Rather excessive in it's showcasing of a gritty environment or the darker side of society. This movie started out with the introduction of an edgy and conflicted detective, and progressed to an incessant and constant dialogue about sex and more specifically the amount of times slang for "penis" was used.

Anyhow, nude scenes were unnecessary but likely helped boost market value. Plot progression was done in a roundabout way though the plot itself wasn't too bad. Acting and cast was relevant to the characters and the characters were relevant to the plot.

The narrative is about a detective on the verge of losing his faith in society, losing his humanity and his conflicted moral compass. In his efforts to catch criminals, the things he's had to do make him question whether he's not the same as them. And this movie gives and in-depth view of his M.O. while handling a difficult case.

Cinematography was good, and the music was great, especially at the end with how well it resonated with the movie's conclusion.

P.s. this is not a feel good kind of movie and if you dislike bitter conclusions this might not be for you but give it a watch - I might just be wrong.

Leggi di Più

The plot so far has been pretty good. The premise was great to epic proportions, it's something very unique and on a scale that is absolute grandiose but all in a good way. The cinematography and the casting are absolutely on point. The SFX for a 2019 drama could've been somewhat better but not going to complain.

The characterizations have a decent amount of depth and some very engagingly so, but some characters are purely one dimensional with nothing to explain their behavior from their arrival to the show and to their departure.

Delivery of the story has been great so far, but one could only wish to see the protagonist more often and sometimes the political campaigns feel a bit blown out of proportion and at times very dragged out. But I understand world building is very important, but the problem is that unless they go for another full season or in other words 3 chapters, it would be very hard to wrap this up in a satisfying and convincing way.

The action scenes are great but sometimes not very well coordinated. It's almost as if there was a perfectionist on set sometimes and other times they just leave it at good enough.

All in all, from the way it expands the story to developing it's characters it has been doing a good job. It's very political although it's not modern politics, so I can't say everyone would've enjoyed this, and perhaps some feel it's tedious but stick to it for the great performances of the actors/actresses.

Hopefully there will be more of this and there will be more dramas like this in the future that break from the norm.

Edit: They wrapped this up pretty well and declared another season. Really excited to see where they go with this and when they'll start airing.

Only gripe is that they kind of spoiled a little too much at the preview of what's to come, at the end of the last episode.

Leggi di Più

Talk about a gritty movie, but one done well. Great cinematography and pretty good SFX. The blood color was a little off at certain situations though, and some actions scenes were a bit weird like how people with guns would come at protagonist like as if they were using a blunt weapon and in some instances you see people just clearly staring at her and doing nothing, basically waiting for someone to signal their turn to attack her.

Nonetheless, the premise was good, the concept was great and the story was written decently well and delivered equally well. A few instances where it's a little disappointing how such a well thought out organization would fail to orchestrate more thorough and more effective plans.

From ups and downs, this was a very engaging movie and being the kind of movie it was, it wasn't always clear where it was heading. The casting was pretty good and acting was relevant to the characters.

Not a family friendly movie, but a great afternoon action flick with story depth.

Leggi di Più

The movie starts off with an excessively flashy and showy introduction into the personality of the lead, but moving forward there is some good character development. Characterizations were decent, although some were a tad one dimensional, and the lead at times being a glorified douchebag.

Anyhow, the casting was a mixed experience as some of them fitted the character perfectly while some were just unnatural and forced into the role, and of those the most unnatural was the female prosecutor. They clearly needed a maturer actress, I have no clue why they went with her instead, perhaps her feisty acting style but even then I can think of a number of actresses that could've pulled it off.

Basically the concept follows scumbag lawyer develops a conscience and tries to do the right thing. The concept itself isn't bad but the script could've made the character development a lot smoother and gradual instead of the forceful way it happened.

Cinematography was good, but perhaps too many camera angles at times, but that just means some scenes took multiple shots and they patched it together.

Leggi di Più

This was absolutely beautiful. While focusing on the aspect of a woman with horrible past, who had closed off heart to protect herself, finds herself opening up her heart to this lovable child in need of her help -- this drama special should've gained a lot more popularity.

KBS specials tend to be either a hit or miss to be honest, but sadly even the hits tend to go unnoticed since they don't show up often as actual movies but as KBS special segments.

Anyhow, the story of this was written pretty well, the characterizations were sometimes a bit on the one dimensional side but the chemistry between the woman and the child was just too beautiful to ignore. Cinematography was done decently well for a low budget creation.

Overall, this is a hidden gem and I hope one day gains more fame, as it's a real tearjerker and wraps up to a very heartwarming conclusion.

Leggi di Più

When plot is just as good as the visuals you get a certain sense of satisfaction in believing that every reviewer was perhaps actually rating it based on the plot, lol.

