This Korean production clearly rivals Hollywood ones. Many point at Firefly as inspiration, but I would say Valerian is also a good comparison. The story is original and has an interesting premise. The CGI and set design are top notch, no question about that. The multi-lingual thing isn't too distracting to me, as I am watching it with subtitles anyway, but that actually resolves "why everyone speaks English in movies".
The deal-breakers for me are, however, the screenwriting and editing:
All in all, I like the concept, and I am surprised by the quality. But there are jarring holes in the execution that I just couldn't ignore. For storytelling purpose, I would say a trilogy or a miniseries are more appropriate formats for this IP.
The deal-breakers for me are, however, the screenwriting and editing:
- Many scenes are unnecessarily long.
- Instead of "show, don't tell", they foreshadow it, then show it, then also exposit it. Say, a certain underground fight sequence. It is foreshadowed by a friend's visit, then with the knife, then the person is shown, then said person explains everything... That's too much, don't you think?
- The transition between set pieces is not smooth. Consciously you know they are heading to the next location to progress the plot, but the cuts are jarring.
- The timing of events are also quite bad. Say, in a rescue mission, the protagonist has the time to leave the ship to do a side quest, while the crew is supposed to be leaving immediately, and he manages to catch up. The finale is a time-critical mission, but there are at least two extra set pieces inserted. Then when they have just broadcasted a message out, everyone is already there somehow.
- The hero's realization happens too late, and too sudden. But you know it's going to happen since early in the movie, so the protagonist is being an unnecessary a**h*le throughout most of the movie.
- Too many plot twists. Some really obvious, some really bad. The final one was brilliant and heart-wrenching, then they have to ruin that with another plot twist and a plot hole as a byproduct.
- Too many plot holes. I feel like the writers have some plot milestones to hit, but just lazily filled in the sequences in between.
- Background characters, like people watching the news, are given close ups. But their acting are so bad/stiff...
All in all, I like the concept, and I am surprised by the quality. But there are jarring holes in the execution that I just couldn't ignore. For storytelling purpose, I would say a trilogy or a miniseries are more appropriate formats for this IP.