Showing posts with label Park Min Young. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Park Min Young. Show all posts

Monday, August 29, 2011

City Hunter

Rating: ****.5


Genre: Action, Romance
Episodes: 20
Cast: Chun Ho Jin, Kim Sang Joong, Lee Min Ho, Park Min Young, Lee Joon Hyuk


SYNOPSIS:
"‘City Hunter’ is an original script based on the world-famous novel by Japan’s Tsukasa Hojo. Since it became public that Korea would be the first remake of this story into a drama, ‘City Hunter’ has been receiving worldwide attention. ‘City Hunter’ has switched the setting from Tokyo 1980 to Seoul 2011, and according to the original story structure, the protagonist becomes a city hunter and his character develops while resolving gratifying cases."


REVIEW:
I've been waiting for this series to start & finish since October 2010, and I was extremely excited to see such a drama.  Normally this type of patient waiting can end up leaving the viewer disappointed, but I think it was well worth the wait.  When I watched the first episode, I was completely confused on how this drama even remotely relates to the famous City Hunter manga, but I think I understand how it fits in with the series.  To understand this drama, I think you really have to view this series as "City Hunter: The beginning."  I'll explain in detail later on in this review as I may have to post a bit of a spoiler if I have to explain.

As far as errors go, there were a lot of little ones.

1.  I think that whoever was in charge of the blood affects did a horrid job.  Has this person even seen real blood up close before?  In some of the scenes it looks like someone just poured a glass of food coloring and corn syrup over the person's head and called it a day.  Also, unless I'm mistook this for another drama, they forgot to put blood on the guys' shirt in one of the cuts.  One moment he had an injury, and the next moment you cannot see it.

2. I think another error that is quite obvious, which I've seen in many dramas, is that you can tell when an actor is carrying an empty box around when (in the story) it is supposed to be filled.  If the actor cannot even act like a box is filled with something in it, they should put a few books in the box.  One character goes around whipping a box around that's supposed to be filled with files.

3. Ajusshi was supposed to be driving while the "City Hunter" was talking on the phone, but in the scene, the truck seemed to be moving without the driver XD

4. He was wet, then he was dry, and then he was wet again.

5. The last error that I saw on multiple occasions is the coffee cups.  Normal people don't drink hot coffee like there is only a drop left at the bottom of the cup.  I know I'm being a little strict, but can't they at least pretend that there is something in it?  And, by the way, what kind of store puts an iced coffee in a to go cup for hot coffee?  Most (if not all) coffee shops use clear plastic cups with lids and a straw.

SPOILER ALERT!  The following message may contain spoilers.  Please do not read beyond this point if you wish to watch the drama without them.  If you would like to read the rest of this post, please highlight the following paragraph(s).

As I mentioned earlier, this was supposed to be a "beginning" for the City Hunter.  I know people speculated that he died, but I refuse to believe that.  I believe that this drama is supposed to be what happened in order to make the City Hunter a city hunter (if you know what I mean).  Although I haven't read the whole manga, the original work doesn't really say how he came to be called the City Hunter, or how he even started doing that sort of thing.  However, if you take this drama as a prequel to the original work, it makes a lot more sense.  People tried to say that the character died at the ending because he was wearing black and she was wearing white, but I think that's kind of stupid.  The character is always wearing black, if you haven't noticed.  Also, why would she smile back at him if he was a ghost?  Also, since his dad died, it wouldn't be that unthinkable if he went around wearing all (or mostly) black for a while.

What did you think of this drama? Comment below!


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Monday, November 8, 2010

Sungkyunkwan Scandal


Rating: ****.5

Genre: Period, Romance, Comedy
Episodes: 20
Cast: Micky Yoochun, Park Min Young, Song Joong Ki, Yoo Ah In

"Sungkyunkwan Scandal is set in Sungkyunkwan University in the late Joseon era during the reign of King Jeongjo, revolving around the exploits and love stories of four youths. When her younger brother's illness worsens and their family is in danger of being evicted from their house for lack of money, Kim Yoon Hee enters the school under his name, disguised as a boy in her desperation to support him. There, she becomes friends with the intelligent and upright Lee Sun Joon, the playboy Goo Yong Ha and rebellious Moon Jae Shin."


I finally got to watch the finale of SKKS and I'm quite happy with the entire series. Ever since I heard about this series, I've been very excited to watch it. For me, I've always enjoyed gender-bender stories, mostly because they are generally very comical and provide a lot of entertainment. Like most gender-bender stories, this one has a young woman (Kim Yoon Hee) posing as a man. This drama was originated from a Korean novel, however the drama is very different from what I've heard of the original book. Watching it as just a drama, (and not in relation to the book at all) I found it very interesting, funny, and enjoyable to watch. I must say, though, the playboy Goo Yong Ha and rebellious Moon Jae Shin are probably the reason I watched this drama through the end. The way Song Joong Ki acted as a his character was just hilarious and the lines that the character said made me want to re-watch the drama over and over again. In the end, I think I got the "You're Beautiful" syndrome all over again. In reality, the reason I was hooked on this drama was not because of the main characters, but because of the supporting characters.

As far as the acting and production of this drama, I found nothing too wrong with it. Micky did an awesome job considering that he doesn't have much experience with it. Still, though he still has room to grow and get better at it. Micky, fighting! I really wanted to give this a five star rating, but, in the end, there were times when my interest faded a bit. I really hope you give this drama a chance, it's definitely something I would recommend.