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South Korea 2006
Director: Jo Dong-oh
Cast: Jeong Woo-seong, Kim Tae-hee, Kim Kwang-il, Heo Joon-ho
Release Date: December 20th 2006
Running Length: 1 hour 45 minutes
Distributor: CJ Entertainment
Review of the Movie
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THE RESTLESS
(JUNGCHEON) |
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Sometimes in watching a movie, there are certain points that the audience would have to willing to overlook to truly enjoy it. Of course that sentence is an immediate reference to this Korean movie, The Restless. The effort of the filmmakers to make this such an extravagant movie is "touching", but they also fail miserably in other aspects. Rumor has it that this contradictory however, appeals to western taste, or so they say. What contradictory? Read on…
The Restless was produced by South Korean filmmakers and starred entirely by South Korean actors. The original title is Joongcheon or Jungcheon which means the middle heaven, the place where the main storyline takes place.
The story revolves around Yi Gwak, a kind-hearted man and the most powerful member of Chuh-yong-dae, a group of demon assassins. Yi Gwak (Jeong Woo-seong) joins the squad after the murder of his girlfriend Yon-Hwa by the village people who mistaken them as the ones who bring the demon to their village. After one duty, Yi Gwak got killed, and he immediately finds himself at Joongcheon, the middle heaven, a legendary place where human soul have to wait for 49 days before being reincarnated. In middle heaven, it is Yi Gwak's destiny to bring peace upon that place and to put together the missing pieces of his life, for he finally finds the soul of Yon-Hwa (Kim Tae-hee). However Yon-Hwa has already chosen to become Chuneen, the peacekeeper of middle heaven and which also means she doesn't have any memory at all of her past life.
Sounds complicated? Not at all...so is it good then? Also not at all. The storyline although is very exciting on paper, but it's very poor in execution. The only memorable and actually awestruck facet of this fantasy movie is the visual effects. Every scene is heavy on special effects with the help of CGI (computer-generated imagery). Those scenes are truly spectacular, fantastic, beautiful, artistic, artistic and again highly artistic...but they stop right there. It's nothing but make-up, beautiful movie with no soul in it. This is what I mean at the first sentence as the kind of movie that appeals to western taste. Although by western taste, I don't mean to be sound condescending, and of course not all westerners agree with it. Nevertheless, The Restless reminds a lot of Chinese movie like House of Flying Daggers, where it was praised by western audiences but nothing very special to the eyes that used to see stunning special effects like that. Besides I'm pretty sure fellow moviegoers that have watched Wesley Snipes' Blade II, would find stark resemblance for the death effects of the vampire in Blade II and the death of the souls in The Restless.
Kim Tae-hee, a South Korean actress that has appeared in numerous commercials and also has received many awards, performs very solid. As well as the 33-year old Jeong Woo-seong. But they do not feel each other. There is not much chemistry between them. And this absence of chemistry just makes The Restless even more soulless.
The Restless is almost nothing but a showcase of extraordinary taste of special effects. If you are a multimedia student/expert/enthusiast, watching The Restless is a must. But if you're looking for a really deep fantasy and martial arts movie, you'll have to look elsewhere.
© iwan pranowo of Movielogy.com
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