Predictable But Alright

This movie relies heavily on the fact that we've all seen this movie before. Tough guy with a dad who abandoned him as a child finds himself in a position to pretend to be a little boy's dad... just to not disappoint the kid. Nothing surprising. It is more realistic than fantasy, which I appreciated.

The gangster chase/action scenes weren't very well done. The stunts and whatnot were super fake and awkward. This wasn't helped by the terrible choice of music that played during those scenes. The sound was uneven throughout, and that particular music was louder than everything else in the movie and did not fit the mood at all.

The bonding with the kid was rushed and not particularly organic. There wasn't much of the whole 'wear down the tough guy until he accidentally loves the kid'. Sort of a shame, since that is one of the tropes I like.

Overall, it was an okay watch. Just... average. It didn't live up to its potential. Especially when compared to similar types of movies that are exceptionally well done... like You're So Precious to Me, which was truly outstanding.

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Fun & Easy to Follow for Genre Fans

I don't understand what was difficult for other people to follow in this movie. It all seemed straightforward to me (though I've seen dozens of movies that are just like it). I enjoyed the directing, as it reminded me many times of other medical-experimentation horror movies, especially Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator and also From Beyond. It had a fair mix of shots and campy vibes from each. The mad scientist doctor had definite Dr. Herbert West vibes, and the second-sight unlocking of abilities was similar to From Beyond. Both of these have inspired countless movies over the years, so some of the elements are just genre staples at this point. It was nice to see though.

If directors are going to borrow heavily from films of the past, I expect them to do something that would have been difficult or impossible to do in the past. The computer generated effects 100% fit the bill there. It gave an awesome aesthetic to the film-- both creepy and beautiful, sometimes all at once. None of them could have worked before in high quality representations (in practical effects it would have been nearly impossible).

The ML's acting was pretty compelling. The co-star was campy af, but as mentioned, that worked for the genre. I thought the length might over-stay its welcome, but I honestly wished it was longer so that they could explore more "traumas". Honestly, I loved the physical representations of people's issues. Some were obvious, but some were quite clever. The teen girl in particular was an interesting set of ideas that gelled quite well.

Altogether, it was a bit too derivative to be a perfect film, and the tone was slightly uneven as well (the campy vs the serious), but it was still a nice effort and thoroughly enjoyable. In my view, it could have gone MORE cerebral because it kept threatening to become truly unique and intricate, but it never did.

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Okay But Nothing Special

This is a standard kdrama Rom-Com. There is no real depth of characters... no twists in the storytelling... nothing out of the ordinary. It has the cutesy Rom moments, and the Com isn't so annoying that I fast-forwarded it (which I do if it makes the difference of enjoying the show or abandoning it).

Pros:
*The opposites attract kdrama trope, which I personally think is cute.
*Beautiful buildings, set designs, etc.
*High quality filming, cinematography, lighting, music, etc.
*Decent acting for the main leads. Both are fine and their chemistry is okay.
*The comedic-relief characters are annoying, but not so annoying I want to stab them.

Cons:
*There are some tropes (especially near the very end) that I'm not a fan of at all.
*100% predictable in every single way (I knew those tropes were coming--very obvious)

In short, it was watchable af. I cruised right through in no time at all. The cons for me were just "meh" rather than deal breakers. They were manageable because 1. They happened late (didn't have to suffer through 4-5 trash episodes) and 2. I knew they were obvious, so I wasn't as irritated when they popped up.

If you're looking for a rainy-day watch of something mindless and fairly cute, this could work.

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