The Chaser Review

Title: The Chaser

Genre: Action, Thriller

Episodes: 16

Broadcast period: 2012-May to 2012-Jul

Cast: Son Hyun Joo, Kim Sang Joong, Kim Sung Ryung, Ko Joon Hee and Ryu Seung Soo.

Baek Hong Seok (Son Hyun Joo) is a senior cop, and devoted father and husband. His life takes a drastic turn when his daughter is killed in a hit-and-run accident. At first, he believes in the system, and helps the police find the murderer PK Jun, a famous idol, but soon enough the powerful start their play. After he reveals that the actual murderer is Seo Ji Soo (Kim Sung Ryung) daughter of a wealthy CEO, and wife of the famous politician Kang Dong Yoon (Kim Sang Joong), Hong Seok realizes that the system is rigged against him.

He decides to take law into his own hands, but unfortunately, he ends up killing PK Jun, and he now must run for his life, and at the same time prove who killed his daughter…

I’m not sure of you can guess from the review, but this is one of those about a fugitive trying to fight ‘the big guys’. I’m generally a fan of those, which you probably noticed in my previous reviews with the same genre. Compared to others this one is really sad, and quite realistic, but I got to say I was bored a lot - not because it lacks action and all that, but because of all the “planning” and (I guess you can call it) politics. I watched this a few weeks ago, but I can’t remember much, which means that it really didn’t leave much of an impact sadly. I tend to like those things, but somehow this just didn’t cut it. Besides the two leads, and some acting of the supporting cast, most of this drama is average - including some of the intense scenes.

Besides that, the drama is a good and very sad drama, about not only the realism of power and corruption, but also what actually happens if you decide to do what he did at the end… no spoilers haha!

All in all, a fine drama, but I guess I just wasn’t in the mood for…?

☆☆☆½ / 3½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥ / 3 out of 5 hearts

Traitor Hong Gil Dong Review

Title: Traitor Hong Gil Dong

AKA: Rebel: Thief Who Stole the People / Rebel: Thief of the People

Genre: Period, Melodrama, Romance

Episodes: 30

Broadcast period: 2017-Jan to 2017-May

Cast: Kim Sang Joong, Yoon Kyun Sang, Chae Soo Bin, Kim Ji Suk and Lee Ha Nui.

Ah Mo Gae (Kim Sang Joong) is a slave, living and working for a nobleman, with his wife and two sons. Their lives are a common slave life, and as life goes, Ah Mo Gae soon notices that being a slave not only halts his life, but limits any hope of a future besides being a slave for his two sons. Even though he is a slave, Ah Mo Gae has the mind of a business man which his owner uses for his advances, and every single time Ah Ma Gae is to be set free, the nobleman finds a way to postpone it. His sons start to realize themselves what it means to be slaves, as the oldest Gil Hyun isn't allowed to read and the youngest Gil Dong is forced to keep his opinions at bay. Soon Ah Mo Gae realizes that Gil Dong isn't just your regular child, as when he gets upset he becomes unnaturally strong. Even though Ah Mo Gae does everything he is able to, so that Gil Dong's powers aren't known to anyone, destiny has other plans and the family ends up having to run for their lives.
As a grown-up Gil Dong (Yoon Kyun Sang) has changed: he cares more about girls and how to earn easy money – much to his fathers' dismay. Ah Mo Gae on the other hand has become a leader of an outcast group of people outcasts like him, dealing with illegal trade.
Even though life seems harmonious, the tension between Gil Dong and his father has shifted, and unfortunately the noblemen have gotten an interest in the dealings and wealth of Ah Mo Gae. And soon enough their past comes to haunt them...

