, how would humans handle a fair distribution of the wealth, while some are just hoarding resources due to psychological needs just because they can, or those fighting for scattered leftovers who are struggling to survive. When humanity is put into the test, human beings will have to choose between action with conscience, or survival at the cost of moral values. We can't deny that this is the raw human nature no matter how we try to conceal it or constraint it, because we were once a beast that scavenges everything we could to survive this shitty world. The movie has paid an incredible amount of attention to details into this concern, and the post disaster survival theme setting fits right into the situation it needed to achieve such a chilling effect. The cinematography and acting are of course top notch, pacing also helps a lot to hold the storyline together, this is really one of the most ironic dark humor Korean movies ever made.

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Stupendously well done in an unimaginable scale

This drama has high production value as expected but it is stupendously well done in an unimaginable scale, it is able to outperform any drama or movie released this year in such a mind blowing way. The structure of the plot is so deeply implemented with a large amount of pressure points, details on Latin America drug trade is very precise and every character is intertwined perfectly. The suspense is limitless when it puts you into the view of the main lead, making it a nerve wrecking narco ride. It works like a double extended cut movie that is cinema worthy, especially in the final action scenes it is absolutely superb. At the very edge of humanity, deep rooted evilness tearing down every human being with money as the root of sufferings, and this drama is totally prepared for an earth-shattering drug war in this barely survivable world.

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A brutal realization behind wealth

Finally the conclusion for season 1 has arrived, which comes in an even greater setting and more massive combats that are beautifully shot, putting all stakes on the table for a final blow to secure the heist. Here we get a clearer picture on the political ideology held by both the robbers team and the reunification authorities. It serves as a revolution of sorts, questioning the fairness on the medium for distribution of wealth, a system that has been existing for millennia, which could be easily manipulated by the privileged and creates a big gap that leaves the vulnerable in dark, for ages. The closing sequence is really all about it and it speaks volumes, a visionary too good to be a reality, like living in a dream that can only be done fictionally.

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Excellent screenplay and top class acting

Large scale of real historical events told with an excellent screenplay that is great in details and heavy in suspense. It is more towards story focused instead of action focused, and the storyline is actually quite complicated to present but it was done really precisely, somehow they've made the plot easy to follow and characters' motivation very clear to understand. Huge plus from the acting performances, all the actors are absolutely top class and the movie works so great mainly due to those intense face-offs, so much stakes on screen but so meticulously arranged, simply unbelievable.

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Madness that does magic

This is that kind of movie where the characters make all the dumb decisions and started the worst situation you could ever imagine, ironically it is exactly the madness that does magic in a sense of who can be the smartest out of all in this mind bending strategy war. What happens afterwards in the movie is pure magnificence, the legal indictment of its murder investigation is extremely detailed and the plot twist within it will ultimately blow your mind away not only once but multiple times. The acting performance is so intense it will pull you into a great deal of attention to determine the truth behind it, the amount of emotion and thrill it carries is unprecedented.

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The cream of the crop in cinematic swordsmanship

First screened as the opening film at Busan International Film Festival 2024, this has proven to be a worthy eye-opener, and what's even better than Netflix making it available to watch right away globally. For a movie about swordsmanship, it does have a rather fancy plot that has multiple layers of depth in its character design and geopolitical setting. It was fueled with thick story development in class ideology and royal politics to generate that really serious buildup for the tension before the final fight, that core motivation of the characters may seem a little imprudent at first but it works well and gives a brilliant resolution towards the end. The final fight featuring trio swordsman is seriously the cream of the crop in cinematic martial arts sequence, everything is meticulously measured with the highest precision from tactical details to camera works, the scale is just unbelievably stupendous as it will definitely make you grab on the edge of the seat unknowingly while screaming out of shock when watching.

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Full of kdrama clichés

Powerfully dumb storyline that's full of kdrama clichés and it's just unforgivingly jarring, almost like some classic parody too well made. It boasts unbelievable visuals of high concepts but turns out to be practically hollow, dialogues are strikingly coarse and far from relatable, and absurdity keeps coming as the plot goes on. It's not really a bad watch as there are some good parts that are worth rooting for, but the not so clever parts completely overshadow them and it simply becomes not more than just a race of mainstream popularity contest. Even the ending is still full of silly stuff to force a climax that doesn't resonate well, though the faint-hearted might still flutter intermittently.

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