Believer (2018)

Damn. Damn Damn Damn.

Excuse my language. Well for starters the story was amazing. Lot of people kinda guessed who Mr. Lee was half way through the story. It isn't one hell of an original plot. It was an ok plot but that's not what made me give this a 9.5 rating. It was the acting. Every. Single. One. were on point. Not a single actor did bad. Now let me get to the main point of this movie.

RYU JOON YEOL!!!

This is my first drama of his. I've heard raving critiques of his acting saying how good he is but for the first time I saw it. This boy can show so many emotions from his face without uttering a word. As the summary says he is quiet person but the amount affect he has on the story is amazing just by portraying his emotions. At first I wasn't that interested in him cuz he does not possess the typical K-drama boyfriend look but boy wasn't I wrong. I'm in love with him now. I wanted to watch Reply 1988 but after hearing who's the real husband I kinda didn't watch it. I love Park Bo Gum but after watching few FMVs I felt as if Hyeri had more chemistry with our sunny boy here XD But thank god they ended up together. Ok I'm going off topic but I hope we can see one of his dramas again. From here onward I will be watching all of his movies and drama. Mr. Ryu, you've found a fan here
The thing that got my attention the most.

HIS GODDAMN HAIR!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT LOOKS FREAKING GOOD> Am I the only one who noticed that?

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this was good, i'm not into action movies but this was a thriller and the action (what there was of it) was short and to the point, not endless shots of people turning into punching bags. and no gory scenes...

i didn't like the detective, he wasn't a "good guy" others might say that the "end justifies the means" but not for me. i hate it when in crime dramas or movies the police r allowed to "get away with murder" just so they can get the bad-guy at the end. and everyone's so focused on the ending. that they ignore all the bloodied innocents that had to go through hell to prove their innocence. here the first girl that is murdered is "on" the cop/detective. what, cause she is already a junky she is expendable?!?
his conscious was acting up, so he just shifted the blame onto Mr. Lee - but he was the one who put her in danger.
same with the whole movie. Rak also was an innocent (at the time he was an innocent to the cops) injured and orphaned at that, and all Won-ho could see was how he could use him to catch Mr. Lee. So what is the difference between the good and the bad?!?

i for one don't care for an ending where Rak didn't survive, not cause i think he was trying to redeem himself or turn over a new leaf - and now be a good guy. maybe he was just laying low and would regroup the sec everything died down. he didn't kill Brian after all and scared the sh*t out of him - tortured him into happily taking the blame and saying he was Mr. Lee.
but cause there was no justification for the Won-ho to come seeking justice as he was no longer a cop, but just an average citizen with a grudge - u can't even call him a vigilante - as he wasn't any better then Rak.

btw i don't get why people r having a hard time getting that Rak was Mr. Lee - even after his conversation with Brian (1:39:40) before him getting tortured.

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I was able to catch this movie in theaters today. But I want to write this review with a disclaimer, I actually fell asleep after the main conclusion of the story, so I didn't get to see the final wrap up, as in what happened to the characters after the main story arc's conclusion. I guess it's kind of a hint at how I feel about the movie.

This movie is much more of a thriller than action movie, so don't expect too much even though there's some gunplay in the trailer, because that's pretty much half the action there. I came in to the movie expecting an intense detective cat and mouse story. And in general it is, but the story telling was bad and the tone was off. What's awesome is that there are famous actors cameo's as bosses in this movie ( I won't spoil them). The cinematography was amazing. Everything looked beautiful. The contrast in colors, shadows, and lighting created a really atmospheric stage for the movie. The few action scenes were also filmed well. All the effects looked practical and amazing. The gunfights were done well without too much shakey cam. The first 10-20 minutes of the film were great for setting the story and tone of the film. Unfortunately the rest of the film is pretty slow and boring. There was no sense of urgency.

