Don't let the bad poster turn you off of this excellent film!

I was always taught not to judge a book by its cover... unfortunately, the sucky poster put me off of this film for way too long. Luckily, I happened upon the trailer and thought, "Damn, that looks cool!"

The film follows a talented climber who hasn't been able to find a job. Korea being the way it is, that kind of makes him a loser, despite the fact that the very opening scene shows his sheer will power and talent. We then get to know him as being polite, caring and... well, not the loser a lack of employment paints him as. I mean: I'd hire a bloke like that!

Going to a family party, he meets the love of his life, who had previously turned down his advances, as she was probably too worried about ruining their friendship to escalate things. She's beautiful and a great climber herself - which is just as well, because a terrorist attack unleashing poisonous gas on the city means that the pair have to keep climbing, higher and higher, until they can be rescued.

I can't recommend this film enough! It has action, suspense, pure unselfish heroism and it kept me engaged on an emotional level that is surprising for the genre.

The stinker of a film poster/cover literally reads, EXIT, but trust me: once you get into this, you'll love it.

Leia Mais

If, like me, you hate all those crappy singing/talent competitions on TV, just don't!

I'm a big Johnnie To fan.
Sadly, this is quite unlike anything he's ever made before: utter trash!

Some girl owes a loan shark a ton of money and an MMA fighter takes her under his wing, rather than pimping her out of selling her off to cover what she borrowed.
It sounds like an interesting drama only, the MMA fights are really bad, the male lead comes off as a chimp on a crack-energy drink high and, well, I just really hate all those singing shows!
Worse: there's utterly needless wire-fu - and I mean utterly useless: some girl spinning and floating in the air while playing a guitar in front of judges!

Honestly, pretty much everything about this rubbed me the wrong way and, having zero interest in a film about singing competitions when there's one literally on right now in another room(!), I couldn't motivate myself to even make it to the hour mark.

Definitely not recommended.

Leia Mais

Disposable entertainment about a non-disposable wife

Some HUGE dude has his wife kidnapped; the villain offers a sum of money that would turn the huge dude's life around, but he wants his wife back. Apparently, it's a first - everyone else took the money!
The huge dude then puts his size to use, one-punch-manning most minions who stand in his way of tracking his wife down and retrieving her. There's some failed comedy relief, the fights are realistic but not too great and the story isn't anything new, though it manages to hold the attention for the full running time.

To be honest, I'd much rather see tanks of men on screen than steroid freaks, so the lead in this is kind of refreshing and his stoicism made him always interesting, but this really is the typical middle-of-the-road kind of tale we've all seen before and there's not much to recommend it by.

That said, there's plentiful worse out there, so it's not a total waste of a film by any means.

Leia Mais

Not as good as MDL hyped it up to be! But almost as good as the original

After reading reviews here, I was expecting maybe too much. I enjoyed the first film a lot, so I was excited to see this anyway, but the reviews on this site made out that this was a massive improvement on the original in every department.
It wasn't.

Throwing in a half-Korean-American cop for more international appeal, this sequel opens with our North Korean hero and the said American losing the criminal they're both chasing... who then pops up in South Korea. Yes, a good way to get it all going...
but then it quickly goes downhill.
In the original, the South Korean cop was a bit of a loser and very funny; in this one, his introduction really lagged - so that high-octane start was right out the window!
Noodles aside, the gags were dumb and the calibre of writing clearly wasn't on a par with the first! Sadly, this would prove evident throughout the rest of the film.

The sister-in-law many of us saw as the perfect Korean "waifu" is back and, where the producers were smart to give her more screentime, she felt shamelessly additional to nearly all of her scenes outside of the home, making her nothing but fan-service,
And if you're going to do fan-service, why not go bikinis too?

Joking aside (I'm glad she kept her clothes on), the problem with ensemble cast films is that they tend to be overly long; this wasn't an exception! Many scenes felt devoid of humour and failed to drive the story forwards or develop characters, while the moment the hot sister-in-law meets the American is pure cringe!
I was hoping that she was trying to make the North Korean dude jealous, so that he'd be forced to act, but instead, she was just made to look bad.

The fights are okay in this; there's a lot of gunfire which isn't very interesting and the South Korean seems oddly bad-arse - which really cost comedic potential - but really, for me, the plot just wasn't anywhere near as good as the original. This one also left a few loose ends... which may be to set up a 3rd instalment, but I'm not sure the American cop would be needed, and just trying to get our handsome hero back to the South to finally settle down with you-know-who would take too much screentime already.

Leia Mais

Attack of the CGI shark!

I'm not a fan of these kind of films.
That said, I was surprised to see this ran for a little over an hour, so I figured, well, why not?

The plot is actually pretty original for this kind of low budget, sy-fi channel type fare and, where the budget's clearly low, the sets all serve their purpose and fail to pull the viewer out of the mood by having glaring errors. The CGI though...
This one starts well and, adapting very quickly to the truly awful CGI, there's little to really ruin the film, because we already know it's never going to be amazing or try to be anything other than a group of people surviving a tsunami... and now have to also survive a killer shark!

