Illang: La brigada del lobo

A great Korean futuristic science fiction flick from the near future. A little emotionless, but with all the more pronounced action scenes, which are definitely not boring. In addition, it’s from the local top director, who also appeared in Hollywood, and with the top actors of today’s South Korea, who’re making quite an advertisement to those nice masks that look like from Wolfenstein. An excellent film. The Koreans once again confirm the Asians’ top filmmaking form. (05.05.2020)

Kim Jee-Woon, one of the best directors from South Korea today, delivers a remake of the Japanese Anime Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade from 1999. While the director doesn't surpass his earlier works (I Saw the Devil, A BitterSweet Life, The Good, the Bad, the Weird are some of his best work, and then in America he med The Last Stand and The Age of Shadows) I more or less I this film, but it was more entertainment than a gem. Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade is a film I've had on my PC for six months and thanks to Netflix buying the rights and English subtitles I was finally able to watch it. It is a cultural and social anthropology set in the near future when North and South Korea are united into a single government and of course not everyone likes it, and there are numerous rebellions and uprisings. Definitely the first-class technical side should be praised, visually the film is gorgeous and the money is damn visible. The acting is also perfect, there are a lot of Korean stars, with the Jeong Woo-Seong and Kang Dong-Won excelling. The atmosphere of the future is great and especially the Wolf Brigade police with their suits make you think of a mix of “Wolfenstein” and “Killzone”. Action-wise the film is also excellent, for a 2 hour 20 movie it paces quite well, it's R-rated and there's no shortage of gunfights and fights. But I had a problem with the story, it could have offered a lot more, and considering the premise, the director takes a rather cold approach to the film; there are too many characters and many times I got lost in who was the bad guy and who was the good guy, so I was disoriented at times. As a dark blockbuster from Korea, the film definitely holds up, but I probably won't watch it more than once. 75% (31.10.2018)