The acting was good, but not for this type of movie. They felt like metal gear bosses, a little too campy and comicbooky for the tone of how the first 10 minutes of the story was set up as a gritty and realistic. As the story progressed, I didn't feel the sense of urgency that the detective felt in finding Mr. Lee. There were no time frames set, no deadlines that the main characters had to meet to satisfy the gangsters. In that way, there weren't really consequences. What progressed the movie along was the bad guys randomly showing up for no reason, just like how Jason Stathom randomly showed up everywhere in Fast and Furious 7.

There were also so many characters, that they would have little to no character development. The Detective's team had like 5 members, and we have no idea what their personalities, skill sets, or strengths were. They felt like extras inserted into scenes. If anything were to happen to the team members, we would not have any emotional attachment to even care.

By the end of the movie, there is a twist, and now the whole movie doesn't make sense anymore. Why did the whole first hr and a half of the movie even need to take place? ugh, frustrating. There was probably another 15-20 minutes of the movie remaining, and like I said, after that twist, I actually fell asleep in the theater. I woke up when the credits started running. The sad part is that I don't even care about how the story ended.

This move is a remake of a Chinese film named Drug War. I have not actually seen that film, so I didn't include any comparisons in this review. But with the way this movie turned out, I think your time would probably be spent better watching the original than this remake. This movie is visually captivating, but it's story telling is dull.

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As a fan of Park Hae Joon (the reason why I wanted to watch the movie in the first place) this movie definitely shows what a good actor he really is.

The plot is insanely interesting, there is constant action, a lot of gory and R-rated things, which don't bother me at all. I was born for action and this movie surely, gave it to me in the best aspect of it.
Of course the other actors did it great - Joo Hyuk, definitely did his job well (he got himself a new fan), as much as Hae Joon - even though this is not his first (the bad guy) role (see Doctor Stranger), same goes for Joon Yeol, who I like more and more with each role.

I would mark this as one of the best movies I have ever watched (nationwide) as this movie really shows, how good Korean movies can be (even though it's a remake).

If you love action, crime and investigation tangling with insanity - watch this movie and make sure to grab a lot of popcorn!

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Wow this was a great movie.

The plot is so insanely interesting. The constant action, a lot of gory and R-rated things, which don't bother me at all but might for others. I love these action movies and this movie surely, gave it to me in the best aspect of it.

Of course the actors did it great too. Especially Kang Seung Hyun. But I'm being biased on that because I love her and she's beautiful. Even though she had just a support role in this movie or what you consider a supportful she's a total badass in this movie. Ending of this movie was interesting too because it's a cliffhanger and kind of a plot that you didn't see coming which obviously leads to the second one which is supposedly on Netflix.

I would say this as one of the best movies I have ever watched as of late.

If you love action, crime and investigation tangling with insanity. You should watch this movie and make sure to get some popcorn.

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Wasted potential

It is puzzling why a movie that has at least 3 great actors, gorgeous cinematography, a reasonably good soundtrack and over the top hilarious gripping sequences, is not better as a whole. I need more background on the main character, on his motivation and personality. I also need more character development scenes, some quiet moments maybe. Why should I care for any of these people. So much wasted potential.


Things I loved

- Kim Joo Hyuk who steals the movie from Cho Jin Woong

- Cho Jin Woong forced into a double mascerade while still visibly being who he actually is

- Ryu Joon Yeol, particularly his reaction shots, he actually steals the movie from everyone

- several sequences where the action is energized by the soundtrack

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Well damn..

I .... crazy.
First of all. The cast did an outstanding job portraying their roles. Definitely deserved the 'Korea's record-breaking film.'
I kinda somewhat predicted who's Mr.Lee but I love the build-up of the story.
I felt the cultural shock on some parts...as I don't often see those scenes in Korean shows. Only in Hollywood shows haha.
But overall, it's nice to take a break from watching romance dramas.
It is definitely weird for me to see some actors in this drama performing different roles than what I mostly see in dramas.. but it's nice to see the other side of their acting skills. Definitely definitely amused me.
The action in this movie was amazing.
2/10/24 1:50am

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