Becky
North Pole
A Masterpiece in Suspense and Fear
MDL should have one more criteria-- cinematography. Because the cinematography (or directing) at this drama is 10/10, and this is where Danger Zone stood out from the typical murder mystery thrillers. It has quite an ordinary and easy to guess plot, nothing that we have not seen in other murder mysteries. What made it so suspenseful, intense and scary is the cinematography, the directors' and art designers' brilliant work.
My rating does not seem to correspond with the headline ^^" It is indeed a masterpiece in building suspense and fear in the viewers, but the script is weak and has quite a lot of plot holes and logic issues. This drama focused the storytelling on the art direction and some shocking images to build-up the tensions and suspenseful atmosphere. It use a no-holds-bar approach to tell the story, which gave a rarely seen realism in such murder mysteries (I mean, in most other dramas, it would not have shown some of these scenes, instead it would make references to those scenes in the dialogues or show us a character's reaction to what was supposedly seen)
Some might ask is it necessary to have so much gore in the storytelling? Well, it seems effective since this drama got me hugging cushions and pillows, something that I've not done watching other horror shows. And it is kinda "refreshing", most dramas don't do this, but it did here!
The cast performances are quite good in this, not the best though. Special mention on Vic Zhou, his eyes are haunted with the pain and feelings of hopelessness as he is stuck behind bars and unable to defend himself. Christopher Lee and the supporting characters are very natural in their scenes, and for the more emotional outbursts scenes, there are some phenomenal performances. Berent Zhu's Ren Fei isn't as good but director has cleverly cast him as a young hot-headed new police detective, and as his character gradually develops throughout the story, I grow to like him a lot. For me, the weakest is probably Teresa Daley's journalist, she didn't quite managed to make the character her own.... they could have put any other actress into this role and it wouldn't have made a difference.
The other thing that I dislike about the drama is the "superhuman" rate of recovery!! Lol.... the way Ren Fei jumped and crushed through that window, didn't even need a day of MC and back at work ? the most unbelievable was how fast that female detective (sorry, forgot character name) recovered from her head injury ? and finally the way police looked so stupid at their work.... but I guess this has to happen else there would be no drama (which is why I feel the script is actually quite weak, couldn't it have made police look smart and the murderers are just smarter?). Also, where the heck is Liang Yan Dong getting all the batteries and cigarettes from? I dunno how the prison store works in Taiwan but they would restrict the amount of batteries that a prisoner can purchase.... and there is no way it would be selling cigarettes! Liang Yan Dong don't seem to have family visiting him, so from who and where? Just a few annoying plot holes....
I'm rating this a 7.5 for now, let's see how S2 develop, might come back and re-edit this review.
My rating does not seem to correspond with the headline ^^" It is indeed a masterpiece in building suspense and fear in the viewers, but the script is weak and has quite a lot of plot holes and logic issues. This drama focused the storytelling on the art direction and some shocking images to build-up the tensions and suspenseful atmosphere. It use a no-holds-bar approach to tell the story, which gave a rarely seen realism in such murder mysteries (I mean, in most other dramas, it would not have shown some of these scenes, instead it would make references to those scenes in the dialogues or show us a character's reaction to what was supposedly seen)
Some might ask is it necessary to have so much gore in the storytelling? Well, it seems effective since this drama got me hugging cushions and pillows, something that I've not done watching other horror shows. And it is kinda "refreshing", most dramas don't do this, but it did here!
The cast performances are quite good in this, not the best though. Special mention on Vic Zhou, his eyes are haunted with the pain and feelings of hopelessness as he is stuck behind bars and unable to defend himself. Christopher Lee and the supporting characters are very natural in their scenes, and for the more emotional outbursts scenes, there are some phenomenal performances. Berent Zhu's Ren Fei isn't as good but director has cleverly cast him as a young hot-headed new police detective, and as his character gradually develops throughout the story, I grow to like him a lot. For me, the weakest is probably Teresa Daley's journalist, she didn't quite managed to make the character her own.... they could have put any other actress into this role and it wouldn't have made a difference.
The other thing that I dislike about the drama is the "superhuman" rate of recovery!! Lol.... the way Ren Fei jumped and crushed through that window, didn't even need a day of MC and back at work ? the most unbelievable was how fast that female detective (sorry, forgot character name) recovered from her head injury ? and finally the way police looked so stupid at their work.... but I guess this has to happen else there would be no drama (which is why I feel the script is actually quite weak, couldn't it have made police look smart and the murderers are just smarter?). Also, where the heck is Liang Yan Dong getting all the batteries and cigarettes from? I dunno how the prison store works in Taiwan but they would restrict the amount of batteries that a prisoner can purchase.... and there is no way it would be selling cigarettes! Liang Yan Dong don't seem to have family visiting him, so from who and where? Just a few annoying plot holes....
I'm rating this a 7.5 for now, let's see how S2 develop, might come back and re-edit this review.
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