Black Knight (2023)

Simple life

I was expecting so much and was disappointed instead.
The story was too simple it got boring, especially in ep 2 as it never delved into too much detail in how they got there in the first place and wished it went into more detail.
How the boy became a mutant would've lit more interest as they are explored properly only a few snatched of conversation
The acting performance was on point yet was lacking in how the deliveryman came together and how 5-8 became a legend. Glad we got a little of his backstory though as it was interesting. Sa wol was an interesting person but I never fully understood how the mutant was and why he was so important because of this. Wished their was more episodes

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Imagine depending on oxygen to live under the command of greedy human beings, what a life is this!? this is the plot.
The CGI, besides being excessive, is horrible. There are some fanservices.
The South Korean series is fairly fast-paced, but isn't particularly interested in whether everything is explained and makes sense. The plot is dyslexic, why would anyone respect the speed limit in the desert transporting rare material in a post apocalyptic world being military!?
Why in a super modern truck the glass is not electric but on the crank!?
Netflix recently signed an investment agreement with South Korea to produce and air more K-dramas. Black Knight is an example of this, people who are familiar with K-dramas know that this is far from being a South Korean production, it is better for Netflix to leave it to those who understand the subject or if it continues to stick its finger in adapting K-dramas in a way Americanized will end up boycotted.

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Dystopie d'anticipation spectaculaire...

Black Knight est un coup de cœur grâce à son image, ses personnages puissants et son ambiance vibrante...

Dès les premières scènes, Choi Ui Seok m'avait dans ses filets. Visuellement spectaculaire, Black Knight nous régale par sa photographie et ses effets incroyables. On reconnaît certains lieux emblématiques de la capitale sud-coréenne, tandis qu'on se prend de fascination pour l'univers jauni qui prend vie sous nos yeux. Avec une touche de Mad Max, l'image fait illusion.

Son esthétique n'est pas son seul atout. Le drama regorge de scènes d'action aussi poignantes et percutantes les unes que les autres. Plusieurs captent l'attention. Une épreuve passée par Yoon Sa Wol lors d'un recrutement ou encore un flash-back de 5-8 qui se révèle être une scène forte de par son action et par ses non-dits.
Les scènes sont bien menées et lisibles afin de nous plonger que plus loin dans le quotidien de chaque personnage.

En parlant de personnage, le casting est époustouflant. Kim Woo Bin fascine et donne l'impression que rien ne peut l'arrêter. L'acteur dégage un charisme puissant en tant que livreur, mais aussi meneur avec une voix profonde et une assurance brute.
Kang You Seok est la touche d'humilité avec un rôle bien déterminé. L'acteur confirme sa place avec une interprétation touchante et forte, bien que son personnage manque de matière.
Esom se révèle plus intéressante ici qu'en tant que tueuse à gages. Tout comme Song Seung Heon signe un personnage élitiste et détestable (et on aime le haïr). Le reste du casting est tout aussi excellent.

Derrière ses qualités, on regrette cependant un manque. S'il arrive que les dramas soient trop longs, ici on aurait voulu quelques épisodes supplémentaires afin de terminer pleinement ce qui était commencé, notamment sur l'axe des personnages de Sa Wol, Papy ou encore la Présidente Chae. Ainsi qu'un OST principal en anglais (mais sans trop de surprise sur ce point).

Black Knight dénonce également. Les plus aisés vivent, les autres crèvent. Et malgré ses petits défauts, pas de doute qu'on ressent l'envie de rejoindre ces chevaliers noirs qui sont devenus un symbole d'espoir.

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"Refugees are people, too. They live and breathe."

Black Knight didn't add anything new to the dystopian world genre, but it was an engaging and entertaining drama at the perfect length. It was long enough to give the viewer time to care about the characters and also didn't bog down and overstay its welcome. For a world short on oxygen, it knew just how many breaths to take.

Kim Woo Bin as delivery man 5-8, in his oversized coats was perfect as the leader of the delivery people and refugee rebels. Having survived a massacre, he knew exactly what the Cheonmyeong corporation was capable of. The Chairman's son, Ryu Seok, wanted to eradicate the refugees and keep the status quo with the haves having all the oxygen and resources in their underground relative utopia while the refugees gasped for air and dealt with a lack of food, medicine, education, and jobs on the dusty surface.

