Reviews

I just finished watching this and I don't know how I feel about what I just saw.

I'm a martial arts fanatic. I will watch any and everything martial arts related. The title got to me and of course the fighting previews reeled me in.

The main character gets introduced as not having a life. He's easily bored if he's not having any kind of fun from winning what he thinks are challenges. He stumbles upon a person getting beat and he winds up helping that person with his martial art skills which gets told to someone in the ankle monitoring department of the police station. He learns the person he helped will be out of commission for 5 weeks and with his martial art skills, the ankle monitoring department could use some help with dealing with the difficult ones who won't obey the ankle monitoring rules. He then takes the job because he thinks it's fun. He then realizes the job he'll be doing isn't so fun because most involves sexual assault crimes against children. This right here could be a trigger for some which is why I think this movie treaded very lightly on the subject.

Now that I'm thinking about how I felt what I saw, the word 'light' explains it. This movie was very light. It only told the crimes of the ankle monitoring perps. Only two actors showed a light dusting of why they had to wear their ankle monitors.

The main bad guy hardly had any back story. We just know he's a horrible person that shouldn't be around kids. He gets out of jail only to pick up where he left off. This happens to be the heart of the movie but again, it was lightly done.
You get a few sprinkles of fighting scenes thrown in. The guy recruits his best friends to help capture the bad guy.....and that's about it.
He faces the bad guy again after the bad guy and his goons manage to injure the first MML and the other ML 's.

It ends with the hero saving the day...as usual...and that's it.

I usually gripe about Korean movies being a lot of fluff with no explanations on a lot of things and this one was like that. Luckily it wasn't drawn out and wrapped up in a news segment like a lot of Korean movies tends to do.

If you want a light hearted crime movie with some fighting thrown in, here's your movie.

Lees verder

Not like manga

First season was at least following the manga. When I heard that the movie was announced I was excited but it didn't follow manga. They skipped part 2 of the manga and skipped part 3 as well. They took the aspect of the starting of part 2 in manga and the ending of part 3. At the end of season 1 it shows 6 months later a landslide occurs but in the movie 7 years later. The movie is completely non canon to the manga . If you want to consider it canon you can because it doesn't really affect the show story.
Tetsuo went to the landslide and met a detective. He found that the body was found of Matori and the detective asked him some questions. Then the plot goes on.
I liked the cast and story was good but compared to the manga it wasn't good. They skipped the village arc and didn't even explain properly that Tetsuo posted their story online.
Kubo said that Tetsuo made his killing more fun because he killed like 2 officers . Spoilers for the manga skip this part






SPOILERS
In the manga Kubo said thank you because Tetsuo let Kubo kills the entire village about 160 people and 180 because of suicide people.






Back to the movie
The music was on fire especially near the end of the movie. I like the cast so much especially Tetsuo.

One thing that the movie did better was show Tetsuo in Prison and gave a perfect Kyochi's character development. I really liked the scene where he punched Tetsuo( Hope he did the same in manga but he didn't because of his friends) I also loved that Kyochi was more involved in the action.
Choreography was amazing in the movie. I hope that they make season 2 of the series other wise this movie will be show canon which isn't bad but manga is amazing;

Lees verder

The love triangle that never existed

The ML and FL were never in a romantic relationship. They were friends.

The ML was in 1999 and in love with a girl who ends up being the FL mom. He ends up dating her and is happy ML's best friend ends up being FL dad. When ML realizes that him being in their lives means FL will not be born, he leaves the picture. This is the part that is incomplete as we never see a love triangle between them. We barely see all three of them together in the screen.

Flashforward to 2022 and we see ML and FL meeting for the first time. also as an extra scene, you see how ML has been around protecting her in a fatherly/big brother way.

Some people think he could have been with the girl in 2022, but then he helps her get the guy (by giving the guy the umbrella and encouraging her to speak up), but the age difference and parent connection would have made this extreme weird.

The story itself was not bad, just felt rushed and incomplete in some areas.

Lees verder

Bullies are just over the top

I would suggest to watch this movie atleast once. The story was not that phenomenal, the regular school bullies taking it to the next level and school authorities are just letting them be, until finally someone steps forward. The same old rich power trip continues, but the characters acting w as on point.
I fell in love with the FL, the movie made me realise how pretty one looks when fighting for the right thing.

Hats off to Shin Hye -sun, l was aww struck by her acting and that of Lee Jun young.

Some thing that felt lacking would be Han Soo Kang having a backstory. He has a step mother and some rumours about his family and that was all. It was up to our imagination, to make up as to why he is the way he is.!!

