Vigilante (2023)

Short, Crisp, Spicy: Watch it for Nam Joo Hyuk!

As an ARDENT Nam Joo Hyuk fan, I was a little late to the watch party, but I'm glad I watched this and didn't skip it. Let's get straight into the pros and cons of this series:

Pros:
Short episodes: Each episode was 40-45 mins long, and it had just 8 episodes. Quick and easy watch, loved the length of the series.
Acting: The cast had all good actors, lovely job done by the actors. Of course, I must mention Nam Joo Hyuk and how BUFFED UP he's become for this role. Full ogle fest! Also NJH has improved so much... It was so good to see him emote with his eyes throughout the whole drama. One minute, he's got kind twinkly eyes, and the next minute, he has the coldest, deadset eyes, that just brims with anger and vengeance. Brilliant piece of acting by my boy! Yoo Ji Tae also had a strong presence. Special mention to Woo Hyun Joon who played police officer, Nam Yeon Gil. He had a very limited screen time, but in whatever he had, he made his presence felt.
OST: The OST is actually good here. I am not a big OST person, most often I am annoyed by the loud kdrama OSTs, they feel like a hindrance to the watching experience. But here, it was quite muted and appropriate in maintaining the tone of the drama.
Action: Finally, some good action choreography in a kdrama. Also, these guys didn't shy away from showing gore. It wasn't overdone either, so whatever was done, made sense.

Cons:
Story: I understand that it is adapted from a webtoon by the same name, but that's exactly what became its greatest bane. The script had no movement other than whatever was written in the web series, so you can understand while seeing the drama, that it is just stringing together panels into a plot. That's what makes the plot so flimsy. There was potential for more character growth or more development, but the writers didn't bother expanding more on it. Random people appear out of nowhere with just one-line explanations of who they are, much akin to how characters are introduced in a comic. While I like that they didn't explore 50 different things in the series and stayed true to the main plot point (aka the Vigilante and his own ways of serving justice), I wish there was something more to the plot though... it was a little too straightforward at the end of it all. But there's a s2 coming up, so hopefully, they might play on things up a little more then.

Acting: I didn't like Kim So Jin... didn't like her look, or her acting. Her character was an interesting one, I won't lie. But I didn't like Kim So Jin in it, she screamed a little too much, and it didn't look natural enough to me. Also I didn't understand why Nam Joo Hyuk and Yoo Ji Tae had to shout more than half the time to make their point across. Whenever those two conversed with each other, they shouted at each other, which got pretty annoying pretty quickly.

Overall, it was a pretty quick and easy watch. Quick and spicy, watching the show felt like eating a packet of chips. Its good as long as it lasts, and then it gets over quickly, and you move on to watching the next drama. A solid one time watch.

Lire davantage

is it an original plot? No did it manage to make me entirely entrained and hyped over it? hell yeah

It's difficult to start this review without being 100% biased by Nam Joo-Hyuk, I'm completely obsessed with the way he acts with his eyes, you can see the madness and sadness in every look.
Well, talking about technical criteria and not just fangirling over him, this Dorama was very good in general. The plot wasn't that original, the characters weren't that well developed, I felt a lack of dimensionality and depth in the personal motivations of each of the characters.
But can I be honest? I fucking love this.
When I evaluate something, I don't just take into account the production itself, but also the entertainment capacity, If it managed to entertain me and leave me excited with each episode, I will overlook all the script and production flaws.
And if we are talking about entertainment, this show it's a fucking great one.
If you are looking for something extraordinary and original, this may be a slight disappointment.

Lire davantage

impressive, worth the watch!

The acting was really top notch, like Yoo Ji Tae actually builded up for this role, i'm really impressed , like wow , what a transformation!!
All the protagonists did a really good job, i really appreciated Nam joo hyuk 's acting here, he did improved throughout the years.
Since he is enlisting soon or maybe he has already enlisted, we may not had a second season that soon.
I enjoyed the watch, it wasn't boring.
I was rooting for the "vigilante" lol. I get where he came from, and yes at the end of the day it actually seems like the bad guys win.
9/10 because it was an easy watch, and yes i want to boost the ratings on this one lol!

Lire davantage

Primeiramente quero dizer que o Nam Joo Hyuk está incrível no papel de Vigilante. As expressões faciais de total apatia e desinteresse pela vida ao ódio e a vontade de matar estavam muito bem colocadas no que cada cena pedia. O rapaz que tenho acompanhado desde School 2015 cresceu e está alçando novos voos.

O drama é mais uma adaptação de uma webtoon e cujo tema é vingança. Kim Ji Yong teve a mãe assinada quando era bem jovem e viu o algoz de sua mãe receber uma pena leve e voltar para as ruas para cometer os mesmos crimes. Quando adulto ele entra na Academia de Policia e no tempo livre coloca o seu capuz preto e sai para fazer justiça com os punhos para casos onde a Justiça foi leniente em suas penas.

Em geral, é um drama de ação interessante de acompanhar, mas uma coisa que achei bem exagerada foi o copycat, Cho Kang Ok. Qual é a dele afinal? Por que essa obsessão pelo Vigilante? São algumas perguntas que talvez sejam respondidas se houver uma segunda temporada. Da forma como as coisas terminam tudo indica que sim, mas vamos ver se a Disney vai se dispor a investir para a produção de uma segunda temporada. Além disso o Nam Joo Hyuk está cumprindo o serviço no exército, se rolar mesmo deve ser em 2025.

