The Tyrant

I love Korean movies and series but this one????

I give up!

What was that???

A lot of people are killing a lot of other people and I really did not understand why they did it and who these people are at all. There is no story there, I liked none of the people, nothing. They used a lot of flashbacks and some non-linearity but only to cover up how bad everything is.

Okay, when you have no story but only mindless action then at least that should be good? No, what is worse than the nonexisting storyline are the fighting and shooting parts. They are always the same, very amateurish, lack any originality and they are extremely boooooring.

Not only that, since I didn't know who these people are and why they are killing each other, I didn't care at all who wins or who loses.

Honestly, I don't know who makes stuff like that and why there is nobody pulling the plug on something like this during production.

Or maybe this is a new cinematic artform: no story, just mindless and boring murder and mayhem for hours.

Honestly, I give up!

Korean Short Drama '' The Tyrant '' is a mini-series that serves as a side story to the movie ' The Witch ' and it unfolds into its universe.

The drama is indeed short, but it manages to handle its story nicely and it progresses smoothly.

Even though there were plenty of bloody scenes, the drama somehow didn't feel that disturbing, but everything fitted well with the atmosphere, the story, and the fighting scenes.

Still, another episode would have allowed the story to breathe and not feel that tight and compact. Or maybe they shouldn't have included that many characters.

Finally, the performances were all great by every actor and actress in the cast.

So, overall, seven out of ten.

"The Tyrant" is a mini-series that serves as a side story to the movie ' The Witch ' and it unfolds into its universe.

The action is, of course, a highlight. If you like pure action and violence, this show is the answer for you. Brutality, gore, blood, guns, whatever you need, it's all here, and in the most violent form.

The cinematography is stunning, with wide shots showcasing the intensity of each battle, and the fight choreography is still on brand with the franchise. While the gore has been toned down, it doesn't take away from the high-stakes brutality that defines this universe.

Now, while the drama delivers on action and performances, the plot itself is fairly simplistic. It doesn't try to reinvent the wheel; instead, it just gives us a fast-paced chase where everyone's after the same thing. And while that's fine for a side story, it doesn't necessarily add much depth to the Witch universe. If you're hoping for deeper world-building about the origins of the Tyrant program or how it connects to the broader narrative, you might leave with more questions than answers.

One of the biggest surprises of The Tyrant is its new female lead Chae Ja-gyeong (Jo Yoon-Soo) is an absolute legend in the role. She really carries most of the show on her shoulders.

If you're deeply invested in The Witch universe, it's worth the watch. If you're just here for great action and don't mind an open-ended narrative, you'll have fun. But if you're looking for major story revelations? You won't miss much by skipping it.

For some who may not be aware, this series was created by the same director who brought you the Witch: Part 1 - The Subversion (an excellent movie) and the Witch Part II (a terrible movie). All three share the same premise and can be viewed as different parts of a same franchise. This third offering in this franchise lands somewhere between the first and second movies, closer to the first movie I suppose. If you are a fan of this franchise or just the first movie, the chances are pretty good you will like this 4-episode series. However, I do want to warn you that you have to pay real close attention to understand who's working with who and what factions are fighting against each other. As mentioned in another review, the lighting is inexplicably poor. I can go on and pick out couple of other annoying points.

However, the fact of the matter is the series is very compact (total running time of maybe less than 2 hrs) and is quite entertaining.

Don't waste your time.

It has no plot whatsoever.

A lot of people are constantly killing each other over some bio-virus in very stupid action scenes that get boring and repetitive over time.

Though during the first episodes you don't even know who belongs to which faction and why they are doing what they are doing - but who cares?

Certainly not the "director" of that desaster nor the "screenwriter" - if you can even call them that.

When they shoot at each other, the winners always hit their targets in one shot from a hundred meters away, while their victims always run right into the line of fire without ducking, taking cover or even aiming at their targets.

But even when one side is only armed with some knives and the others with machine guns, the guys with the knives somehow win.

Then there is an old assassin who, despite his old age, beats up twenty youngsters.

He also manages to shoot through thick wooden doors with a handgun with a silencer (!) and hit his target right in the head without even being able to see it before.

Oh, yes and he also has his magic shotgun (with a silencer no less) he shoots people in the head without any misses from long distances.

Okay, it may help that his targets just stand there, don't take cover and do not manage to hit him once with their long range rifles and machine guns.

That way he manages to kill about 30 heavily armed, trained assassins at the end of the fourth episode.

And then, there is the crazy assassin girl.

She is just skin and bones but manages to take out groups of trained and armed assassins just with a little knife.

She also shoots people without ever missing from hundreds of meters away, just with some short range handguns and while walking towards them.

Okay, it also helps that these guys never think to duck or to shoot back.

There are also many scenes where she manages to sneak up on people on empty, football stadium sized grassfields, without them noticing it.

Or she just appears out of nowhere in some empty rooms.

Though she is that super-assassin at one time she gets stabbed and shot multiple times and then thrown down to certain death from a bridge.

But what do you know - she survives all of that somehow fresh and peachy! (Facepalm!)

How does that little girl manage to do all that, you may ask (apart from a really bad script and directing)?

Well her qualification is that "she is the daughter of an assassin" Ohhhh...facepalm!

The whole plotless show is just an endless repetition of tedious, boring and ridiculous fight scenes and shootouts.

Also, there isn't one interesting person you'd root for - they are all crazy and weird, but not in an entertaining Quentin-Tarantino- way, but more in a really obnoxious, annoying straight-to-streaming-services C-movie way.

When you have no good story to tell, just let people fight and shoot at each other, over and over and over again.

The worst K-show I have seen in a long time.