The Demon Judge (2021)

The writer loves Yohan a lil bit too much

And that is the pros and cons of this drama.

Yohan and Jisung hard carry the plot with his intricate motive and planning. I couldn't put label into his character even till the last ep. Is he an anti-hero? Is he simply a hero? Because as you see throughout the drama, though he was doing it for "the greater good" in his mind, in the end, his motive was mainly for his own revenge. Also, god, should I say more about Jisung? We all know he's a freaking good actor who blends into any character given to him and has lots of charisma.

The casts were superb, from the the female lead to the president. I still get chill remembering the president, he looked so much like you-know-who. And I wish I could love Sunah more than this, she was an interesting villain who has a soft spot for people in need and actually didn't want to go to the length the other villains had taken, if only the writer explore her character more. The cinematography was good, moreover on the first half and when Gaon was exploring Yohan's home, I screenshooted lots of scene from that one. And the songs. I love the song choice, watch it or not, everyone needs to hear Nightmare by Sondia.

Then the downfall, how can you got a hand of a handful of fine to great actors, and not maximizing their potential? Especially the "good" characters, they were so dumbly written, as if good people means easy to fool and a saint who's always in lawful path. It was frustrating to see our second leads being so stupid and reckless (Soohyun not calling for backup, Gaon kept running in circle), I mean, when you want to doubt Yohan all the time, be subtle and manipulative, no? Even Jinjoo got better character development than our two second leads.

Still I give it good rating because Yohan makes me forgive the rest lol.

Lire davantage

This drama has squeezed my heart out of shape. It shocked, horrified, stunned and melted my heart by turn. It was heart-wrenching at times and shocking at other times. It is meant to show a dystopian Korea of the future but succeeds in showing the actual reality in many countries. The nexus between politics, judiciary and industry is exposed in all its rawness. The protagonist of the drama metes out justice in his own way but it is not always commendable. Sometimes you feel your heart stop at the methods he employs but you never doubt that he is on the side of justice.....wild justice, you could call it.
The acting is beyond perfect. Watching Ji Sung play the role of Judge Kang Yo Han, I had my heart in my throat most of the time. This actor gets better as the years go by and he always chooses to play unusual and powerful roles. After watching him, you cannot imagine anyone else in this role. The other actors do not disappoint either. But I would specially like to mention the one who played the President. He was such a repugnant character and his rabble rousing tactics were so reminiscent of certain politicians in history and at present.
The music enhanced the play and I would encourage anyone who enjoys a serious issue-based story, to watch this one.

Lire davantage

Disappointed

Really disappointed. The drama was good till the ep 12 then storyline started going downhill. I loved the bromance.

Yo Han character was great, his whole show was planned really well. On the other hand Ga On was soo annoying. He was so blinded/stupid that he couldn’t see that justice does not exist for people that do not have money or power. You would thing he learned his lesson but no…he stayed naive till the end and almost ruined everything.

The detected character was really useless….could not solve anything and the only thinkg she cared about was Ga On for who she just left everything and run to him if she known he is in a danger. And she was really obsessed to make Yo Han the villan.
They could write the story better. Its shame as I was hooked at the beginning of the show.

Lire davantage

The devilish entertainment

Its intense, its bold political corruption, manipulation inbetween friendship love hate lies bromance.. Its power packed ..
Its all in one
Ji sung eyes speaks more than him.. His every movie or series had made me love n respect him more... And for this character no one would have suit better than him.. He is into the character n light up the screen with fire
Ga-on is simply lovable .. His chemistry with ji sung(kang yo han) is too good.. He wants to believe him but yet fear . The pain of loss of loved ones bond them together..
Kim min jung the female lead or villian.. U need to watch her a strong character driving the wheels of the nations without being seen.. She behave like a puppet but actually made entire national leaders her puppet..
No words actually completely describe how it is but surely worth a watch

Lire davantage

most definitely worth watching

the two main male leads, ji sung (kang yo han) and jinyoung (kim gaon) have amazingly perfect chemistry with eachother. watching the drama and when there were moments when they got mad with eachother were hard to watch cause of how close they seem. the whole series really seemed as it almost revolved around them.

i liked how kang yohan was almost always there for gaon. when he got into trouble, yohan appeared out of nowhere and basically saved him.

what else surprised me is both of their family histories being tragic. i feel like this was a great plot twist to bring the two closer in a psychological way as they would understand each other.

i would definitely rewatch this drama as much as 10 times. i don't usually write reviews, but the devil judge is definitely worth it. well made kdrama with amazing actors and stories.

Lire davantage

WHAT A SHOW!!!!!