Kang Yoo Seok as Sa Wol was the cocky young upstart mutant refugee who entered the fight ring in order to become a delivery man. Again, nothing new in the winner takes all fight to the near death or death to gain a dystopian prize, but the scrappy and sympathetic Sa Wol made it easy to care about him. Esom as Seol Ah, was the dutiful soldier who was not afraid to bend the rules by hiding Sa Wol in her house and raising him for a decade. As the story went on, she and 5-8 would have a different reason for going to the mountaintop, each taking their own road in order to bring Ryu down and save the refugees who were marked for death.

Kim Woo Bin did a great job as the delivery man who delivered more than food and oxygen, he delivered hope and justice. Song Seung Heon was elegantly despicable, proving why nepotism is a bad thing. The story had some lapses in logic and could have delved more into certain plot points, but the charismatic performances overrode the plot holes a delivery truck could have driven through.

Black Knight highlighted how the 1% in charge of resources was unwilling to share and capable of almost any atrocity against refugees that they didn't see as holding any value. It was in their best interest to keep the people divided into classes. The company and their lifestyles trumped any good they could have done for the surviving masses. For Ryu, the people were never grateful enough for the oxygen Cheonmyeong allowed them to breathe---those whom they decided were worthy to breathe.

"The only thing necessary for evil to triumph in the world is that good men do nothing." (Source debated) The politicians, military, refugees, and delivery people would have to decide what they were willing to do to build a world for all survivors. Black Knight could be dark at times and was unafraid of sacrificing characters in the deadly fights, but it also shone a light on the goodness of people as they fought to create a better world for everyone, not just for some. This might not have been a perfect drama, but it was perfect way to spend a few hours on a rainy day.

5/12/23

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don't let the negative reviewers for you.

yes it's a relatively short drama. it's only six episodes but there's a lot that goes on in those six episodes. I think the story overall is pretty decent and for me acting and casting is excellent. man did it turn out to be a lot better than I initially anticipated going into it. I definitely would rewatch this again. it would be really interesting if they did a season too but that's probably unlikely but never say never. I will say this this drama is one of those shows that you should watch if you're looking to take a break from your traditional romcoms or historical dramas which I generally do love watching but sometimes you need to change it up and this show definitely won't do that for you.

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Good show for when you’re bored

I was expecting a lot more from this show honestly but i think its that type of show where it depends on how you feel about it for it to be any good. Idk if that made any sense but i feel like this show could get pretty boring throughout the episodes. Despite it being only 6 episodes, which is why i had high hopes for it because usually short kdramas are always well done, but this one seemed to have just dragged itself on- nevertheless it had great fighting scenes and it’s not a hard watch, just a bit boring at times. I think they should’ve switched up the dialogue scenes with action scenes!

Anyway great show, I would watch a second season if it gets renewed!

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Un retour de Woo Bin qui est plutôt raté...

