Thursday, November 3, 2011

Kang Dong Won Works - A Quick Guide Part 2

Kang Dong Won Movies

Part 2 of a Quick Guide into Kang Dong Won works. Part 1 can be found here.

I describe things with him as the center. For the movies I really really liked, I make reviews and cover more there. These go by chronological order from old to new.

For more information on them, click on their titles to be taken to their Hancinema pages and use your good and informed friend Google.

This post includes the works between 2007 and 2010.


Voice of a Murderer

Voice of a Murderer


This is based on a true story of the murder of a child whose murderer has still not been found and is no longer subject to punishment, as the statute of limitations ran out by 2006. It's a very sad movie and it really shows the dark side of Korean society and also how useless the authorities can be.

Kang Dong Won's face is not seen in the movie and we rarely see the person, but we hear his voice a lot, as the kidnapper was in phone contact with the parents of the poor child. I think he was an excellent choice. The voice of the real monster is not as deep (they play a recording at the end of the movie), but the coldness is there.

This is a movie you'll watch if you can handle the sickness of society. It's not a happy one and you won't be seeing your "kyaaa, oppaaaaa" a lot, so I bet fangirls just skip past this, but I didn't. I won't watch it again as it's too depressing, but I liked it. Good cast, good performances.


Parents
Very good casting all around in this movie.






M

M


Lee Myung Se. I just "get" the guy for some reason. But if Duelist was weird, this is downright nuts. This is sort of a mystery drama.. something. It's a really artsy movie, but I like the atmosphere and I liked what I could make sense of. I wouldn't watch it often, but it's interesting.

Kang Dong Won is freaky here. He looks like a perverted ajeossi (awesome hairstyle) and his character is just sick. Literally. He is paranoid. Well, a crazy writer. What's new, right? His acting is interesting here. You can't judge it by normal standards because Lee is very specific about what he wants and his actors do it. You could say it's Kang Dong Won's talent to understand Lee's mind and translate it into a performance. A damn weird and fascinating one, but to some, it will be bad.

He's completely erratic and odd and I would really not want to meet this character in a dark alley. Or a bright busy mall, for that matter.


Easy there...
She has suspiciously not aged since highschool. I wouldn't be eying her, man.






Jeon Woochi

Jeon Woochi


Mangnani Woochi! Love this movie. It's a family action one, lots of fights, effects, wire-action, nice laughs, crazy characters, fun stuff. The cast is awesome and it's generally an entertaining ride. I watch it quite often as well.

Kang Dong Won is good with adorable and arrogant stupidity. Woochi is kind of a jerk, but you can't really dislike him. He's funky and good for a lot of facepalm moments but quite dashing when he does decide to take his head out of his ass and be a proper hero.

I'd recommend this to anyone who is willing to have some light fun. This isn't exactly a movie that requires heavy thinking. As long as you let yourself enjoy the brainless goodness, you'll like it.

Review coming soon.


Nightlife
Excellent attire for a night out in modern-day Seoul...


I have to say, the trailer is mighty serious compared to the style of the movie. Don't let this fool you. Korean trailers are really hopeless sometimes. Especially older ones. They should pay more attention to that.





Secret Reunion

Secret Reunion


Song Kang Ho, Kang Dong Won, brotherly bonding. Do you need more? Really nice big budget action movie about two strangers from opposite sides who come to care for each other and get over some of their own personal issues and views of other people because of their relationship.

Nice action, good chemistry, nice characters. Kang Dong Won is doing quite a good job, especially considering his partner. Song Kang Ho is one of the veeery very best of Korea. The fact that Kang Dong Won looks decent next to him is an achievement.

If I can fault this performance in any way is that he seemed to have a slip of accent during a very intense scene. I can't be sure since I am by no means an expert on Korean dialects, but I could swear I heard a different accent coming out in one line.

The review for this can be found here.


Bros
Why are you looking at your lovable hyung like that, you sourpuss?






Haunters

Haunters


This movie is a test to my obsession, I swear. Because in this, he is skinny, ugly, with a crazy perm and a peg leg. And I'd still rather scr... uhh date him than any of these wonderfully hot korean men around. What has he done to me... WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MEEEEE?!?!... Ok, I'm good.

Jokes aside, this is a cool movie. Nice supernatural action thriller. Not too heavy on story and again, leave your brain out the door, but kick ass movie nonetheless. Also, Dong Won is really good here. Cho In is a psycho and you really couldn't tell if he'd be more pissed off by a bad hair conditioner or puppies. He just seems to hate everything and everyone but his scale models.

I watch this from time to time, in HD. Has to be HD. So that I can see every detail. And every damn bone protruding from his fat-deprived skin. Seriously, I hope the army cook is working his wonders because he became frighteningly skinny as of late.

My first movie review was of this. And here it is.


The Scientific Approach
What a highly scientific and accurate approach to checking your enemy's vitals.






Camellia

Camellia


Not yet released, but here are all the posts and goodies I have on it. It looks like an artsy independent movie with weird stories and characters, but at least it's visually nice. He is also staring with Song Hye Kyo in his segment. A big plus.

And frankly, no matter how much this may suck, the man is shooting his way through Busan in emo getup and heavy eye make up. My fangirl heart can't reject this.

I am glad this is a weird, small and violent movie though, because him+Song Hye Kyo+a lot of kissing and possibly sex = kyaagirls will never stop. I hope the violence and blood will outweigh the emo angst and lip-locks and keep the fangirls away.

The movie has been out in Thailand for a while and was released in Japan on October 22nd. No wide Korean release yet. It was only shown last year, at the BIFF (Busan International Film Festival). Which is why I am using the Japanese poster, as it seems both Japan and Thailand have been throwing more into promoting this movie than South Korea has. Unless they are saving it for some major wide release in the future. Hopefully, this will get released there eventually as well.


Make up! Nao!
Give me back my make-up kit, woman!


And here is the Japanese trailer. For all the good promotion, they don't seem to have an HD trailer out anywhere in Youtube. But the HD thai one is badly dubbed, so I can't subject you to that again.





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