Badland Hunters

Badland Hunters: A South Korean dystopian action film which is a sequel to the 2023 film Concrete Utopia , I missed Concrete Utopia and wasn't aware of it's existence until after I watched Badland Hunters. Maybe I would have gotten more context if I seen the originak film first but Hunters is entertaining. World destroyed by mega-earthquakes. Mad Max style settlements plagurd by bandits, a mighty hunter who fights them off. There's also a mad scientist who carries out weird experiments on humans and has an army od super soldiers. We also get to see fast moving quasi-zombies. There's a quest and battles, some good hand to hand fighting and dastardly decapitations. Not to be taken too seriously but it's a goodish SF B movie with a line of humour running through it. Directed by Heo Myung, Screenplay by Kim Bo-tong & Kwak Jae-min. On Netflix. 6.5/10.

Really fun, even though nothing new!

At first, i did not get really excited because it is a Netflix work, and most of their work are really bad last period of time. But, i have seen parents guide and i found it is clear from nudity, which is something really rare these days.

It was somehow fun, i enjoyed it.

What makes this movie fun?

Well, there are multiple things i really liked. First, the good acting. Second, the exciting action scenes. Third, not that bad plot, and unfortunately it could be better.

And Finally, it was clear without any filler or useless scenes, and i did not fell the time pass.

What are it cons?

The same theme of the korean movies, i did not find anything new in the plot. The CGI and effects was not that so good, but acceptable. That all i guess.

When it comes to netflix produced movies, the quality of the movies often reach to lower than the movies released in the theaters just like those straight-to-DVD movies. Of course there are few exceptions, but because of the long list of the sub par movies that Netflix produced, I tend to lower my expectation, and that seems to work out well when I watch netflix movies such as Rebel Moon and this movie, Badland Hunters. It was nice to see something new and different in both movies. The action scenes in both movie are also superb that are worth watching again. However, I would give just a little bit more points on Badland Hunters since it has shorter running time, but has longer action time. It's slightly more than 90 minutes, but it has a lot more actions. It's a cheesy and gory action flick that delivered what it was promising. What else do you expect? Life changing experience? Epiphany? Watch for the actions especially last 30 minutes. You won't be disappointed.

The genre and style of this movie differs so much from Concrete Utopia, it should not be considered a sequel as much as a spin off. As such it should be evaluate on it's own rather than a comparison to Concrete Utopia.

While the predecessor was more of a allegory of understand humanity, this film is straight out an action thriller. For that it is pretty entertaining and will give you a night of fun with your friends.

The positive notes are the well choreographed fights, which are both fast yet clear. I especially like the incorporation of various techniques including boxing, martial arts, and wrestling. The gun fights scenes were very John Wickesque, with fast reaction, gun changing hands, load and reload.

The weak point is the plot, which is generic and cliche. However, that is expected in action films, the real issue is the creative elements which seems at time to be slow and confusing.

With a runtime of 1 hr and 48 mins, this film can easily be trimmed of 20 minutes for a smoother ride. Some fight scenes were a bit too extended that they become repetitive and some story elements were not necessary in complexity and can be eliminated.

Overall a 6 or 7. But I'll put 7 for the attempted effort in creativity of the plot device, which I will not state as a spoiler.

A mad scientist is hellbent on reviving his dead daughter and his weird experiment is stopped mid way. At the same time, Seoul is brought down by an earthquake with a Richter scale reading of 5. With no fresh water, the city is on the verge of apocalypse and enter the Hunter who not only keeps the people fed but also protects them from the bounty Hunters and ofcourse more. When the mad scientist returns with his sinister plan, taking away the young children, he is not aware of how many punches the Hunter can throw.

Badland Hunters succeed in terms of providing enough human punch bags to Don Lee. The ordinary vfx isn't really a hurdle in the proceedings and he quickly gets into business, starting with a crocodile. The story however has nothing new to offer and is as silly as one expects it to be, which could've been deemed Gold in the 80s but in 2024, one can be happy for Don Lee's screen presence to even make this bland film to entertain slightly. The runtime also helps as there is not too much space for melodrama and the makers seems to be aware of what their true strength is in so the film gets into action mode quickly and stays that way throughout.