24

When reviewing movies like 24, I often find myself having to make the statement that I have nothing against subtle drama, or stories that utilizes a snail's pace to tell its tale. Alas, 24 is one of those movies that really tries one's patience. It's incredibly plodding, incredibly tedious, and by movie's end there really is no sense that one's investment in even FINISHING the movie has been rewarded.

24 lacks the reason to exist of other South Korean fares like ONE FINE SPRING DAY or SOPYONJE. The movie is simply an uninteresting study of a loser of a young man whose life, one can reason, isn't even interesting to himself. So then why were the audience supposed to find it interesting? Certainly we have less vested interest than the character himself.

24 is not worth the high score it received here. One suspects that many IMDB.com users simply rate movies high if the film is depressing or plodding or uninteresting enough, thus garnering the name "arthouse critic". These same people will not understand that there are 100s of other films from South Korea that are just as plodding, subtle, and slow-moving, and yet have a PURPOSE FOR EXISTENCE.

4 out of 10

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