Directed by:
Joon-ho BongCinematography:
Hyung-koo KimComposer:
Byeong Wu LeeCast:
Kang-ho Song, Doo-na Bae, Hae-il Park, Ah-seong Ko, Hak-soon Kim, Soo-hee Go, Dal-su Oh, Hee-bong Byun, Pil-sung Yim, Jae-eung Lee, Scott Wilson, Nou-sik Park (more)Plots(1)
A mutant creature has developed from toxic chemical dumping. When the monster scoops up the daughter of a snack-bar owner, he races to save her. (Netflix)
Reviews (9)
I don't understand how the same person who can make films that are on the edge of perfection can then come up with a dud like this. I fear there was a lot of work behind it, but I do not at all see why something like this had to be made. And that it got such a huge following? It's a mystery. For me, an almost unwatchable film. Barely 1 star.
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This is what happens when a Korean sci-fi fan gets a mega-budget to make his childish dream come true.
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This Asians drive me mad, they can turn even a fish mutant destroying a big city into something boring (though as it couldn’t be otherwise, the destruction lasts about two minutes). Terrible characters, even worse actors (the unforgettable scene of the argument and the despair over the photo of the “dead” girl is… well, it’ss unforgettable), awful script, ridiculously looking monster… really, nothing works in this film, though it does looks quite good. But fans of Asian cinema loved The Host, as it’s clear by all the five-star ratings. Brr!
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A family comedy (perhaps even a grotesque), a melodrama, a horror, a monster movie and an anti-imperialist parable that has designs on America and its "mutagenic" Korean heritage. A brilliant alternation of moods, tempo and atmosphere, precise parallel storytelling, deliberate sneering at Hollywood clichés and flying between a literal film about a monster and a monster-symbol / bearer of a mysterious virus that serves to unleash fear and control citizens with marvelous mutants in hazmat suits. The only way not to go crazy from it is to get carried away by it. Bong Joon-ho is strong in this type of freestyle - and the film is not chaotic or unbelievable for even a moment. Mannerist yes, but the question is to what extent one should take the conclusion deadly seriously.
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Incredibly untapped potential. The fact that a seemingly genre film by Bong would not be a monster-movie even for a second, that's what I expected. The would-be satire and mirror-setting of the state apparatus and the security forces too, but I didn't expect it to be so insanely bland this time.
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I expected a lot of things after Parasite, but I still couldn’t imagine such a great combination of a monster movie that balks at nothing (the carnage!), a satire that bites like a mutant giant fish, a compelling drama, a black comedy, and a pure unadulterated horror movie. It's a funny, but mostly sly film. Funny and cunning in a slightly different way every time.
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An exemplary game with the viewer, fortunately in the good sense of the word. The events around the slightly funny fish monster are merely the trigger for very clever and rightly black-humoured social criticism, which does not fight with purely horror and disturbing moments at all; on the contrary, it locks all motives into a precisely built and original framework. The logic is often flawed, and it must not be taken as seriously as it obviously wants to be, but the direction is simply excellent, methodically switching the perspectives of the four key players, often leaving little room for guessing what's in store in the next scene or shot, and manages to get a lot of quality genre juice out of even the bare minimum (whether through wit on the surface of the comedy or effective jump-scares and subjective viewpoints in the mutant horror scenes). After a long time, a nice Asian surprise, such convention-defying yet easy to grasp and entertaining stuff is hard to find in Hollywood.
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This is one of those movies that they say you have to see before you die, yet it really disappointed me in many ways. In a lot of scenes I thought it was goofy, nonsensical and over the top, which sounds like a listing for an American comedy, though it was far from that at times. The freak show was pretty well done and the music was good too. But the rest of it was kind of bland and sometimes even awful. Yes, I'm talking about the main character with an IQ less than room temperature. Don't tell me such degeneration is caused by lack of protein. In short, one of those films from which more could have been wrung, but after it was over, I'd rather wring my brain so I forget.
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Great satisfaction. I've been riding the kaiju wave lately, so I'm glad I got to see this film at this time. It's fun, it defies genre, but at the same time, it manages to be action-packed and above all, really gritty. I was incredibly surprised by the special effects, which are extremely well-done, and the monster really looks like it's there. I had a great time with it.
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