Member Yihetuan Posted January 21, 2023 Member Share Posted January 21, 2023 (edited) Actor Jung Woo-sung's directorial debut and who also stars as the main protagonist, an ex-gangster who just finished a decade long stint in prison and is now attempting to reconnect with his long lost daughter and live a normal life. https://www.indiewire.com/2022/09/a-man-of-reason-review-jung-woo-sung-1234762443/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/joanmacdonald/2022/09/08/jung-woo-sung-makes-his-directorial-debut-at-tiff-with-a-man-of-reason/?sh=64d75a524cea https://asianmoviepulse.com/2022/09/film-review-a-man-of-reason-2022-by-jung-woo-sung/ Edited January 21, 2023 by Yihetuan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Yihetuan Posted February 5 Author Member Share Posted February 5 I'm a big fan of Jung woo-sung, definitely one of my top Korean actors and this film was his directing debut but I was quite disappointed at the end. It was very nondescript and Jung Woo-sung played it too safe by making a very pedestrian ex-con revenge thriller. It was so boring that I literally took a quick nap half way in and when I woke, I didn't even bother rewinding to watch the 30 minutes that I missed. I thought perhaps the two hired motorbike riding assassins (a male and female duo) played by Kim Nam-gil and Park Yoo-na might spice things up (they improvise explosives and 3D printed weapons in their workshop) but they were just miscast here. Having said that while they were certainly no Baseball Bat Man and Hammer Girl ala The Raid 2, I wouldn't mind seeing a separate story just about these two and it would definitely be better than this film. Overall, not recommended. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member laagi Posted July 12 Member Share Posted July 12 @One Armed Boxer did you review this as well or is this on your never-ending to watch list? I'm tempted to watch it despite our friend's review 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShawAngela Posted July 12 Member Share Posted July 12 Isn't this director the guy who played Michelle Yeoh's husband in Reign of Assassins? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator One Armed Boxer Posted July 13 Moderator Share Posted July 13 4 hours ago, laagi said: @One Armed Boxer did you review this as well or is this on your never-ending to watch list? It’s on the never ending watch list at the moment! 3 hours ago, ShawAngela said: Isn't this director the guy who played Michelle Yeoh's husband in Reign of Assassins? Yes, Jung Woo-sung. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Yihetuan Posted July 13 Author Member Share Posted July 13 (edited) 6 hours ago, laagi said: @One Armed Boxer did you review this as well or is this on your never-ending to watch list? I'm tempted to watch it despite our friend's review Dude, I'm saving you an a hour and a half of your precious time but go ahead and punish yourself. Edited July 13 by Yihetuan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member laagi Posted July 13 Member Share Posted July 13 18 hours ago, Yihetuan said: Dude, I'm saving you an a hour and a half of your precious time but go ahead and punish yourself. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member laagi Posted July 16 Member Share Posted July 16 Looks like I'm gonna have to disagree on this one (obviously lol) with my brother @Yihetuan! Yes it's a pretty generic and by the numbers crime flick but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't entertained for a good chunk of the 90+ minutes runtime. There's nothing here that we haven't seen before and if you've been following korean cinema long enough there's more than a few things that seem "familiar" to say the least. However credit where credit is due. I didn't expect to actually see something "fresh" when it comes to action. A flashlight knife! Yes it's a gimmick more than anything else and while it does sound cool on paper, unfortunately on screen it turns out to be pretty impractical when trying to capture "it" in action. Overall the stunt work especially the car stunts are actually pretty good and honestly it wasn't something I've expected. There's even a fist fight thrown in towards the end for good measure. Which truth be told turned out rather unspectacular. I don't think it's really worth going into the story or characters all that much since as mentioned earlier they're by the numbers. If you like the trailer (english subbed below) chances are high you're gonna end up enjoying the movie which in my case is exactly what happened. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Yihetuan Posted July 16 Author Member Share Posted July 16 24 minutes ago, laagi said: Looks like I'm gonna have to disagree on this one (obviously lol) with my brother @Yihetuan! Yes it's a pretty generic and by the numbers crime flick but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't entertained for a good chunk of the 90+ minutes runtime. There's nothing here that we haven't seen before and if you've been following korean cinema long enough there's more than a few things that seem "familiar" to say the least. However credit where credit is due. I didn't expect to actually see something "fresh" when it comes to action. A flashlight knife! Yes it's a gimmick more than anything else and while it does sound cool on paper, unfortunately on screen it turns out to be pretty impractical when trying to capture "it" in action. Overall the stunt work especially the car stunts are actually pretty good and honestly it wasn't something I've expected. There's even a fist fight thrown in towards the end for good measure. Which truth be told turned out rather unspectacular. I don't think it's really worth going into the story or characters all that much since as mentioned earlier they're by the numbers. If you like the trailer (english subbed below) chances are high you're gonna end up enjoying the movie which in my case is exactly what happened. Sometimes i really do wonder if we're both watching the same film? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member laagi Posted July 16 Member Share Posted July 16 55 minutes ago, Yihetuan said: Sometimes i really do wonder if we're both watching the same film? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator One Armed Boxer Posted August 28 Moderator Share Posted August 28 On 7/13/2024 at 7:14 AM, laagi said: @One Armed Boxer did you review this as well or is this on your never-ending to watch list? I finally got around to 'A Man of Reason', and I definitely find myself more of the @Yihetuan end of the scale opinion wise. Some solid action, drowned out by a painfully generic plot and Kim Nam-gil delivering a gratingly annoying performance. I gave it the full review treatment over at COF - https://cityonfire.com/a-man-of-reason-2023-review-jung-woo-sung/ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member laagi Posted August 28 Member Share Posted August 28 2 hours ago, One Armed Boxer said: I finally got around to 'A Man of Reason', and I definitely find myself more of the @Yihetuan end of the scale opinion wise. Some solid action, drowned out by a painfully generic plot and Kim Nam-gil delivering a gratingly annoying performance. I gave it the full review treatment over at COF - https://cityonfire.com/a-man-of-reason-2023-review-jung-woo-sung/ First of all... And second of all... At least we seem to be in agreement when it comes to the action 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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