The Tyrant

Why did you feel the need to write bad comments with such long words? Did the script have too many references to you?

Did you say fun Tarantino films? If you call putting together (stealing) the most enjoyable scenes of many films and adding a pornographic subtext and aimlessness fun, I agree with you. Tarantino films are fun.

Stop trying to sell your culture. The king is naked all over the world now.

Korean cinema and TV series are moving in the right direction. Maybe they should not get caught up in Netflix and Hollywood pollution. Of course this is my opinion.

I congratulate the producer, screenwriter, director and actors of the series. Thank you for your hard work.

The long-expected "The Tyrant" doesn't disappoint! Still, there is a small fly in the ointment!

Director Park is juggling too many balls for the first three episodes. He makes it slightly difficult for the viewer to trace them, especially in the dimly lit scenes. So when he catches them all successfully in episode 4, the viewer is already a bit tired. Just as the capsule is missing, something is missing in the storyline to rivet you wholeheartedly to the screen. I have high respect for Director Park. Yet I think he starts telling the story as if he has all the time in this world, while towards the end, he rushes to bring all the loose ends together. Perhaps because of his vast vision? He takes joy in crafting films that reflect his personal vision, paying little heed to traditional storytelling or pursuing commercial success. He offers his perspective and style, leaving it to you to accept or reject. Much like a true modern artist, he indulges in his individual style and preferences. So it takes time to like it or lump it.

However, he has the knack of selecting a brilliant cast, which makes up for the high mortality rate in this movie/drama.

Of course, Kim Seon Ho as the calm reserved and charismatic Director Choe makes the most of it as usual!

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.

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.

This series felt like a bunch of real-life psychopaths gathered together, driven solely by lust and greed, which was revolting to witness. The story was not just disappointing but also outright trash, offering little more than a parade of depravity that left me questioning the creative intentions behind it. Rather than providing a thought-provoking or meaningful narrative, it seems the creators were more interested in shocking the audience for the sake of it, without any deeper message or artistic merit.

At its core, this series appears to glorify the worst aspects of human nature, focusing on selfish desires and immoral actions. There is nothing wrong with exploring dark themes in media when done responsibly, but here, it feels like the darkness exists just to be edgy.