Lire davantage

You won't be dissapointed

The plot is thick here, the main characters are generally fleshed out well, each with their backstory and own motivations, The acting is generally very top notch and even though I feel there was a missed opportunity by not having the vigilantes and the police officer interact with each other more at the same time, it generally delivered.

BUT I feel like it gets a bit rushed, feels like some important parts missed the cut and I think it was remiss of them to not include more episodes, however the director and the producer's still did very well with the episode range given, just feel like 2 more episodes would have allowed them to come as close to perfection as they could.

Also, I have to mention seeing bad guys not getting off lightly realled endeared to me.

Lire davantage

The differences between Disney/Hulu K-Dramas is interesting

Barring my disappointment that Seonwook was hardly in the show and died anyway (💔) this show was okay for a thriller/action drama. It’s still a bit jarring seeing k dramas with this much knife play, blood, and violence in general. The dramas produced for Hulu & Netflix always feel different.

The writing, particularly the scenes about philosophy and morality, were quite heavy handed. There’s a scene where Jiyong and Seonwook play basketball and Jiyong is wearing a black shirt and Seonwook is wearing a white one. We get it; Seonwook believed in reform and second chances and Jiyong thought using crime to fight crime was the answer. I really wish they’d done more to push Seonwook as a character because it just made his death feel unearned (?) because he wasn’t that much of a presence. He was just cute and believed the system could work. Why did he have to die?

Reporter Choi’s character was confusing to me. At the start of the drama, it felt way too over the top. The “okay” thing was odd. I appreciate that she was a tenacious reporter and despite people dying because of some strange choices she made, a lot of things wouldn’t have happened without her.

Honestly, the story beats already reminded me of Daredevil or your average vigilante hero story. The way characters were just tossing grown men through the air, it felt like there was some super soldier serum going around.

Anyway, it’s not my favorite vigilante story, but I thought the lead actor was good and it kept my attention.

Lire davantage

RESEÑA <3

No tengo palabras para explicar lo bueno que es este drama. Desde el primer segundo del capítulo uno, hasta el último segundo del capítulo final, te mantiene con intriga. No quería ni pestañear por si me perdía algo importante.

Digamos que es un drama algo diferente.

Los actores son demasiado buenos y el personaje principal es Nam Joo-Hyuk, el actor de veinticinco veintiuno.

Hay escenas de acción y en ningún momento te esperas lo que puede ocurrir a continuación.

De verdad, no me cansaré de decir que este drama es fantástico.

Lire davantage

GOODDDD

I started the series with a lot of excitement since there were two elements that I LOVE: Nam Joohyuk ofc lol and the fact that it's an action/crime series.
To be honest the first part was so good but I don't know about the second part... I got a little lost, maybe it was my fault but I think I would have preferred a different dynamic between the characters.
It was DEFINITELY too short but apparently there will be a sequel AND THIS IS GOOD, I CAN'T WAIT.
Nam Joohyuk's acting gave me goosebumps and it's not the first time, I hope to see him again soon (we miss you <3)
Overall I really recommend it!

Lire davantage

You need to be evil to kill evil

Loved it! Loved it ! Loved it!

Story is about how the law system is twisted. It only favors people who are in power or have money. I think not only one country's law is corrupt, but the whole world law system has corruption in it, more or less.

Our hero, Kim Ji Yong has turned into evil himself to kill evil. Became a fan of Nam Joo Hyuk. Loved his acting. The way he played a psychic character who is after criminals. The way he smirked, his facial expression was mindblowing.

Cho Heon is an honest cop but looks like he is corrupted. Yoo Ji Tae is fully changed here. I last saw him in Healer. He is a big macho man with bodybuilding & everything. Did he change his physique only for this role??

At first, I thought Choi Mi Ryeo was doing all this only for fame & name or for her channel rating. As the story progressed, it turned out that she was doing it for justice, which she never received.

Honestly, I didn't like Cho Kang Ok. He did everything for fun. But in the end it turned out to be something else.

Felt bad for Kim Ji Yong friend.

Will there be S2?? The ending did imply S2, but I read that it got cancelled.

Lire davantage

Good Enough

Korean Drama '' Vigilante '' is a webtoon-based action drama.

The theme of the drama is quite interesting, and there are a lot of crime cases that are dark and intense. The antihero twist was also nicely handled, and the performances of the main leads were strong enough to support the plot.

However, the drama suffered from its short length. Halfway through, things started getting rushed and the story didn't develop as smoothly as it should. At least the action scenes were enjoyable.

So, overall, six out of ten for the Korean Drama '' Vigilante ''.

Lire davantage

Could have been far better!

The story of a dark hero leading a dual life fighting for justice has always been a popular one. Most of us have grown up watching the likes of Batman. Now we are presented with a Korean webtoon adaptation of the dark hero character called Vigilante who fights crime in the shadows and doesn't mind to kill.
But the story doesn't seem much appeasing as the events could be predicted pretty easily from the early parts of the story. The life of the connected characters' and how they ended up where they were at that point in time should've been better flushed out. Instead all we get is just simple brooding MC and his vigilantism activities. But the funny thing is that the MC doesn't even bother covering his face in a well CCTV connected country like South Korea and he gets away with it every time.
Hope the next season, if it happens, have a decent storyline and better flushed out characters.
Here hoping and even with all its faults I have to admit this really was a good one time watch.

Lire davantage