Anyhow, the plot was actually pretty good, how it played out or was delivered was also pretty good. Characterizations were good and endearing all in their own ways. Casting was good and none too focused on visuals.

The cinematography was good. Basically, it was overall a good movie to watch, and I'm glad it was a movie because if it were dragged out in a drama it would've failed miserably. Pacing was good for a movie.

Leggi di Più

It's like if there was Gong Yoo, Kim Woo Bin, or some mainstream attractive lead then it's going to be a 10/10 for majority K-fans. It doesn't matter if the plot focused around the cast pissing in a well and laughing about it.

Anyway, in terms of cinematography this was great. Plot twists were delivered pretty well. The storytelling aspect, perhaps could've used a little improvement instead of just trying to be pretentious and excessively "cool". Characterizations, more like Kim Woo Bin pedestals, I mean most of them were there just to make him look better.

The casting was done in a way that no one could be allowed even near match the shine of the lead, lol. But oh well, it's made to appeal to K-fangirls.

I'm not saying it's all bad though, I mean it was done relatively well but it just focused on visuals a little too much and that's what anyone and everyone cares about apparently. Since I rate based on the material, I can't go any higher than 6.5.

Leggi di Più

The plot was okay, but everything else had me cringing so hard my neck hurts. Cinematography was inconsistent and all over the place. Acting, good god the acting... over-the-top borderline excessive and cringey as hell, I have watched 90s anime with less cringe than this. Crying scenes had little to no emotional value, I actually tried to connect but could not due to how artificial and forced it was. Music in ambiance was fine but music for emotional moments were excessive or unnatural that it would pull you out of the scene.

As someone who spent a lot of time in hospitals growing up, and even afterwards visiting relatives or keeping siblings company - the depiction of nurses are absolutely wrong here, I mean sure there might be a friendly nurse among a 100 but, rapport isn't as highly valued of nurses as it would be for doctors. Because a nurse's job is a lot more straightforward than a doctor's would be. Doctors communicate with patients and decide a course of action or method of treatment, nurses administer the treatment and maintain it until the procedure is finished.

Basically the entire drama used hospitals as a platform to attach a bunch of characters and slap on a "plot" and fall back on medical emergencies or situations to create tension. All the while glorifying and idealizing the role of a nurse.

In all honesty, I was able to take Mr. Bean more seriously than I did the characters in this J-drama. I have absolutely not a single clue why this has been rated so high on MDL, and more importantly I wonder when or if Japan's drama industry will ever put more effort into adding more realism to their works.

I mean in really, Korean dramas and movies used to be like this as well but look at how far they've come. Most dramas and movies are on par with Hollywood productions nowadays. Overacting is bad, and it will always be bad and this drama is the epitome of overacting. Humans don't behave like humans here -- heck, anime characters from decades ago acted more like humans than this.

The rating system on MDL is about as realistic as this drama is, and that in turns explains why elaborately written and made works can get a lower than 7 rating while absolute utter failures can get 8-9+ ratings.

Leggi di Più

The entire movie was just a glorified documentary of abuse of authority/power, constant and consistent verbal abuse and anything else left over were just disposable plot devices.

Whoever wrote this didn't care for a compelling or an engaging story to keep their viewers but instead capitalized on fueling the viewers with rage, so much so that they would see it through to watch at least one character they hated suffer or lose something.

Toxic workplaces at it's best, and stockholm syndrome in it's purest form depicted in a modern time. The plot of lackluster and almost nonexistent at times.

Acting was between excessive over-acting and underwhelming dull behavior.

In short: not something I would watch for enjoyment but more along the lines of something for ambient noise in the background to pass time or while I was doing something else.

Leggi di Più

It could've been written much better, but it followed the typical withholding of important information for a cheap thrill. But since once again, K-fandom believe it to be blasphemy to rate anything lower than 7, there's much anyone can do to try and keep ratings objective.

The acting was decent but at times unnatural. The characterizations were bland at times and unnatural quite often. The casting was okay, because the cast was relevant to the script, although script was relatively bad. The cinematography was also relevant to it's time.

In all honesty, this could've turned out so much better but at least they wrapped things up pretty decently so there's that. I absolutely loathed the girl even though she was one of my favorite actresses.

Leggi di Più

Hwang Jung Ming tends to be way too edgy honestly. This movie could've done well without his over-the-top hard-ass behavior really. There were cases where instead of being inspiring he chose to just be a douche and for some reason the movie played it off as something that should be inspiring.

Not much I can say about this movie, clearly being that I didn't specifically enjoy the movie. The cinematography was good though. The characterizations and the casting wasn't.

The plot wasn't bad but it could've been delivered better, especially how it went on to become more engaging and a much more emotional story.

Leggi di Più