So I took some time to actually watch this series. I kept getting youtube videos on my page but sort of pushed it aside. Then I could no longer resist the pull of Ji Sung. My lord that man!!! I also love Kim Min Jung who gave a stellar performance as usual. The cherry on the top was, of course, Park Jin Young, whom I had never had the pleasure of watching before. Commendable young actor.
The acting, the acting, the acting!
Awesome performances by the entire cast, to be honest. It is one of the few series I have watched where all of the actors do such an amazing job. Truly remarkable. The entire series is gripping and has you on the edge of your seat because of the acting. The male lead characters were phenomenal in every way. Ji Sung was breathtaking in his role, I can tell you what else was breathtaking in him but then that would be a spoiler :) Park Jin Young followed Ji Sung's lead step by step. Neither one of them tried to outdo the other, when one was leading the other generously stood aside. I thought the manner in which their relationship developed was brilliantly written. I enjoyed every moment of their scenes together. Kim Min Jung also delivered her performance as the devil incarnate with impeccable grace. She was flawless. Even the despicable president was excellent. For me, every episode brought with it outstanding acting.
The plot:
I enjoyed the storyline. It was familiar but with a twist. I am relatively new to the South Korean drama scene but have almost only been watching Korean since last September and in this series, what particularly marked me was the ruthless, brutal honesty in how the writers depict the wretched world of the powerful; how manipulative they are, hungry for money, neglectful of the people they are meant to serve. It also makes the audience think about what true democracy actually means if it actually existed, that is. What is a democratic process? The judge faces us with choices that are difficult to make and we are left wondering what would we have done if we were put in such situations. How would have I voted? For me, the story touched on gender, power, politics, equality, opportunity, abuse, cruelty, deceit among other things. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The music: OST
Fresh, exciting, not as repetitive as in other series. A big thumbs up!
Summary:
The Devil Judge is truly one of the best South Korean dramas I have watched in a year. My hat goes off to all the actors. This is the product of a truly homogeneous, hard-working, modest, cast and crew. They clearly worked together towards making this series a success and I commend them and thank them for their effort.

Lire davantage

A strange and creative drama

The film ensures entertainment and brings a lot of reflection to viewers. In the half first, the writer handled the situations very well, bringing excitement and curiosity to the viewers. Since the writer is the judge, that makes his script even more special. I really get shivers every time the online trials are over. However, that was lacking in the final trial.

The author is an experienced person, has an in-depth view of politics, the political details and plots are handled very well by the scriptwriter. The script brings the viewer's emotions to a climax at decisive moments. However, the construction for some characters is really not good. Typically, Ga On and Soo Hyun. I feel these two characters are very shallow. Even Ga On whose background is the tragedy of his parents' death by a scammer, Soo Hyun is Ga On's protective friend who acts almost like his mother. But the motives and views of these two characters are unclear. So I find it difficult to understand them. I know we need characters who ruin a favorable situation, but sometimes they annoy me so much that it's hard to keep watching.

The commendable thing about this movie is the beautiful, artistic, soulful scenes combined with emotional soundtrack. I like slow motion scenes with no voices but only a sad violin sound. However, in the last episode these scene is a bit abused.

About the actors, Ji Sung is the same as always, he breathes life into the character, his acting level has reached the upper level. This drama wouldn't be so successful if it weren't for someone with the same acting ability as Ji Sung. And the one who surprised me the most was Kim Min Jung. I've seen two of her dramas and don't like her. In this drama, I really like Sun Ah, interesting, smart, dirty, but also a bit naive, Kim Min Jung and Ji Jung's chemistry is also amazing.. Kim Min Jung has been very successful in portraying such a complex character. I want to know more about Jung Sun Ah, if only they could take some of Soo Hyun and Ga On's time for Sun Ah's past. Next is Park Jin Young and Park Gyu Young. Park Jin Young acted quite well in the crying scenes, but in other scenes that required the maturity and determination of a judge, he was still not good, his actions were still a bit awkward and unnatural. Park Gyu Young is the same, there's no chemistry between the two, even if it's a friendship, it's awkward. But in general, their acting is also acceptable.

This is a worth watching. One of the best drama this year. Hopefully Ji Sung will receive nominations and awards in Baeksang.

Lire davantage

The natural human feelings in amazing visual setting

Ok, it's time to write about my first and one of the most favorite Kdramas.
When my friend was watching it I was interested in but I had never watched Kdramas before and expected something more... traditionally romantic or 'vanille'. Well.
It stroke me by the amazing visual and music from the very 1st ep and when I saw Kang Yo-Han (by gorgeous Ji-Sung) I fell in love with this series immediately. It's astonishing how the acting of all the cast, the setting an plot here are absolutely phenomenal.
I discovered Park Jin-Young not only as a cool guy from K-pop and Tom Ford campaigns, but an actor whose career I want to follow. Baek Hyun Jin was great portraying Heo Jung Se with all his hysterical personality we can laugh at and be afraid of at the same time.
If we're talking about music, it's just amazing and the Tempest (main theme) is in my playlist for ever.
So, the Devil Judge is 100% recommended to everyone who love the beautiful, intelligent cinema about pure love (it has no announced romantic-line but it's all about love), human passions and politics.

