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Guy30032
Reviews
Chugyeokja (2008)
Coincidence Kills
My love for Korean cinema (like many fans) began with Oldboy about ten years ago. Now thanks to Netflix and those who purchase the rights to distribute these films in America I've gotten the chance to watch everything Mr. Park has to offer. I've since moved on to Joon-ho Bong's work and after watching his three masterpieces: Mother, Host and Memories of Murder I decided to delve into any and all Korean drama I could find. This brought me to the easily accessible Chaser on Netflix.
Chaser sports the usual gritty cinematography, conflicted anti-hero (Yun-seok Kim) and a despicable villain (Jung-woo Ha). Both of their performances are very strong, however neither truly wows, primarily because of the lack luster writing. My overall displeasure with the film lies here. Every thrilling event or spectacle seemed contrived in order to produce a scene of explicit tension. The best scenes of the film all occur out of luck (which when written, is actually just the writer deciding something is going to conveniently happen).
This same trial is faced in Bong's Memories of a Murder, though the same air of realism is not found in Chaser to support the moments of happenstance. Likewise the film is also reminiscent of Kim Jee-woon's I Saw the Devil (which in fairness came after Chaser). And perhaps the failures of Chaser needed to occur so they could go further in I Saw the Devil (which had its flaws as well). The problem is that Chaser doesn't define it's own choices strong enough. It is neither subtle and sprawling as Memories nor voracious and uncompromising as Devil. It struggles with the monotony of a overused plot without the flare of anything unique or engaging.
Summation:
Chaser has some very intense and memorable scenes, however the artifice leading up to them is poorly managed and unforgivable. Hong-jin Na is not a terrible director and there is a good film in here somewhere, though it's likely found in either Memories of Murder or I Saw The Devil.
The Dark Knight (2008)
Great Drama
As long as a movie has good acting, writing, and direction it has the potential to be great. Dark Knight has all three, in spades.
In acting we've got a fair line up of leading men and a dream supporting group. Gary Oldman the most consistent of fine actors among the group, reprises his role admirably. Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine has shown us nearly all of their tricks (granted they had quite a few throughout their ridiculously long careers) so there performances were merely comfort zone for the audience to recognizable and accept what they have to say as important. They did absolutely nothing special. Maggie Gyllenhaal equally did nothing special. She held her own put out a completely expected performance. Its nice to see Eric Roberts again, and he truly tried to add dimensions to a dimensionless character, he actually would have made a very fine Joker (granted nothing compared to Heath) during the eighties/early nineties when he was in his prime and hadn't been stained by so many B-movie disasters. Ritchie Coaster's macho dog loving mobster was fun. All the other minor characters excelled under Chris Nolan's direction, who instantaneously introduced us to seemingly three-dimensional human beings.
As far as our leading three. Christian Bale had a lot more range to play in Batman Begins. In this movie it seemed very old hat already. Bale works best the more estranged his character is to both the other characters in the story and the audience. And we all accept him as Batman and Bruce Wayne, so there was no surprise in Bale method magic. Aaron Eckhart was as bland as usual. He played all the beats needed for the character and hit all the high points but was completely uninteresting. He looked perfect as Harvey Dent though. The fact of everyone else being so mundane actually improved the movie however, because it allowed Heath Ledger's performance become all the more striking. Ledger never over shadowed his other actors, he just dominated them and the scenes, as the character should have. He took one important line and transfixed it through his entire performance. He mentioned being a dog chasing cars, and the dog aspect is rooted through the entire performance. In any other context or character Ledger's performance would be considered inconsistent, although playing a primarily inconsistent character, makes his portrayal of the Joker, flawless.
The Writing... truly strong. Situationally very Nolan esc. with is common twists and turns. And the dialogue for the Joker was intensely strong... everyone else above average. The writing translated very well into Nolan direction. He kept a two and half hour movie moving. Almost to the point of annoyance on a repeat viewing. I wanted time to relish in a scene, which was never delivered. That's merely taste however, it makes for iconic moments instead of iconic scenes.
Other then that minor difference of opinion, my only true complaint. Is the terrible... terrible... terrible action choreography. Ever fight was Batman punching, elbowing, or forearming someone. Bad. Epic failure on the part of the action. Chase scenes? Great.
However because I consider this movie a drama as apposed to a "Super Hero" movie. It still holds and A rating and a 10/10 (in percents... more like a 95)
If you liked Dark Knight watch:
Batman Batman Begins Fight Club Seven Heat (Nolan's sighting not mine)
BRANDON C. LAY