1
Herman
USA
This review may contain spoilers
I've watched this a long time ago, but I came back to watch it after completing Sweet 18 and I probably enjoyed it less this time though it still has its moments. I do have a few spoilerish parts in Story review below so be warned.Story (6.0):
It's got all the elements of a fun movie and the setup is okay. There are little parts throughout the film which are fun to watch; however, I couldn't help but gripe at the two main characters. I don't like how they act in the movie and I don't find their connection very convincing.
Let me compare it to Sweet 18 because I think that did a much better job. First off, I know I can't truly compare the two because Sweet 18 got the full 16 episodes to show them fall in love. But it didn't take that long to show it, and it started out with one character already crushing on the other which I thought was a good idea. Here neither particularly likes the other at first, but at least they've known each other their whole lives.
My main gripe was the tension they threw into the movie with dating while married. A similar concept came into play in Sweet 18 but I thought it was handled a lot better. Since the female already liked the male lead in the drama, it was natural for her (especially considering her already developed character traits) to get angry at him for supposed female meet ups and after threatening to go meet guys (to which he replies 'alright!' in a huff) to keep her word and go on a blind date. But that doesn't go very far, and she gets a dressing down from her mother which ends up playing into a major character development arc that she has throughout the drama.
However, in My Little Bride, I couldn't understand the FL. I understand her liking the guy before she got married, and can even condone her playing a little bit with her feelings, but as it went on and her friend kept prodding her how it wasn't right, I just got annoyed with the character and it left little endearment towards her.
Then there's the main guy, who was almost more unlikable in my opinion. He's displayed in the movie as a playboy (and pervert if Bo Eun is to be believed), and there isn't much to convince you he's changed until maybe the very end. Compare this to the traditionally raised and mature lead from Sweet 18 who tells his ex-girlfriend, long before he's in love with his wife I might add, that he doesn't want her to come visit him because his wife wouldn't like it. This is while he is still apparently wrestling with old feelings for that ex. Of course, this lends to less of a potential character development arc for him, but he still gets one and he doesn't get stuck as a jerk in my brain.
Fortunately however, there were a few scenes in the movie with the two getting along and getting to know each other better that didn't make the ending too jarring. I think I'm just having trouble liking it after just finishing Sweet 18.
Acting/Cast (6.5):
I think the hardest part of the cast for me is that I don't like Kim Rae Won a whole lot especially in this role. He's okay 12 years later in Doctors, but I still can't claim I like him. Moon Geun Young on the other hand is not a genius, but I enjoy watching her act. The side cast was okay, but I love her friend Hye Won played by Shin Se Kyung! She didn't have a major major role, but she was the voice of reason when Bo Eun was being stupid, and I love Shin Se Kyung from other dramas (Girl Who Sees Smells).
Music (5.0):
Not distracting or detracting, but not notable or intriguing...
Rewatch Value (6.5):
I've actually watched this twice now, though I skipped the boring parts on the second time through... I don't think I can watch it very often, because I didn't like it the second time through as much as I remembered, but that also might be because I just finished Sweet 18 which I thought did a much better job with a very similar premise.
Overall (6.0):
Maybe someday I'll come back and watch the fun parts again, but actually I'll probably just go watch my favorite parts from Sweet 18. Literally, I don't know how they aren't related, they have so many similarities. Anyway, if you're looking for something cute and a bit mindless, go ahead and treat yourself. I've also just watched Moon Geun Young's Innocent Steps and I'd recommend this story over that one. EH, I didn't intend to write so much about this movie.
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The story was off to a great start in my opinion, regardless if there are a fair amount of elements you have to turn your brain off to believe. But especially past the half way point, it really fell apart and didn't do much for me. It was honestly boring even when stuff was happening because I wasn't invested in the story line. I think it's because before watching I was expecting a bit more of a romance like My Little Bride, a bit of romantic comedy, and after the first 30 minutes I was also expecting one of those underdog success stories. However, in the long run, it didn't fulfill either tack for me; yes there's some fun romance stuff, and some good success, but it didn't commit to either and so it failed on both.
Acting/Cast (7.5):
This is mostly the only thing carrying the score for this movie. I actually like the two main characters and I even mostly like them together. And they can obviously dance. The dancing was probably the most interesting to watch besides a few fun moments (like inspection for fake marriage), but it wasn't like stunning or anything. The "big" and "new" dance movement that supposedly set them apart wasn't super special and they had to do special cuts on that scene anyway.