Mauvais. Et encore je suis gentille. J'aimerais utiliser un terme encore moins flatteur... Mais par amour pour Woo Bin, je m'abstiendrais. Ah ce retour de mon chéri, je l'attendais avec impatience. Hé bien, je n'aurais pas dû et rester sur ma première impression : Si c'est Netflix, méfie toi comme de la peste! Comme quoi, l'argent ne fait pas tout (oui, oui j'y crois encore à la licorne bleue qui vole).
- L'histoire? Rien de nouveau, rien de transcendant. Un monde où l'humanité vole en éclat et où ( sans surprise) les riches sont forcément les méchants et les gueux...hé bien les gentils. Du noir et du blanc. La palette classique d'un scénariste en mal d'inspiration.... On aurait aimé des nuances, un fond moins manichéen où l'être humain serait au prise avec un choix plus cornélien, plus humain un peu comme dans "Alice in borderland"...
- Le visuel? Certains apprécieront les couleurs ocre et poussiéreuses qui rappellent vaguement la vision post apocalyptique, en ce qui me concerne ce parti pris m'a laissé de froid. Qui a dit qu'une dystopie devait être aussi ennuyante et n'avoir qu'un dégradé de grisaille? J'aurais aimé une vision plus colorée à l'image de Nausicca par exemple, qui nous a démontré qu'un monde violent et dépourvu d'humanité pouvait aussi renfermer de l'espoir, une envie de changer les choses, de croire en un monde meilleur. Inutile donc de venir vous dire que dans la vision de Black Knight, tout est sombre et noir (les tenues vestimentaires, les logements, l'extérieur, les voitures....tout ou presque car est épargné le monde où vivent les privilégiés, un monde presque normal et qui ne nous éblouit donc nullement....
- L'action? Les courses poursuites ne sont pas décidément pas mon truc, et cela se prouve encore ici.... quelques scènes de combat loin de nous émoustiller et un épisode final qui n'aura le mérite que de noyer le scénario sous un flot de balles à l'aveugle. Bref, loin d'un musclé "Weak Hero" ou de l'adrénaline d'un "taxi driver", on s'ennuie ferme.
- Les personnages??? Heu.... je me souviens de "extraordinary you" qui disait que les personnages extras sortant du cadre de l'histoire ensuite étaient oubliés. C'est tout à fait cela. Des personnages sans profondeurs et dont on ne sait si on doit en rire ou en pleurer. Mais mon Dieu, à quoi servent-ils donc? Il nous est impossible de les comprendre, de compatir avec eux et d'avoir ne serait-ce qu'une once de lien avec eux. Le trio d'amis stupide souligné par des surnoms bien gras, se terminant par la mort d'une d'entre eux est tout sauf intense. Dois-je rappeler la mort des amis d'Arisu (Alice in Borderland) et qui fut déchirant, nous surprenant par la violence de leur choix, de leur mort? Ou alors le rôle de "papy" qui fut tout aussi décevant, on se demande à quoi bon avoir créer ce type de personnage...ou du mutant....alors, là, après plusieurs épisodes qui lui sont consacrées, il redevient inutile. Son histoire est d'ailleurs tout sauf touchante. Peut-être du too much.
Et Woo Bin???? Rhaaaaaaa, pourquoi avoir tourné pour un drama aussi pourri.... Woo Bin, s'il te plaît, ne va plus jamais tourner pour Netflix et compagnie, reviens nous!
- L'OST?? Loin, très très très loin des OST qu'ont l'habitude de nous délivrer les coréens. Cela se fond dans un amas de note déjà entendus partout, ces musiques passe-partout que l'on colle sans vergogne en période de disette.... Loin d'un thème mémorable comme "Taxi Driver" ou encore de "One Dollar Lawyer"....
- Ah, je n'ai rien contre les placements de produits en général, après tout, c'est une source de revenus importante....par contre, le placement de produit de cigarette, des marlboros en plus, me donne envie de fuir.

En conclusion, c'est un mauvais drama. Point. Restons en à 6 épisodes, il n'y avait rien à conter.

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Kim woobin delivers √

Watched the series for kim woo bin and i love his charismatic presense in the series., a great come back for him, series started slowly and finally peaked in ep 5 and 6 .

pros- the cast all major characters have been portrayed well including the support cast , awesome fight sequences, goosebumps moments, tournaments where all very engaging to watch.

Cons- more screen time for sawol which was mostly not needed , vfx can still be improved.

Verdict
Overall i really enjoyed the series and only has 6
episodes so easy to watch within 4 hours and not time consuming .

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Kim Woo Bin, Sci-Fi, Entertainment + Bonus performances

I needed Kim Woo Bin's face to have been without a mask more often. Sure, Song Seung Heon is a villain but sometimes I almost rooted for him. Jung Seol Ah, Yoon Sa Wol and so on, great cast and good performances. Well-paced so it wasn't boring at least. Very good stunts. Whatever they started, they finished. So glad about that. What they conveyed was definitely clear enough. However, if they could've fleshed it out more and come up with more content and world building, and still managed to wrap it up well, it would've been epic indeed.

Overall 8.5/10, can watch once for entertainment.

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Non è il mio genere ma...

Nonostante non sia il mio genere, ha saputo intrattenermi ma sarebbe potuto essere molto meglio. Effetti speciali fantastici. In linea generale come storia non tratta nulla di nuovo, ma l'interpretazione degli attori ha saputo far valorizzare l'opera altrimenti sciatta e inutile. Dico questo perchè nonostante sia un buon prodotto, è davvero troppo breve e hanno voluto inserirci a forza troppi elementi che non vengono giustamente spiegati perchè, ehi, non ce n'è il tempo! Esempio lampante la questione dei mutanti. Why? Ne avevamo bisogno? E' fondamentale ai fini della storia? No. Sto cercando di capire perchè abbiano voluto complicarsi la vita quando avrebbero potuto creare un'opera migliore e più funzionante senza questo elemento. Alla fine capiamo che non ci sarà una seconda stagione e sinceramente un po' ci speravo perchè qualcosa in più avrebbero dovuto spiegarcelo oltre all'elemento che ho trattato prima.
Non ho messo un voto basso al rewatch perchè penso che lo riguarderei nel qual caso pensassero di allungarlo. Sicuramente per gli amanti del genere potrebbe riservare un'amara delusione.

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