Money Heist: Korea - Joint Economic Area

A great twist on the original with a conceptualized new reality in Korea. I'm not from Korea but I totally enjoy the new storyline, with better backstories and acting.

As someone who watched and loved the original Money Heist (La Casa De Papel), this review will be based on both similarities and differences between the two.

The beginning of the series, Tokyo's backstory, is captivating and original yet takes elements from the Spanish (og) version. It was nice to see the screenwriters take on a more Korean style while sticking to the original story. It was fast-paced and not much of the story before the heist was shown which was slightly different from the original series but it's understandable considering the writers tried to squeeze as much of the original story for the first heist in 12 episodes (as the original version had 23 episodes meant for the first heist).

I do wish the remake showed a more original and unique approach as the show was mostly very similar to identical to the original.

The acting was, in my honest opinion, average. There were moments and actors that I adored like Park Hae Soo as Berlin or Lee Joo Bin as Yun Mi Seon (OG Monica/Stockholm) and her chemistry with Kim Hi Joon aka Denver. However, the acting didn't exceed my expectations. I still enjoyed the first half of the show that aired so far.

The cinematography and directing style was something that I truly enjoyed. The shots weren't necessarily long (most of the time) and the brightness and coloring of the show were pretty to watch.

In the end, I will say that the original version is better than this remake but it still is enjoyable to watch.

The biggest negative is the fact that people know this is a remake. You can't get it out of your mind. The first episode isn't great. But, actually I finished the series because it was entertaining until the end. And I almost never finish a series. I think if it was more self aware, for example, maybe they were aware of the other Money Heist and literally copied it as a movement or something then it would have played out better.

It's not even copy and paste because it's worse.

"Mom, can we have Money Heist at home?"

"We already have Money Heist at home"

*Money Heist at home:

Of course nothing ever beats the original. But I appreciate the Korean cinematography, culture, politics and corruption infused with the story, especially the characters having their own different backstory in their own way. It's clever. Its objective is definitely not to replace the original but to give tribute to it. However, just expect the excitement to decline a little bit since the very basic story is known. You will expect the expected basically. But Korean culture and their own style of filmmaking has definitely made this different and worthwhile to watch. It's definitely still worth watching.