A Bailarina (2023)

simple revenge story , cool action with badass female lead

action scenes were pretty cool , the movie overall looked stylish but raw , crazy camera work in some scenes , great cinematography , lighting and colors
but shaky cam and fast cuts could be reduced . some slow motion shots or fast shots without shaky cam could be included here and there in jjs and kjh first fight scene . i don't completely dislike it though .
the action sequence at the end was great coz they included some slow mo shots along with the fast , long takes with cuts which i personally liked more + the choreography was amazing
story was simple , predictable
not as emotionally impactful or satisfying as i thought it would be
really liked the music
acting was good
good one time watch but i expected more action and gore even if the story was simple
7.5/10

Leia Mais

Watch it for the visuals

Honestly the storyline is just a simple revenge, nothing we couldn't expect so I'm not hating on it but also not loving it. For me it's the type of movie you want to watch "in the meantime" or "idk what to watch" so you just turn it on and for 1,5h you have something to do. Not a waste of time, but it definitely won't get any deeper thoughts.

However I gotta say that I really admire the visual side along with the acting. The whole vibe of Ballerina and the colour palette used for it fits the vibe so well. It's similar to for example My Name and I'm personally a big fan of this raw&gore yet somehow aesthetically pleasing atmosphere throughout the whole movie. Eye-catching and satisfying.
Plus acting was really on point and since there wasn't that much "talking", the actions and expressions made it really come through and actors did a really good job in this one.
Kind of wishing for better OST since it was alright but it could definitely be better but it's just a detail.

Summing up I don't agree with people saying "it's a waste of time" cause there's much more series/movies that will waste your time worse than this one. Ballerina is just a simple storyline with eye pleasing visuals and if you're looking for something to watch and forget about it soon after cause you have too many things going on to rethinking every single scene of a show and its meaning - it's a good choice to watch it. Acting's great, visuals even better, OST's alright, the length of the movie isn't tiring since it's only 1,5h.. it's just that the storyline is "revenge" and nothing else. Don't get why people hate on it that much lol

Leia Mais

Hooray for girl power....?

You come home after a long day of work and see this on your Netflix homepage. You watch it because you had a long day of work and you wanna turn your brain off. Story is the same old rehashed ex-bodyguard/assassin/fighter coming out of retirement/unemployment/being a bum to take avenge his/her parents'/friends'/pets' death. Main character takes on waves and waves of baddies and never loses. After you finish this movie, you go to bed and sleep and then the next day begins. The only thing that remembers this movie is your Netflix history.

This movie is entertaining, I'll give you that. The fight scenes were exciting and left me wanting more, despite being on the verge of a seizure with all the rapid jump cuts. Main actress not willing to do the stunt work herself? Strange directorial choice. Bad CGI at some points as well. In addition, the acting wasn't anything to be raved about; and I'm shocked to see that the lead actress actually won a Baeksang previously. She had 0 chemistry with the friend whose death she was avenging. Like girl, why? Logically I get it, but emotionally I'm not feeling it yknow? And this was probably the greatest flaw of the film. Don't get me started on the random high school girl that sort of became her sidekick lol.

Cinematography and music wise it seemed like the director wanted to emulate the western style of thrillers, which I can't say is necessarily a bad thing (I personally quite liked it, particularly the music) but others may disagree. The ballet parts were quite well shot and kind of reminded me of Black Swan. I was hoping to see more ballet scenes, since this movie is called ballerina after all but unfortunately not. In fact, when I first saw this movie I expected it to be about an ex-ballerina turned assassin but in actuality the only association to ballet is the main character avenging her friend who just happens to be a ballerina. Strange name choice...

In conclusion, only watch if you just want a mind-numbing thriller to pass time. This movie is utterly forgettable and you won't remember (or want to remember) any of it. Just one of the many B-list thriller movies that Netflix pumps out. A better female centric thriller would be My Name, which has way better fighting scenes, better acting and a slightly more fleshed out plot. I'm only giving this a 6.5 because it's only 1.5 hrs long and I was fairly entertained by it lmao

Leia Mais

Make sure to shut your brain off before watching!

To watch this movie you must turn off your brain! The lack of logic in the plot made it hard to immerse myself in the film. Combine that with the lack of character depth given to the MC and you have a dropped film.

I was looking forward to this movie when I first saw the trailer but then forgot about it since I haven't been watching Netflix much recently. I go on Netflix looking for something fun to watch, remember this film, and saw it had finally been released so I started watching. I love revenge plots, regardless of the sex of the MC that is getting revenge. This film fell short in so many ways and I only got through less than 40 minutes of it. My gripes in no particular order:

Camera Work: They tried wayyyy too hard to be artsy + unique. The shots and angles did nothing to enhance the story.

Acting: Was not bad, I only got through 38 minutes so I can't give a well-founded opinion on their acting. I think the actors did the best they could with lackluster writing.

Music/OST: It was so terrible. Did not match anything that was going on.

Writing: You really need to turn off your brain to enjoy this. The story and character motivations made no sense. Based on the bit that I watched I do not believe the friendship between the two girls was deep enough for the MC to do all she did. After not talking to your friend in a while, they call you up and ask you to come over. You get there and find a note, allegedly from them, asking you to get revenge for them. Then you see they unalived themselves in the bathroom. Maybe if they had made them romantically involved, or even made it clear that the MC held an unrequited affection for her friend it would have made more sense for the MC to carry out the ballerina's last wishes. But that wouldn't explain the ballerina's illogical actions or the fact that the MC went through all these things for some estranged friend. Maybe if they did more to showcase the dependency the MC had on the ballerina it would have been better because MC being emotionally dependent on her would explain her dedication but then again it doesn't look like they have been friends for that long.

