The movie starts with two scientists talking about dumping "dirty formaldehyde," down the drain into a South Korean river. Now two hundred bottles of formaldehyde would never cause such a mutation in a river, especially for what looks like a giant killer tadpole crossed with a bass to appear. That is that satirical element though and and good start for a monster movie. Veteran American actor Scott Wilson portrays the American scientist. The formaldehyde in the water pollutes it and causes many fish and habitats to die. This is relatable to real life as how many times has science interfered with something like this or how many times has pollution caused problems with the water? I went to college in a town where muskies were put in the river and now guess what, theres no other fish in that river! So while the monster thing is an exaggeration, this could actually happen in a different way on a smaller scale.
The next thing the movie does is introduce us to the family of characters in this. Park Gang-du (Song Kang-ho) runs a snack bar with his father Hee-bong (Byun Hee-bong). Gang-du has a brother Nam-il an alcoholic former university student. His sister Nam-joo is an olympic archer. They show her flaw by showing her only getting a bronze medal as.the timer runs out on her before she can make the final shot. Gang-du frequently falls asleep at the register while running the snack bar. None of these characters are flawless. Gang-du does have a young daughter Hyun-seo who is embarrassed by her family. Her mother left when she was younger.
One day people see tentacles and evidence of something large in the river. They start throwing stuff in and the monster attacks. This a unusually quick appearance for a monster in a monster movie. It also shows the monster attacking during the day. I would compare this to the tripod attacks in War of the Worlds in that the monster isn't so large that it destroys all the buildings and infrastructure but it's big enough and fast enough to keep up with all the people running, killing many and causing chaos among big crowds. While the monster is a lot of CGI, especially moving, it still looks pretty good today. Not great, but decent. It's much better than SYFY original creature feature monsters. During this chaos, Gang-du grabs Hyun-seo's hand but then loses her and releases he grabbed the wrong hand. In a great dramatic sequence where the music stops and Gang-du sees Hyun-seo behind him and she is grabbed the monster. This sequence and the style and Gang-du making yet another silly mistake is repeated later. I like it though because it makes him human and how many people have lost their kids in a big crowd of people? It feels real.
At a funeral for all the victims starts the great use of dark comedy within Korean movies. While the four family members reunite and mourn the loss of Hyun-seo, their exaggeratory nature makes the scene funny as they cry but also fall ant trip over each other. In the background someone talks about a car outside that is parked wrong. Again Koreans just know how to add this stuff in their movies and not have it feel out of place. Meanwhile Hyun-seo is shown to be alive and well in the sewers. She finds a way to call Gang-du on a cellphone. The American military has shown up and quarantined anyone who had contact with the monster. They say it hosts a deadly virus. This is the start of the more Romero side of the plot.
Spoiler Section
Gang-du and his family find a way to escape and get guns. They confront the creature during the day. Gang-du makes another fateful mistake as he incorrectly tells his father that there is another shell left in the shotgun but when he goes to shoot the monster he is out. The monster brutally flails him around and kills him. Again good contrast between the comedy and dramatic horror and action. The family eventually all split off. A bounty has been placed on the family. Gang-du is eventually captured and learns that the virus was a coverup for what really happened at the beginning of the movie. I can't think of anything that relates better to present day after the pandemic started in 2020. The family all meet up to battle the monster again. Nam-joo gets some good shots in with her bow which is a real fist pump moment. It is revealed that Hyun-seo had been eaten. A little boy named Se-joo had been in the sewer with her and Gang-du revives him. Gan-du kills the monster with a pole. After mourning Hyun-seo he eventually inherits his father's shop and adopts Se-joo.
There are more moments throughout the second half that I like. While the monster carnage int this isn't amazing the kills can be quite brutal, but not necessarily bloody. I really like the moment where the monster goes to the sewer and regurgitates all of the bones he ate. Another great dark comedy moment is when Gang-du falls asleep in the store and his brother and sister talk about how pathetic he is and his father says yes he is pathetic but you have to protect him. That is yet another great dramatic moment with some comedy. I find it interesting from a South Korean perspective that the American military is really the biggest antagonist in this movie because they divide the family for parts of the movie but also lie about the virus and could easily kill the monster anytime but choose not to. Again the Romero movies felt like an influence but so did movies like High and Low just the kidnapper being a monster. I love everyone in that family and they are the heart of this movie.
Rating; 9.5/10
Trivia: The ticket sales mathematically say that around 20% of the Korean population at the time saw this movie. That doesn't account for people who saw the movie more than once though. The film was such a hit that a statue of the monster was made near the Han River.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HRTy26s4hw
No comments:
Post a Comment