Almost all the other characters are completely irrelevant and flat, though there wasn't any noticeably terrible acting.
Music (5.0):
Well, come on, it's mostly dance music...
Rewatch Value (5.0):
I don't ever see myself watching this again. Even Geun Young's My Little Bride, which can't be called a masterpiece by any means, was way more fun imho.
Overall (5.5):
I think this could have been a lot more than it turned out to be. It's not a terrible story, but it didn't really touch me or stand out in anyway, or even leave me feeling satisfied. Still, I'm not super upset I watched this. It had its moments.
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It's got gun battles, sniping unsuspecting suspects, crazy car chases, unrealistic computer hacking, deaths and killing, explosions, tall buildings with the bad guy at the top... You name it, it's got all the fun action tropes. It even threw in some lesbian undertone towards the end which I didn't see coming and was like... uh... okay.
So while this may seem like a classic action flick, if you go in thinking that, you'll probably enjoy it, but be warned it has some other more emotional tones thrown in, so it's not just a mindless blockbuster.
Story (7.0):
If there's one thing I thought this movie did right, it was the action storyline. We get our big intro case to introduce our characters, a secondary case with some troubles that leads to more trouble and drama and before we know it we're on the classic kill to get to the boss storyline. I felt that part panned out perfectly. Breaking through security, fighting, barely winning. You need that conflict and point of failure in any good action movie. The actual boss was more like the bodyguard of the boss, but it was a very eventful fight.
Leading up to the fight, the story took a change which I was unsure of because WHY but it worked out even though I didn't like it :( I won't spoil it, it's not bad. Lends to the emotion aspect...
Acting/Cast (9.0):
I've seen the female leads in other things and enjoyed their acting (even if not the movies ahem The Assassin), and there wasn't really anyone I could fault. Usually action is hard to go wrong with acting, because you can have no acting skills and still pull it off, but there were some emotional scenes I thought the actors did a good job with.
And Song Seung Heon, can't go wrong there :)
Music (7.0):
We got some fun if generic background music for action. I thought that the way they used that special song during the fighting in the beginning was cool so it bumped my music rating. I was hoping we'd hear it again at the end.
Rewatch Value (7.0):
I could see watching this one again. It made me think a lot of a Mission Impossible movie or something and I almost have no preference over the two. It's also a lot better than some Asian action flicks I've seen (yes you Bounty Hunters), but there are some notably Korean ones that still blow this out of the water.
Overall (7.5):
Fun if you're just itching for some action and also has some depth to it instead of being about nothing. Even if the whole plot is a bit convoluted while having not much to it. So, uh, yeah they just killed all the bad guys... But I don't really remember what the bad guys were all about... Something about stocks in Dragon? Hmm...
I also find it important to point out that the visual effects in this drama are very good for a 2002 Chinese movie. I've seen much newer and much worse effects in Chinese movies. Don't even get me started on dramas...
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The question is if it's good action... A lot of it is okay, in my opinion, but a lot of it was also super cheesy and add on that some good-for-a-chinese-movie-but-crappy visual effects, and it's nothing to brag about... There were 1 or 2 times I was like, "Hey that was some decent cgi stuff". The rest of the time I was just shaking my head.
Story (5.0):
When you really go back and think about the story, you kind of wonder what there really was to it... Watching it was also a bit disjointed, but I at least had a feeling that there was a story of some sort... I'm actually pretty used to fun action movies with lame stories by now, and there was a bit of good action that carried through part of the story.
I'm going to say that I was mildly entertained through the first half. A gratuitous first scene of him beating people up under water, fighting in the middle of town, a car chase, etc, it was all pretty great and I was settled down for a good 2 hours.
But they really started to drag towards the end.
If you really just are here for the action (which I pretty much was) you might enjoy it. BUT WHAT THE HECK. Do they not understand how things work? That tank battle was like a comedy to watch! I felt like I was playing a video game with special tank speed boosts and lousy controls.
Also, the fighting was fun but... over the top. Seemed like I was watching CSGO gameplay at times, what with all the headshot AK47s...
In the end the story is pretty much just get some important people to a ship. Fight and almost die along the way.
Acting/Cast (6.5):
Most everyone is just okay. The main leads are okay, the villains are okay, the side characters are okay... There were some who were pretty good and some who I thought were pretty bad, so I evened it out to a fair score. No one really stood out to me though.