I was waiting for this drama the moment I had heard it was in consideration: at that time the leads weren't even chosen – but I was 100% sure I was going to watch it. This story is one of my favorite stories of Korean literature, due to its creativity, but also because of historical accuracy. Even though this isn't exactly like the original novel, it is very close to it – and the fantasy aspect is also great and fits the story perfectly. Yes, it might be different, but the moment you accept it, it becomes such a nice way to portray the strength of Hong Gil Dong. Another thing that was amazing was the lead couple: I don't remember watching a couple which fit better than these two – even though 'how' they got together might not be great, but the relationship that 'happens' is a delight to watch. The only reason it isn't a 5 stars, it because of the crying scenes of Kim Sang Joong – which you'll have to watch on your own to understand. But that is also it.
Honestly, I don't know how to not spoil anything, and how to explain how much I enjoyed it, without ruining it for you or make you over expectant, except saying: I recommend this drama.
To sum up: an awesome drama with great acting, and amazing story.

☆☆☆☆½ / 4½ out of stars

♥♥♥♥♥ / 5 out of 5 hearts

Bad Guys Review

Title: Bad Guys

AKA: Bad Boys

Genre: Crime, Investigation

Episodes: 11

Broadcast period: 2014-Oct to 2014-Dec

Cast: Kim Sang Joong, Ma Dong Suk, Park Hae Jin, Jo Dong Hyuk, Gang Ye Won and Kang Shin Il.

After the death of his son Chief Police Officer Nam Goo Hyun (Kang Shin Il) brings in the craziest person with a badge to find the killer: Oh Goo Tak (Kim Sang Joong) also known as “Mad Dog” by his juniors. The very killer is up to his 9^th killer with same M.O, so Mad Dog Goo Tak decides to use the craziest method to find the murderer: by having criminals catch the criminal. He takes out three long sentenced prisoners out of jail to make a deal with them; for each murderer or criminal they catch (of which he assigns) they’ll get 5 years sentence reducing, but that only goes to the one person catching the criminal.

The three prisoners are: Park Woong Chul (Ma Dong Suk) a gangster/thug who is in jail for numerous of things, but has the advantage of being strong and short-tempered even the guards fear him. Jung Tae Sun (Jo Dong Hyuk) is a professional assassin or ‘hired killer’ who only got caught by giving himself up. And lastly Lee Jung Moon (Park Hae Jin) a genius with an IQ of 165 and a Mensa, turned serial killer, killing 15 people - though he doesn’t remember doing so.

Goo Tak and police officer Yoo Mi Young (Gang Ye Won) have to take care of those three, whiles taking care of them, but while looking through the case files Mi Young starts to question her senior - why did Oh Goo Tak choose these three, and how come he knows so much about Lee Jung Moon?

Okay so I started this while it was airing and completely fell in love with the storyline, however my enthusiasm kind of dropped as further we went. I really like OCN dramas, like I don’t think a single one of them has let me down, and this one didn’t, it just left me unsatisfied. First off I have no idea why, but the longer I saw the female police officer the more I disliked her and felt she was useless – to the point where her voice was annoying me. Second of all, the main story or the story which ‘connects them all’ felt forced, and really was quite boring. I should have been excited or intrigued, but I was just waiting on it to be finished honesty. Lastly the amount of ‘cases’ should at least be close to the amount of fighting, I mean I spent a lot of time to waiting – though sometimes it was quite cool.

On the other hand the cast was brilliant, well picked, and the dialogues were great like: “Are we beasts or are we human beings?” hit me quite hard tbh, because I never really think of the law as something wrong, but I guess I have to rethink some things…

All in all, another great OCN drama.

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥½ / 3½ out of 5 stars

Kamji’s Verdict

Bad Guys. Hm, the title says it all.. (totally my style). Every episode kept me on the edge of my seat and there was never a dull moment. It had great acting, an awesome cast, an intriguing storyline and expert directing and camera work. It had a lot of suspense and some really heartfelt moments. The bromance between these four men was great and I loved how each person had his own story. The thrill and action was gripping. I love fighting scenes but the ones in this drama were intense and I found myself immersed in them.
The one thing I feel like highlighting in this drama is Lee Jung Moon (Park Hae Jin), my favorite, who played the  genius serial killer. They called him Psycho. Yeah, he is a bit strange in the beginning but after the action unfolds you will understand him. I even cried when he cried. I really liked that Psycho look on him.
Yoo Mi Young was so annoying I can't even begin to describe it, even her voice could irritate me to death. Nevertheless I tolerated her because the rest of the characters were amazing.
Well, OCN.. About that season 2 ;)