If they had made the MC obsessed with the Ballerina that would have brought a lot of depth to the story and made it much more interesting. MC would have been obsessed/in love with the Ballerina but satisfied/content with the scraps of attention/affection the Ballerina gave her regardless of how infrequent they may have been but then finds that the Ballerina unalived herself because of that guy. That would have made a very compelling story and although disturbing, anything the MC did after that would not need any explanation because of the obsession. As it stands I just can't believe she would do all that. Like she could end up in prison for killing all these people, even if they are criminals, so why does she not weigh the consequences? She's smart enough to be a bodyguard for foreign officials but acts so impulsively, too unrealistic.

Also, why did that guy feel the need to drug women when they had already agreed to sleep with him since they went to the hotel consensually? Maybe I missed it since I didn't finish the film and they kidnapped women from the club as well as there being girls that happily went. Like even though it may be rare, there are women into CNC who would happily play along with that guy's fantasies. Especially since he is attractive. Again I could have missed later explanations but if he does that to satisfy his desires it doesn't make sense to do it illegally when you could have willing participants. I get that he's a drug dealer and he does other illegal things with people but to be this crazy serial rapist who can get women to go to a hotel with him willingly only to drug them when they are already there just makes no sense. Maybe he's had bad experiences after he convinces a woman to go with him then she runs away after finding out he's into BDSM so he started drugging them... I don't know.

Maybe I am so disappointed because I went in with high expectations? I usually have a good time watching Korean movies and they are really good at revenge storylines so I definitely had my hopes up. Anyways, now I have to find something else to watch...

Leia Mais

A no mercy with something more.

"No Mercy" style revenge film with the great
Lee Si Young. Here the theme is the same, with a somewhat confusing narrative plot. But at a certain point everything is clearly explained to you, a bit of "red light crime", a bit of "rape and revenge", and that's it. Nothing original, but pleasant to follow if you want to spend a couple of hours full of unbridled violence. Usually these films do not shine in artistic details, or excellent interpretations. They focus everything on the bloody scenes and action typical of Hollywood films. The cast knew how to do well what they had to do, performances a little subdued, but in line with the type of film. Both the bad and the good antagonist demonstrated a black and white face to face. Him Kim Ji Hoon who fits in very well in the role of the villain, and her Jeon Jong Seo with that sweet little face, but at the same time ruthless and vindictive. For me it was enjoyable and I would easily watch it again with a few beers and some chips.

Leia Mais

Great visuals, bad plot

Was really excited for this movie, since I like Jeon Jong Seo, but was left with disappointment. The visuals are absolutely stunning, actors did a great job, but the plot (or lack thereof) was just terrible. I get what they were trying to do, but it just didn’t come out good. The action scenes were great, and I think that that’s the only thing they put effort into. It felt like something was missing, I even thought I accidentally missed a part of the movie, but the plot is just really that bad. I hope that Jong Seo’s next project will be better, because this was just a waste of her talent.

Leia Mais

I enjoyed it

People saying that this has no plot, I don’t agree with that. The plot is basically clear. She’s out for revenge for her dead friend, how more clearer can it be? The movie is a revenge drama and doesn’t pretend to be anything more than that. It delivers for me in what it sets out to accomplish. The fight scenes where actual very decent although some suspension of belief is required at time, it had overall good/decent fight scenes.
She took my face and my Lamborghini should be an iconic phrase. Lol.
It’s not something I would rewatch but I do recommend for a one time watch.

Leia Mais

Had too many loop hole

Storyline

The storyline had me hocked and when I saw the cast was like it's going to be one for the books

Well that did not happen. The moive was to short to begin with it had me guessing why she had to take the revenge for the best friend and why the best friend lived the life she did. Not to to forget the ML had to many missing parts from his character.

Character
The character had no life to them it felt like they where one dimensional

Acting
The acting was really good it did not feel forced and the fight scenes where really good so that was 100/ 10

Music
Hated the otp it did not go with the moive

Rewatch value
I would not recommend anyone who has.never watched a k moive. Would never watch it again .

Leia Mais

When I saw a female lead with strong fighting skills I had to watch. There's not that many in Korea so when a female who can fight pops up I'm there.

I also noticed the two main leads were in Money Heist. So again, had to watch.

I gotta say this movie was a let down. Weak character plots all around had me irritated in the end. There's no back story of the main FL. Her best friend's back story was weak as all get up and the main ML who plays the villain was even worse.

The movie lightly touched up on females being videotaped and blackmailed. They make it seem like the police chief is in on this as well but again, every scenario that was deposited into this movie was lackluster and that's putting it nicely.

All we get is the main FL can fight. The pace was very slow. The bad bad guys got taken out in less than 10 minutes. The ending even less than that.

This is why I tend to stay away from Korean movies. They have no life to them. Stick to the Korean dramas. You'll be more satisfied than this movie.

Leia Mais

A small rest ahead of the long TBW list.

There is not much to say about this movie. It is a typical revenge story with no plot twists, no sudden events here and there.

To sum it up, a ballerina befriends a badass girl (JJS) which is the main character in this movie. Some things happened to the ballerina and JJS needs to avenge her. She will try, did she succeed? Watch the movie, i'm not going to spoil you lol. The bad guy is KJH, i like him so no comment on his wonderful sexy acting lol.

The only phrase that got stuck with me from the whole movie is "My face and My Lamborghini", like the vibes were weird and funny at the same time.

Leia Mais