Lees verder

"you were always normal"

Monster is one of the most gut-wrenching movies ever. It follows two children, Minato and Hori, who form a close friendship. This is one the most important film I have ever watched. I cried so much after watching this, my tears couldn't stop. What the poor boys went through at such a young age, society telling them they can't be this, they can't love who they want without being happy. Watching this has made me hate society and how much pressure we put on children to act a certain way, not just children but people. We have to act a certain way to deem fit to society. Society is the one that created the monster and they impose rules on what we should do and who we should love. People who created this heteronormative society are the real monsters. The boys did nothing wrong yet society kept telling them they were sick, that they had a pig brain, that they were a monster. They told themselves they were monsters but they weren't, the real monsters were the bullies and hori's dad. I feel heartbroken after watching this. I just want the two boys to be happy and love who they want, I want to tell them that there's nothing wrong with them. That they aren't monsters. I hope watching this movie will encourage others to be accepting and to love each other without restraints. One of the greatest films I have ever watched, I'll never forget his.

Lees verder

Hardwork and heartwarming moments

These are the feelings evoked in someone when they watch their favourite team or the underdog team, hey, even their own high school basketball team play.
You've seen where they started, everything they had to go through, you feel their joy, frustrations, exhaustion and exhilaration. You find yourself cheering for them at every moment, and that's when you know, they have your attention.

This was more than just your underdog, rag tag team coming together to form a wonderful team, more than just being a plot device to generate some awws and sighs, no this felt so realistic. Be that it is based on real life events, there was so much heart in this movie that it felt like I was watching the actual people it was based on on screen, not just the actors.

All the characters had equal focus, another thing I love seeing in sports based titles. There was no star player, the coach wasn't the lead amongst the leads, this may have been one of those rare instances where everyone listed as a lead, genuinely felt like one.
It's hard to get the audience invested in a lot of characters without revealing much about them, but the amount of focus they each got, their actions on the court, the way they played as a team, it was more than enough to absolutely love them all.

The acting was great, the cinematography was great and I truly felt the word “rebound” as I watched. The meaning of the word, which I thought would be lost in the rest of the story, was indeed the most important thing after all.

The uplifting story, the subtle comedy and the sense of togetherness and familiarity this brought to me are just some of the reasons I would highly recommend.

Lees verder

A solid watch

Officer Black Belt, billed as an action comedy, is the latest in Netflix catalogue of movies from South Korea. It follows the 'adventures' of a martial arts - sports enthusiast as he volunteers for a position on the parole officers team.
Clocking in just under two hours, the movie aims to be a coming-of-age story covering a fair bit of ground as the protagonist matures over the course of a few weeks on the job. It is medium paced with very few boring or dragging sequences and the earnest performances by the cast - including the bad guys - hold the viewers attention admirably.

I'll start with the bad with is not too many
1. The screenplay is a little immature. The bad guys are purely evil and the good guys are completely good. There are no grey characters.
2. Our hero is an epitome of all values - best friend, honest worker, upright citizen, filial son, never doubts himself or others, eminently likable etc etc. The only slight 'flaw' - if you can even call it that - is that he wants his job to 'fun' but this quirk is written out very quickly.
3. Lee Jung Do looks a little old for the part - keeping the ages of his friends in mind he should probably be in early-mid twenties but he looks older. And you start to question why this older dude is living with his dad and having his dad prepare meals for him.
4. The tone of the movie shifts from goofy, cute, buddy cop story to dark quite suddenly. In the second half the movie is darker and then abruptly there's a goofy sequence where the hero's friends buy equipment.
5. The bad guy is 'boss - like' invincible. He just doesnt die or even break after a savage beating. After a point, it gets annoying to see the protagonist unable to prevail during the fights.
6. Some might find the action sequences to be a little longer than necessary - I did. There are four major fight sequences. At least 5-6 mins could have been cut down to reduce viewer fatigue.
7. Keeping the subject in mind, I would not classify it as a comedy though there are a few light-hearted scenes. Dont go in expecting to laugh.

The good
1. The movie has its heart in the right place. it tackles the very serious issue of law enforcement unable to 'act' against paedophiles, quite hampered by the laws. This is probably the same situation in most countries around the world and you can feel the frustration of the characters when they are helpless.
2. It never gets into 'exploitation' by having gratuitous scenes of sexual assault. There is one sequence but it is filmed well, so the character was never even in the same frame as the other guys. The movie makes you uncomfortable but to provoke righteous anger not titillate.
3. There is no romance forced in. It would have been completely out of place given the story.
4. For an action movie the action takes a while to start. On the bright side, when it does, it is brutal. The scenes are shot well.
5. Everyone has performed acted very well. Lee Jung Do could have been corny but he comes across as likable and reliable, the sort of guy you'd want to be best friends with. Lee Hyun Kul is one of the scariest characters on-screen at the moment, a proper evil character. He did so well, that I felt bad for him to have to play the villain.

In all it is a solid watch and will stay with you for some time.

