Across the board send up of of almost every type of film imaginable has the titled character in Japanese occupied Korea going after a stolen Buddha with hidden names inside it.
Nothing nothing is safe as the filmmakers poke fun at spy films, martial arts pictures, romance, communist propaganda and lord knows what else. Told with a series of set pieces the action is often fast and furious and while intentionally over done, it is quite a thing to see. Unfortunately outside of the action this film really falls apart. The humor is so spoofy and knowing that even though the actors appear to be playing it straight it all comes off with the wrong sort of a nod and a wink. Its a hyper active attempt at the Aiplane/ Naked Gun type of movie. Yes there are laughs now and again but they were way too few for my tastes. The film has specific takes on some films (a sequence where Lee has lost his memory is supposedly a send up of Tsui Hark's film The Blade- a film I really disliked for example) but if you don't know the films being spoofed much of the humor is going to be lost (it was on me and I've seen more Korean films than many people).
I sat there staring at the screen hoping for some reason to continue but as the film went on I couldn't believe I was still sticking it out. I checked the run time on the DVD at one point and couldn't believe that I had been sitting in front of the screen for an hour with hardly a handful of laughs.
I am so disappointed. This was one of the films that I had really wanted to see at the recent New York Asian Film Festival and was so upset that I couldn't make the screenings that I splurged and I picked up the import DVD. I think I made a mistake.
Given the choice I'd take a pass.
Nothing nothing is safe as the filmmakers poke fun at spy films, martial arts pictures, romance, communist propaganda and lord knows what else. Told with a series of set pieces the action is often fast and furious and while intentionally over done, it is quite a thing to see. Unfortunately outside of the action this film really falls apart. The humor is so spoofy and knowing that even though the actors appear to be playing it straight it all comes off with the wrong sort of a nod and a wink. Its a hyper active attempt at the Aiplane/ Naked Gun type of movie. Yes there are laughs now and again but they were way too few for my tastes. The film has specific takes on some films (a sequence where Lee has lost his memory is supposedly a send up of Tsui Hark's film The Blade- a film I really disliked for example) but if you don't know the films being spoofed much of the humor is going to be lost (it was on me and I've seen more Korean films than many people).
I sat there staring at the screen hoping for some reason to continue but as the film went on I couldn't believe I was still sticking it out. I checked the run time on the DVD at one point and couldn't believe that I had been sitting in front of the screen for an hour with hardly a handful of laughs.
I am so disappointed. This was one of the films that I had really wanted to see at the recent New York Asian Film Festival and was so upset that I couldn't make the screenings that I splurged and I picked up the import DVD. I think I made a mistake.
Given the choice I'd take a pass.