Director: Lee Soo-sung
Year: 2023
Country: South Korea
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Zombie
Plot:
Trying to make a living during the pandemic, an online video creator and his friends find their work inside a local mall interrupted by the discovery of an infected individual turning the workers inside into flesh-eating zombies, and they must try to rely on their martial arts skills to get away alive.
Review:
Overall, this was a decent if somewhat underwhelming genre effort. Among the more likable aspects is a lighthearted tone throughout the first half that introduces the various stories in place. Getting to see the exploits of the main group, not just in the city but around their service, creating videos for others on the internet, creates a nice introduction to the central group of characters. As the scenes become more focused on their quest for more viewership in light of the series of strange attacks being reported and filmed around the city, featuring strange inhuman behavior, their switch from lighthearted jokesters to more heroic fighters trying to stop the zombies makes for a fun time. With the plot shift in the second half to them trying to curtail the outbreak within the building, there's a fine starting point for this to occur that manages to have a lot to like.
Once this shift is in place, the film starts really piling on the action as the second part is nearly relentless, offering up a slew of confrontations and encounters. The majority of these are designed to allow him to showcase some solid martial arts skills, trying to save his friends and other survivors of the mall-like complex as he's allowed to kick, flip, and punch through the creatures who put up a decent fight before succumbing to his skillset. These do range from the goofy to the silly, as the successful confrontations show off his skills while the unsuccessful ones merely allow the victim to get overwhelmed and killed by the onrushing swarm. Still, the viciousness of the zombies and their overwhelming numbers provide some fun encounters in the security offices, throughout the hallways of the building, and a strong final battle in the parking garage. Offering up enough thrills in the setpieces and a couple of solid gore effects for the creatures, there are some decided positives to be had here.
However, there are some issues with this one. The biggest drawback is the series of zombie attacks within that are designed to move the film along at a faster pace than actually provide some thrilling elements. Only a few of the attacks toward the finale offer anything more than just rudimentary chills and scares of a swarm of zombies overwhelming and biting victims. This setup is the main focus of the majority of the attacks, as it continually relies on this approach mixed together with some inherent stupidity on the characters to keep them in danger. Rather than try to get out of the building, the group is forced to handle it themselves without any outside interference simply to save face in the situation. That all becomes obvious in an overall cheap presentation that’s a big overall factor against it being enough combined to lower the film overall.
Overview: **.5/5
A decent enough zombie effort that does get bogged down by some big issues, this one won’t redefine the genre, but it serves as a watchable at best genre effort. Those who are fine with these drawbacks or are just hardcore zombie-genre fanatics will be those who enjoy this the most, but most others out there that are turned off by those factors should heed caution with this one.
This review was originally published on Asian Movie Pulse and is gratefully reprinted with their cooperation.
Comments
Post a Comment