Lees verder

Destined adventure with friendship, brotherhood, sacrifice

Foxes use elixirs found on humans for immortality. A white elixir exists one in a thousand years and chosen fox students will go through an exam to find it.
Hundreds of centuries ago, a cute and playful fox spirit was saved by a boy collecting herbs in a mountain and they were fated to meet again. The boy who died centuries ago is reborn as a scholar from Tushan who has his own mission and on his way to participate in an examination. The fox spirit went to the human world to look for the claman who has the elixir thought to be the rarest. He was assigned a protector because their chief knew he will cause a lot of trouble.
The unexpected friendship and brotherhood between them was put to test and they were running towards a doomed ending.
Who will sacrifice for who? Whose soul will be snatched? What will be more important?
Surprised by the ending to know a danger was well disguised, this black nine-tailed fox was greedy for immortality. He became the soul snatcher you didn't expect that deserved to be punished by lightning.
The story is short but I enjoyed the brotherhood, the funny and silly moments, the innocent scholar running for his life but came back trying to save his mischievous fox spirit friend not knowing it was part of his tricks, the short fight scenes, their costumes, and short romance,
I was distracted with the different healing method using blood of the different kinds of monsters stored in the paintings because it didn't look good for those monsters but this is fantasy and fiction,
The scholar and the fox spirit balance each other and I love their story. Li Xian is very cute and funny as the mischievous fox spirit and he bonds well with Chen Li Nong the naive but kind hearted scholar. They both have beautiful souls.
The fox spirit's nine-tailed fox transformation reminded me of Kurama but with some six packs, the cgi for both foxes and their fight scene is amazing,
Watch it and have fun,

Lees verder

Excited young people on the warpath.

At the turn of the century, a new game was started by the Japanese government called Battle Royale. The game involved a class being selected each year to go to a deserted island and fight to survive. The game was for the class to kill each other until only one was left.

3 years have passed since Class 9B played Battle Royale and Shuya (Tatsuya Fujiwara) has gone and become a terrorist. Shuya wants revenge on the adults and decides to start a war against the elders and the government of Japan. He has gathered friends who also played and survived Battle Royale. They blow up 2 skyscrapers (similar to the tragedy of September 11, 2001) and hide on an island off Japan. The Japanese government does not like the deed and decides to start a new game, Battle Royale 2. The game is about a class of 40 young people having 73 hours to find and kill Shuya Nanahara or the metal bands around their necks will explode.

When you look at Battle Royale 2, you see a lot of similarities to the first movie. It makes me a little disappointed because it would be a little more fun if they could vary. But that's also the only negative thing about the film. The rest of the film is like the first, very good. Great feeling and very good acting performance. Kinji Fukasaku (director) just finished filming Battle Royale 2 before he died of cancer. His son Kenta Fukasaku then took over the rest of the work to complete the film. In my own opinion, I consider Battle Royale 2 to be an outstanding movie. Maybe not as good as the first one, but not far behind. The film has the same violent elements as the first, but Kinji has managed a better plot in Battle Royale 2 than in the first and that means a lot to the film.

Something that really needs to be mentioned is the music. The music in Battle Royale 2 is wonderful. You get a feeling of sadness and anger when the different songs are played during the film. But there is also powerful music in some scenes. Such as when a group of trained soldiers appear on the island to try to kill Shuya. Firefights erupt and beautiful dramatic music pours out of the speakers. That makes me really shudder. Those of you who liked Battle Royale will like the second one. Usually when you think that a sequel is coming, you immediately get a negative attitude towards the film.

A funny scene in this movie is when Shuya and the rebels send out a speech to the world declaring war on all adults and minutes later a missile hits the island and damages some buildings. In the next scene, you find out that it is a large country in the West (the World Police) that did not like the speech and decided to do what they did best, bomb.

I recommend the movie to anyone who enjoyed the first one.

Lees verder

Let the games begin!

What would you do if you were suddenly pitted against your closest friends in a fight to the death? Director Kinji Fukasaku's film adaptation of writer Koushun Takami's short story Batoru Rowaiaru is a hearty, dramatic, exciting and very well-made story that manages to touch on all levels.

The year is 2000. We are in a fictional future Japan where the entire nation has recently collapsed. Huge unemployment and juvenile delinquency prevail in the country. Adults have lost confidence and fear the younger generation more and more, which leads to a new reform action being put into use by the government to overcome the problems - Battle Royale.

Battle Royale involves a middle school class being selected through a very careful lottery, kidnapped and then sent to an isolated island where they are forced to fight each other for 3 days until only 1 survivor remains.

It is with a very raw and merciless violence that the director Kinji Fukasaku depicts the central plot of Battle Royale. We follow class 9B, a group of young school students who have become like a family to each other and who are suddenly pitted against their best friends in a brutal fight to the death.