☆☆☆☆½ / 4½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥/ 4 out of 5 hearts

A New Leaf Review

Title: A New Leaf

AKA: Repentance / Reformation

Genre: Drama, Human, Legal

Episodes: 16

Broadcast period: 2014-Apr to 2014-Jul

Cast: Kim Myung Min, Park Min Young, Kim Sang Joong, Chae Jung Ah and Jin Yi Han

Kim Seok Joo (Kim Myung Min) is a cold, ruthless and cruel lawyer that is merely concerned with cases as long as they give him any kind of profit. If the evidence is against his client he’ll buy the witness’ out or he’ll make new solid evidence. At his law firm, every single lawyer thinks and acts the same: the more ruthless the better, except for the new intern, Lee Ji Yoon (Park Min Young), who Seok Joo had met some time before and ended up having a one-night stand with. She is filled with ambition, talent and justice, but is a blabbermouth. The two butt heads, and when Seok Joo gets into and accident and loses his memory; Lee Ji Yoon tries to help him. However the amnesiac seem different somehow by going up against his law firm and he happens to have an effect on the people around him…

I don’t really know what I was expecting of this drama, since I only knew Park Min Young, so I kind of still am in a drowse after it. The drama is a good one, but the financial terms and discussions lefts me confused and dazed, since I had zero knowledge about what on earth they were talking about. As a general you could understand most of it, but I have no idea what the climax was about, let alone the ending.

The main actor Kim Myung Min is fairly new to me, I think he was popular in Korea from before. And OMG, his voice: eargasms. 80% of the time he was talking I didn’t look at the subtitles, and made me go back because I missed it. Min Young was as she always is, not a favorite of mine. The drama is kind of a realistic every-day, with a twist of amnesia in the middle.

To sum up: okay drama, for the serious ones.

☆☆☆½ / 3½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥ / 3 out of 5 hearts

Kamjis Verdict
Finally finished! A 16 episodes drama have never felt as long as this one. On the other side, I think I can easily become a lawyer in Korea now, the drama was bombed with all those facts and laws and stuff, so those 16 hours were satisfactory used.

The drama itself were okay, not bad as I had a hard time watching it, but not as good as I was looking forward to next episode. Nevertheless, I managed to finish it, and that was a success for me since I had many other dramas I wanted to watch more. I can’t really say more about it without spoiling anything, but one thing I can assure you of, the writers did a good job with all the cases and trials. There were really intimidating and believable, so good job with that. 

☆☆☆ / 3 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥ / 3 out of 5 hearts

Holy Daddy Movie Review

Title: Holy Daddy

AKA: Wontak Angel

Genre: Comedy, Fantasy

Origin: Korea

Relese date: August 24, 2006

Cast: Lee Min Woo, Ha Dong Hoon (HaHa), Kim Sang Joong and Lim Ha Ryong.

Being in and out of prison for some time now Kang Young Kyu (Lim Ha Ryong) is to leave it in less than 24 hours and looks forward to see his son again, but when he is asked to play kickball in the prison he meets an accident and dies in matter of minutes. His son Kang Won Tak (Lee Min Woo) feeling that his father has abandoned him all his life, and now ‘run away’ by dying, has started hating him. When the angel of death is to pick up Young Kyu, Young Kyu is reluctant and refuses to go until he is able to go back and become his son’s best friend and ask for his son’s forgiveness. 

That is when the angel decides to send Young Kyu back to the as his younger self (Ha Dong Hoon - Ha Ha), a kid of the same age, so that he can get what he wishes for. But Won Tak isn’t exactly a model student or a nice one at that…

Oh wow, I didn’t expect to like it this much. It is very typical, but has a great storyline and ending - caught me by surprise. It had a realistic feel to it (LOL, if the entire ‘second chance’ thing really exists that is), and shows somewhat a half-romantic picture of the Korean people. But then again, most movies do.

Lee Min Woo was the reason for me to watch this, and I realized why he didn’t do anything else, he really is not actor material - though he did well at the end.

All in all, a good and nice movie, recommendable!

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥ / 4 out of 5 hearts