Hot girls? Definitely. Capable male lead hindered by past trauma? Yes, all the clichés are here - right down to the English-speaking blonde girl who sounds like English really isn't her 1st - Hell, 2nd, even - language, but given the genre, we already knew what to expect.

So, the only questions remaining are: was this as bad as the usual and was it worth the running time?
Well, as pointed out above, I don't normally like this kind of thing, so I'd say it's above average and, as for the running time... well, it's something like 65 minutes of so-so entertainment where the brain effectively gets switched off for chill out time.
Nobody ever starts watching this type of film expecting to find a new favourite to tell friends about, but for what it is, it's entertaining.

Somebody seriously needed to check the anatomy of the CGI though, because the fin should be in the middle - and is for the most part - but for sheer drama, it apparently moved all the way up to the shark's mouth in a few shots!
But who cares? After all, this was never going to win a Chinese Oscar.

Leia Mais

Some films are all style, no substance; Diner gets its substance from its style!

When Diner begins, it's clear you're not going to be watching your average action-thriller. What could have easily been pretentious, gets given a healthy dose of tongue-in-cheek and, where it's far from the best film I've ever seen, it kept me entertained for its almost 2 hours running time - which is a lot more than I can say for most flicks!

Because this one is a little "out there" in terms of its style - the very same style that separates this film from just about every other of the genre - it's really not for everybody and, where I'm certain some will enjoy it a lot more than others, for me, there was always a little bit something missing... kind of like Kanako's cooking (by her own words).

For someone who doesn't really like CGI, the dog was great, while the "gun-fu" at the end was comedy gold!
Diner definitely had its moments, but it was more of a good meal during a week of bland pap than a classic that I wouldn't mind being served again.

Leia Mais

Blows hard!

Another GCI-fest with no real story, drama or characters who aren't cheap cardboard cut-outs!
The CGI is also terribly hit and miss, to the point where I couldn't tell if this was supposed to be 3D and I was missing the "experience" with a 2D version.

The "story" isn't really much: some dude wants to cause a war between humans and gods, while some gods want to keep things chilled. It's such a hot mess that I didn't watch much more than 30 minutes and I'm only really writing this to warn others away.
If this was an action comic before a film, it was probably much better in that medium, but I'll give an extra point for trying to rival Marvel whilst staying true to traditions.

NOTE: I couldn't submit this review unless grading the re-watch value, but trust me: it's zero.

Leia Mais

It definitely had potential

I don't "get" Chinese humour, I never have and I likely never will. Given the tone of this film then, I was never going to rate it highly.

Some general is trapped at a ghost town, surrounded by 100,000 enemy troops; his son-in-law won't send troops since they'd be out-numbered anyway and, with the capital left undefended, the entire nation would fall. Illogically, the son decides to set off alone to rescue the general and his few fatigued surviving soldiers, stopping at a mining town along the way to con villagers into aiding him.
With 800 "warriors", they set off to face certain death... but that's okay, because, with wire fu, anything is possible!

Lacking anything remotely resembling a Marvel film's budget, the production values are very high, albeit, there are a few dodgy angles likely chosen to hide the shortage of funds.
Character development isn't needed and the acting is what one would expect for a slapstick Chinese action flick. Yeah, not my cup of tea at all. There were a few good ideas in there but, for me, they didn't really pay off.

So, now you know what to expect, you can check this out or skip it, depending on your tastes. I just wish someone had have reviewed this before I saw it so I'd have known not to have bothered.

Leia Mais

Overly long and convoluted

I dropped this series a little bit into the 9th episode, when I found myself simply not caring about any part of it any more - not even the "big reveal"/ending!

This series was recommended to me by another viewer here on MDL and, having never heard of it, I was surprised to find it in my region on Rakuten Viki's freeview list.
I'll skip explaining what it's all about because there are so many other reviews here already, so let's get down to it:

* * *

The first episode was very so-so and, up until the final scene, didn't spark any interest in me. Suddenly though, I was pretty eager to see more.

The 2nd and 3rd episodes had plenty of action and kept my attention throughout, however, the tell-tale signs of bad writing were in there:
- the ultra vague character interactions
- the needless flashbacks as if the writers think we're too stupid to keep up with their high intellect
- the amount of pointless characters who just took up screentime

After a certain villain who seemed like a main threat mysteriously disappeared though, this went to sh*t!
The action really fizzled out, the endless talking droned on and on each episode, characters kept coming and going yet not offering anything to the plot and even the cute female lead just became REALLY grating and annoying (she's also a terrible actress, but whatever)!
The MC kept his charm - or lack thereof - throughout, but, once this one stalled, it never managed to get a jump back to life, tossing in car chases for chuckles and endless amounts of vacuous banter like we're supposed to be enthralled by not giving a crap!