Lire davantage

Gran BROMANCE distópico!

Después de 8 semanas nos toca decir adiós a nuestros queridos jueces que nos han entretenido, emocionado, enamorado y también nos han puesto de los nervios!!! Ha sido una montaña rusa de emociones pero creo que la mayoría de seguidores de la serie hemos quedado muy satisfechos! La historia ha sido muy entretenida, ha tenido misterio, tragedia, intrigas políticas y oscuridad, pero también nos ha regalado momentos entrañables y emotivos que nos han emocionado (yo personalmente he llorado a mares) y que han iluminado esta distopía que podría haber sido demasiado oscura y triste. El guión nos ha sorprendido con giros inesperados, la trama no da tregua y mantiene la atención del espectador, la escenografía, ambientación y vestuario han sido de calidad y la OST es un regalo para los oidos: grandes canciones que han realzado y complementado los momentos importantes de cada capítulo.
Mención aparte se merece la ACTUACIÓN: el elenco de actores lo ha bordado!! Los secundarios, los villanos todos han estado fabulosos! Pero por encima de ellos han brillado los actores Ji Sung y Jin Young, que han estado magníficos, inmensos en su interpretación de los jueces Yohan y Gaon. Su BROMANCE ha sido de otra dimensión, su química ha hecho arder twitter y las redes sociales con debates y especulaciones sobre su SHIP!!! Pasan a ser junto con la pareja de policías de "Beyond evil" mi bromance coreano preferido de los últimos años!

Lire davantage

Worth watch

I always waited a Ji sung drama to release, he is one of the finest actors and done so many good works. Devil judge simply a very decent worth watch drama. Honestly very happy that tvn always providing such interesting contents.

The story was not something we see for the first time. We have been watching similar contents so many these days but the makes this different definitely will be the performance and interesting screenplay. There were no particular dragging even the episode length was very long everything was felt so perfect. Again i don't like to move further deep into the plot or story line which you can find if you want in mydramalist

Yet again an outstanding power packed screen presence from the brilliant ji sung. He is so good for everything he does. His niece was also excellent, Yo Han and Elijah scenes were really interesting.. and also the lady female lead and others done excellent job.

Don't think it's just a court drama which only dealing the law and justice, it has more to say. There were so many Goosebump scenes. I enjoyed a lot. Even the finale was so satisfying...

Worth watch

Lire davantage

"Law is powerless before power."

"The Devil Judge" is a drama that brought me a lot of emotions, surprises, entertainment and even serious questions about the meaning of some life issues. I really like how the writer wrote the story from the beginning to the end of the drama.

What I liked the most about the drama is showing various characters whose behavior can often be questioned. I don't watch dramas only for characters that suit me, but also for those who would be a "challenge" because of their views on life, decisions they make, etc.
I questioned the main character's behavior for a long time. I finally accepted who Yo Han (The Devil Judge) was, but I wouldn't say that I started to support his life philosophy. But I accepted that from his point of view it was the only right way how he perceived people and what he was doing.

It was a big advantage to show theoretically dystopian political world in the drama. Because "dystopia" was only an excuse to criticize the modern world, politics, law, media, as well as "ordinary" people who do "ordinary" evil. In the drama, elements such as revenge, justice, manipulation, greed, ruthlessness, evil, morality, lawlessness, anger, tragedy play an important role.
In my opinion, the fate of the characters turned out logically in relation to the events in the drama. The dark, dramatic atmosphere and many tragic scenes are often depressing. The drama's overall conclusion about human nature is far from optimistic.

The music harmonized perfectly with the drama scenes. I liked the drama very much. All the actors did a great job, in particular: Ji Sung (Kang Yo Han), Kim Min Jung (Jung Sun Ah), Park Jin Young (Kim Ga On), Baek Hyun Jin (President Heo Joong Se), Kim Jae Kyung (Oh Jin Joo), Park Gyu Young (Yoon Soo Hyun), Jeon Chae Eun (Kang Elijah), Jang Young Nam (Cha Kyung Hee), Ahn Nae Sang (Min Jung Ho), Lee Hae Woon (Juk Chang), Moon Dong Hyeok (Lee Young Min), Jung In Gyeom (Chairman Seo Jung Hak).

"We should make sure they pay for their crimes".

I will definitely re-watch the drama.

Lire davantage