As a viewer, you quickly grow fond of many of the characters, which gives you the feeling that you are almost in their midst. The moment when the game on the island is set in motion, when each student is given a randomly selected weapon and sent out to take on each other, was in my opinion one of the strongest and most uncomfortable scenes of the film. We get to see how some react with panic and do everything to survive while others stick together and do everything they can to stop it all.

We mainly follow 3 main characters during the course of the film, primarily the students Shuya Nanahara and Noriko Nagakawa. Shuya has a difficult past that left a strong impression on him. By his side he has Noriko, a girl who has been very fond of him for a long time.

These 2 are also joined by Shougo Kawada, who participated in the game once before. He is portrayed as a somewhat erratic person. We never really know where we have him and what his intentions are. This uncertainty contributes to a very exciting and intense atmosphere between the 3 who stick together during the time they are on the island where the brutal game takes place.

The film's antagonist Kitano is played by a brilliant Takeshi Kitano (Sonatine and Outrage). The interesting thing about this character is that we get to see him in different contexts, whereby his personality changes between the situations. Kitano is initially the teacher of Class 9B under the chaotic conditions of collapsed Japan.

He is portrayed during this stage as a very inferior and fearful person who has completely given up hope for the youth he teaches. Here we get an equally clear and frightening picture of how the situation in the country has affected the adults and how the young people have now taken the law into their own hands.

When he then leads the Battle Royale where his former students participate as players, it is he who once again holds the stick, but in this context there is no trace of the submissive and fearful teacher - Here instead a completely emotional, sadistic and mentally unstable person appears, who seems capable of any number of horrors.

At the same time, during the course of the story, we learn more about Kitano's personal background and the root of his madness and callousness. Beneath the character's frightening exterior, there are nevertheless glimpses of goodness, which almost forces the viewer to feel a certain sympathy for him. Therefore, the audience is kept in a tense uncertainty about what kind of person Kitano really is.

While Battle Royale is a very exciting movie experience, it is also a very dramatic and scary story with a lot of moral undertones. Both the fantastic character direction and the, in several cases, extraordinary performances contribute to this. Fukasaku has managed to portray the plot of Koushun Takami's novel of the same title in a realistic yet frightening way and delivers a cinematic experience that you simply cannot miss.

Lees verder

You may find it strange but it is charming!

I know people will find it ridiculous but teenage love is full of nonsense and ridiculousness. I really loved the movie!

I was already a big fan of Lovesick Ellie, I really enjoyed the manga so I was looking forward to the movie and it didn't disappoint me at all.

Although it has been several years since I read Lovesick Ellie and I don't remember the entire manga well. They kept the essence of the manga and parts that I liked (I really laughed a lot when Ellie tried to kiss Omi and ended up kissing her neck instead of her lips hahaha).

Omi is not the type of bad boy who mistreats the protagonist to "hide" the secret from her. No, he seems like an interesting person despite his strangeness and more because she sees him as she really is and loves him just as he is.

Many may complain about Ellie's overacting, but Ellie is like that! It's the essence of her and somehow I find it tender. Who hasn't fallen in love and fantasized about her crush? I think everyone has been through that situation. So I identified a lot with Ellie, not only is there the fantasy side of her, but also her side of loneliness and not being able to have friends. So I create her own world on networks, under anonymity, to be happy. Many young people take refuge in social networks when they don't have friends but Ellie is evolving just like Omi.

I actually did it in the past, it's embarrassing but it's a part of my adolescence that I remember fondly.

I also liked the most popular boy in school, I remember seeing him in gymnastics and watching him from a distance because he was really very popular and I used to talk about him a lot with my friends. Somehow he noticed my feelings, although we went at different times and he was a year older than me but we coincided at some times. In a way I also experienced my own shojo manga at that time, because when he played recess and I walked around the schoolyard, he pushed me slowly. We spent a couple of time doing that strange flirting hahaha until one day in gymnastics, while I was sitting in front of his classroom, and he spoke to me. I was as red as a tomato and my heart felt like it was going to burst out. We dated for a long time, but I had to change schools and we lost contact. I understand why Ellie didn't want to tell it, in fact my relationship with him was also like that because I was afraid of what they would say, and I also understand Omi because he was also frustrated by not being able to say that we were dating. But I am very glad that Omi gave her security and protected her.

Today, we talked again after a long time and we remember those moments as something very nostalgic, fun and beautiful. He's already engaged and so am I but we're friends and that's the great thing about adolescence!

The chemistry between Hara and Miyase was really good and they acted very well. That's the most important thing for me! I have had many disappointments with other lives actions because the acting was poor and the chemistry 0. But here it was different and I enjoyed it a lot.

I laughed a lot, I got excited and I was transported back to my adolescence.

The music is beautiful, NiziU gave it that charm and represented the film a lot. The cinematography is beautiful too!

Even though it may cringe you at times, give it a chance, it's worth it!

Lees verder