So, yeah, rightfully dropped. Really, really not recommended.


P.S. I'm sure there will be plenty of comments on how I didn't understand this or how the female lead is amazing (probably in something else - she was undeniably hammy and over-acting in this), but there was nothing deep to misunderstand. THIS SERIES WAS PLAIN DULL.

Leia Mais

Really disappointing

The Admiral is one of my favourite Korean flicks, so I was waiting for this since I saw it announced, a little over a year and a half ago!
Sadly, this failed to live up to both its predecessor and my own hype, as I often found myself checking how long was left, since the battle seemed to take forever to start!
Even worse: once the battle came about, it was a one-trick pony... which is all I'll say, as to not ruin it for others.

Yes, the cast is strong, the music is somewhat rousing and the effects are all decent, but the story failed to pull me into both the human elements and the strategic build-up (and massive anti-climax).

I rated this a 6 instead of the 5 I wanted to give it, because I probably judged it (slightly) too harshly, but I'm so disappointed now, I may even go back and watch, The Admiral again, just to brighten my mood.

Leia Mais

It goes downhill very fast after the great start

Based on a short, it's obvious after 15 minutes that this lacked the staying power to ever be a feature - let alone a +3 hours mini-series!

The opening shot of this was great. The acting was good as a man turns up at a hotel room to buy the virginity of an 18 year old girl... only, it soon becomes clear that she's a liar and massively over-pricing her services. Renegotiating, my interest began to wane, the girl then leaves the room while the man showers to reveal some kind of massive con operation, and when she re-enters the hotel suite, the man is tied to a gurney, with people standing around bidding for his organs.
This is likely where the short ended - it's also where my interest in this went out the window, as bad acting and dull dialogue crept in. Another 10 minutes of waiting for something to happen, there's the earthquake and the first episode ends.

The second episode features two retards, a constant flickering light and a boat-load of tedium. If the retards weren't annoying enough, the blinking lights caused a headache and all the dumb waiting around to maintain the "one shot" began trying my patience.
20 minutes into the episode, I considered turning it off; when it ended, I had no intention of clicking on the third part.

DROPPED. High production values can't gloss over a crappy script! This really should've stayed a short.

Leia Mais

Steers away from the comics enough to keep its readers entertained, but pales in comparison

I'm going to again start out by mentioning how ridiculously high scores are on MDL - it's like, if something was good, it has to be a 9 or 10, and if something is 5, that means it's God-awful!
NO! 1 is terrible, 5 is middling a 10 is the best sh*t you've ever seen in your life!
That said, my rating reflects my honest opinion of this, based on a RELIABLE rating system, and I by no means hated it.

After the first episode of this, I was worried that it would be a direct live-action copy and paste, although the beating at the end of the episode was nowhere near as satisfying as it was in the comic.

Luckily, the creative team behind this chose to alter things, so that those who have read the comic wouldn't feel like this was a waste of time; paradoxically, that also ended up costing this quite a bit. You see, there's this really stupid sub-plot for a few episodes about how the gang takes down some loan-shark... yeah, kind of like Scooby Doo but with some violence tossed in! It was a really, really weak and unbelievable arc that, thankfully, was quickly brushed aside to focus on the main story.

I'll point out now that the acting in this was damn good!
I don't usually comment on the acting so much, but this would've failed utterly had the cast not pulled off their roles so well.

I won't go too much into things and risk ruining it all, but I ended this being, extremely disappointed that a certain recording wasn't spread online and the abusive scum-politician exposed because of it, which really left a sour taste in my mouth of how the absolute root cause of everything got away completely! It also meant that the main villain escaped too, and also the vigilante-style justice that only one of the antagonists actually properly received. So that was incredibly disappointing too, wanting to see certain people being unable to ever hold a pen again(!), or at least ending up in juvie, thanks to the aforementioned clip not being circulated.

In the end, it was a pretty good drama I'd recommend to younger adults, but a bit too immature and unrewarding for anyone older, or those who have already read the comics.

Leia Mais

Power Rangers for older teens

Wow, this was horrible!

I'd heard of the programme before and, being a fan of fighting films, TV shows and comics, I tracked down the first series that started it all... and it was awful!
The first two episodes are, frankly, an absolute mess. Overly ambitious in the worst possible way - the story is all over the place and makes little sense - the fight scenes, which should be the real star of the show, aren't very good, the budget is clearly low and the entire cast is chosen solely based on looks (you won't find any talent here!)... but, given how many spin-offs this has had, I figured I was missing something or that it simply improved exponentially, so I continued.

After the 4th episode, I really couldn't suffer any more of this trash.
It's supposed to be a hip programme about men fighting but it's more like the live-action version of an anime aimed at 8 year olds, with leads who look more like Korean femi-boy pop star wannabes than hard men!

Dropped.

Leia Mais