Shark: The Beginning (2021) - Wi Ha-Joon, Kim Min-Suk

[laagi]

As of late there's been an abundance of "cheap" korean gangster and martial arts movies. Most of them aren't pretty good. I'd go as far as comparing them to the countless productions being squeezed out of chinese streaming sites... You know the one.

So I'm pretty hesitant when it comes to these movies. Mainly because I can barely keep up with the big budget productions, not to mention the classics I'm trying to catch up to.

Nevertheless all things considered I've enjoyed this movie for the most part. Again it's nothing that would make my top of the list but for a entertainig time filler with some drama and martial arts thrown into to the mix, this did remarkably well. Apparently it's based on a webtoon and as the title indicates only the start. I'm actually looking forward to where this is going.

[DarthKato]

Looks pretty cool. The chorography and acting seem to be solid enough. 

[One Armed Boxer]

This one will hit Blu-ray in the U.S. on October 11th -

https://cityonfire.com/media-blasters-to-release-the-blu-ray-for-the-2021-south-korean-prison-actioner-shark-the-beginning/

[Yihetuan]

I happened to catch this the other day and at first, upon seeing the JTBC logo, I figured it was going to be a TV series adapted into a movie. It can actually work as a serial show as the story can easily be expanded out to 10 episodes or so. But I'm glad they didn't and adapted this webtoon into a feature film. The two most common prevailing themes of late in Korean media are those that expose corruption at the highest level (government, political & Chaebol malfeasance) or school/workplace bullying. This one is the latter and as far as teen bullying films go, there are much better ones from Korea in recent years that are much more nuanced and realistic than this one.

But having said that, I actually enjoyed this movie for the most part. The two leads are very good. Kim Min-suk plays the nerdy bully victim who seeks help from ex-MMA champion Wi Ha-joon (the cop in Squid Game and the serial killer in Midnight) to become a formidable martial artist. His transformation from soft spoken sickly & weak to a confident fighter with boxing and jujitsu skills is the best part of the movie. That includes the training montage where he undergoes rigorous physical training and coaching. I felt Wi Ha-joon's character made the movie and his 'mentor/yoda' role was kept this film from veering off into just another bully film.

The fight choreography is nothing special but the actual fight scenes were decent. No pulling punches or obvious edits for the stunt doubles. Again, this movie isn't a must see by any means but it's worth a watch. As the title suggests, there is a second part on the way but it will be a TV drama and not a standalone movie. It's tentatively titled Shark 2: The Storm & scheduled for release next year. Kim Min-suk returns & Wi Ha-joon is listed as making a guest appearance. It's a shame since I think a standalone featuring Wi Ha-joon as the main character would make for a more interesting sequel but I figure he's got bigger fish to fry as his popularity is on the rise.