Member OpiumKungFuCracker Posted May 1, 2011 Member Share Posted May 1, 2011 Out on U.K Bluray, has anyone seen this??? I'm really fucking curious to see this one, My boy, Byung-hun Lee is in this including Josh Hartnett and Elias Koteas AKA Casey Jones, LOL... 1kgWJzw0--w Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator One Armed Boxer Posted May 2, 2011 Moderator Share Posted May 2, 2011 I was also enthusiastic to check this one out....of course here in Asia the movie was marketed based on the fact Lee Byung-hun, Kimura Takuya, & Shawn Yue are all sharing the same screen together. Interesting to see the US cover doesn`t even give them a mention, instead opting for `Featuring the music of Radiohead`, obviously the DVD compaines faith in selling movies based on Asian stars is still a big fat zero. Regarding the movie itself, man is it one horrible mess. Director Anh Hung Tran opted to have the whole cast speak in English, which was debatably a mistake. While Byung-hun`s English is, as expected, perfect, Shawn Yue comes across as a little wooden, like he`s concentrating more on delivering his lines correctly rather than actually acting them. Kimura Takuya doesn`t fare much better, but in total he only has about 2 lines in the whole movie, the rest of his performance consists of grunting or writhing in pain. An interesting extra on the Japanese DVD has Josh Hartnett explaining how he & Byung-hun would spend a lot of time together practicing their lines and scenes, but as soon as Kimura would finish his scene he`d jet straight back to Japan, probably because he was overloaded with obligations to appear with his group SMAP. However this is not the smartest move if you`re supposed to be acting a pretty heavy role with great performers like Byung-hun & Hartnett. Hartnett`s performance is solid, however everyone is hurt by a script and story which only seems to be half finished. Significant things happen which affect the plot in major ways but don`t have any reason or explanation for happening, for example one of Byung-hun`s men running off with his girl (played by the directors wife who might need a few extra acting lessons based on this movie).....this point sets off many events in the movie, however we never know why he suddenly ran off with her, he just, well, does. Hanging over all this is the very heavy atmosphere, accompanied by the aforementioned music of Radiohead, this movie is clearly supposed to be about pain and suffering. But sadly due to what seems to be a lack of clear direction and focus, the only people left suffering are we as the audience. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member OpiumKungFuCracker Posted May 2, 2011 Author Member Share Posted May 2, 2011 Yeah, the cover suck.. At least they could have put Byung-Hun's name on there, he's pretty big in these parts... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member mpm74 Posted May 2, 2011 Member Share Posted May 2, 2011 Damn, that trailer makes the movie look good. I'm a HUGE radiohead fan, so that slogan works for me. DO you know what songs (from what album?) are played in the movie? And how many songs? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator One Armed Boxer Posted May 2, 2011 Moderator Share Posted May 2, 2011 Well, in all fairness that`s a trailers job, and if a trailer can`t make a movie look good then it`s in trouble from the start! Worth noting that you posted the Korean trailer as well, so it`s being marketed from the Byung-hun perspective. The thumping soundtrack used helps matters as well, speaking of which... ...I`ve no idea which Radiohead songs are played, but they are all used to make the already heavy atmosphere even heavier, making the movie a pretty depressing slog on top of being a disjointed mess. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Yihetuan Posted August 11, 2022 Member Share Posted August 11, 2022 I remember the first time I saw this many years ago, I thought it was over indulgent, wildly incoherent with arthouse pretensions. But upon a recent rewatch, I admit I was wrong. It's actually one of the finest psychological crime thrillers delving on human obsession to emerge in the past decade as well as Lee Byung-hun's best international performance. I originally felt Josh Hartnett was terribly miscast as the lead but again, after a second viewing he gave a sublime performance. My only reservation about this film is the fact that Tran decided to shoot in English. It would've worked much better with the native language and subtitles for all the characters sans Harnett, Yue and Elias Koteas. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator One Armed Boxer Posted August 11, 2022 Moderator Share Posted August 11, 2022 5 hours ago, Yihetuan said: I remember the first time I saw this many years ago, I thought it was over indulgent, wildly incoherent with arthouse pretensions. But upon a recent rewatch, I admit I was wrong. Hmmm, I haven't seen this since it came out, and pretty much thought exactly the same as you. Now you have me pondering a re-watch. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member laagi Posted August 19, 2022 Member Share Posted August 19, 2022 I actually feel inclined to watch this now... I'll be back with some of my thoughts if I make it LOL. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member OpiumKungFuCracker Posted August 20, 2022 Author Member Share Posted August 20, 2022 Ok you talked me into watching this again. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member laagi Posted October 5, 2022 Member Share Posted October 5, 2022 I... actually liked this. A movie you need a certain willingness to embrace for the better or worse. Hard to describe what it's even about. It's such a wild mix of genres that it's probably best to experience it. It's very poetic and almost like a piece of art. At times beautiful, depressing, disgusting so many feelings honestly. I can also see that some might be offended by it. Especially if you're of christian faith. The atmosphere is almost dream or nightmare like throughout. As if you're part of some psychedelic trip. Probably lots and lots what one can interpret into as far as story and characters go. As there's really no clear narrative, direction, start or even ending. The look and feel for the most part are outstanding. But again certainly not for everyone. Only downside are some of the rather awkward casting choices. And I'm not even talking about Hartnett here. Especially the female lead (the director's wife LOL) delivers a really subpar performance. And yes it's kind of difficult to understand why they would choose english as the main language of the movie. Overall I'm still not sure what I just watched but I did enjoy it! Recommended if you're down for something different I guess. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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