Music (9.0):
I have to say, this is the best part of the movie. I enjoyed it from the very opening sequence and could liken parts of it to Hans Zimmer and the like while being unique. There were also some pretty interesting uses of music, like cutting out to Amazing Grace at the most intense part of the movie (lol). I doubt it's anything I'll listen to a lot separately, but hey, I have to boost the movie score somehow.
Rewatch Value (4.0):
I seriously doubt I'll ever watch this again. To be honest, I haven't watched the first one yet either, and I'm not sure at this point if I will... Given that it has a lower rating than this...
Overall (6.5):
Yes, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and round up to a 6.5. Take your free 0.875 points movie. Throw it at the music.
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I'll admit I only initially watched this because of Han Hyo Joo...
Story (7.5):
The beginning has some antics to get the two leads together, one a firefighter and the other a doctor, and I don't think it felt cliche or contrived at all. Perhaps a little, but it was pretty refreshing and a bit comedic too.
Later on in the story I felt like I was watching a couple different movies, most notably the indie film Fireproof (EXACT SAME TRAIN SCENE I TELL YOU), and at the end of the movie I felt like some parts of the story line weren't fulfilled, but this is still a fun movie to watch regardless.
Acting/Cast (9.5):
Han Hyo Joo.
I was going to end this part here, but I guess I'll continue on. So, I kind of like Han Hyo Joo as an actress. I've seen her in a billion other things, like Dong Yi, Shining Inheritance, Always, etc. and I liked her in those; if you did too, then there's no way she'll disappoint here! The rest of the cast was pretty decent and some I felt were pretty topnotch even if I'd never seen them anywhere else. I've got to say, the husband of the brain dead woman really surprised me with his acting...
Music (7.0):
Meh. I grew up on Beethoven and Mozart; sue me, but nothing life-changing here. Fortunately it didn't stick out as bad either.
Rewatch Value (7.0):
I don't rewatch things very much, but I'd say given enough time I could easily rewatch this one.
Overall (8.0):
Maybe a bit optimistic of a score. I'd give it more of a 7.75, but I'll round up on this one since it was decent. I'll admit I was using that 10 second skip feature a little bit at parts, but it was worth the watch. Recommended especially to romcom and Han Hyo Joo fans!
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So, if you've read the book and watched a movie adaptation, as I have, you could originally be very excited.
I'm not saying this was a let down in any way, because I watched the whole thing and I have never finished a show I didn't like in most ways. Then again...
Well, let's just break it down.
Story (8.0):
If you've heard the A Little Princess story, you probably have a good idea of where the storyline is going. However, you will need to first off reconcile the age difference from the original story.
And then once you've done that, you might think, ah this will lead to some amazing Cinderella like romance, what with the older protagonist.
In a way you might be right; there's a wee bit of romance sprinkled in here. But, you might also be a little disappointed with her Prince Charming.
However! One of the reasons I'm rating this section as high as it is, is kind of because he's no perfect prince, and because of some the realism and other issues this show touches on that I really didn't expect.
For instance, the two you might think will have a budding romance, are at first not very close, but then become friends that will suddenly shout at each other with repressed agony of heart. And I liked it.
Another part I did not expect was when our protagonist made a faulty judgement against someone who's been bullying her and she gets called out on it by her friends.
Overall, I wasn't sure exactly how to rate this because it followed the original story enough that I mostly knew what was coming, but it was fit pretty well into 10 episodes and I don't remember any dragging or the like.
Acting/Cast (7.0):
Nothing amazing, but I didn't really find any of the acting very repulsive beyond maybe that one teacher... However, that was also an aspect of her specific part.
Music (10.0):
Le Gasp! 10? For real?
Maybe you don't think so, but the reason I liked this show from the very get-go was because of the main theme that started hardly a minute into the drama. I'm a person who really enjoys the more traditional, orchestral soundtracks and to really enjoy a piece I need to have a very distinctive and memorable melody. And the main theme really hit the spot! I loved it and I still listen to it now and again. To be honest, it's been long enough I couldn't tell you about the rest of the music, but this theme is still one of my top 5 in all the dramas I've seen.
Rewatch Value (5.0):
I haven't rewatched it, nor do I plan on rewatching it, but I'm also not known for rewatching anything unless I really, really loved it. So perhaps other might find this more rewatchable?
Overall (7.5):
I enjoyed the story, loved the music, and didn't find the actors or acting repulsive, so it's pretty good! :D Another plus, it's pretty short and was a quick and very enjoyable watch. Recommended!
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