Hwayi: A Monster Boy

The unluckiest one is Hwayi himself, my goodness. The thing about him seeing monsters seemed pretty irrelevant overall, instead the real monsters were his five 'fathers'. Amazing acting by the cast but I felt like there was something lacking about the story.

I would have probably enjoyed this movie when I was in my early teens over now. Despite all the blood and gore in this. The acting is good, but couldn't really get immersed into the characters or the story. I guess they did the best they could with 2 hours and multiple different characters. The rising star Yeo Jin-goo is still rough around the edges but still good for such a young actor. I think his acting chops will continue to grow, plus he already beats out other Korean actors that are older when it comes to acting. Another actor that stood out is Kim Sung-Kyun but that is because he seemed to be impersonating the Joker. The plot is similar to something from a graphic novel which I thought was cool. Unfortunately most of the areas in the movie just seemed so darn underdeveloped and rushed at times. Making certain situations not as gripping or even to the point of not making much sense. The situations could have been more tense if there was more development in the story and characters. It's a good movie to boost Yeo Jin-goo as a rising star, but it's not a thriller that sticks with you like "The Chaser" 2008. The plot is passable and the action for the most part is realistic and good to great acting to go along with it. I give it a 6.5/10.

6.5/10

I'm so glad I finally watched this. This movie was F****** AWESOME. Yes the language is warranted. The acting was spectacular from every character- especially Yeo Jin Goo,I was already impressed with this child actor since The Moon Embraces the Sun and I Miss You, but he literally BLEW ME AWAY here. He covered every single emotional beat, every scene with the veteran actors (who themselves were freaking amazing) perfectly. I can't rave enough about the acting here.

The story was a lot more than I expected. I thought this would be like Coin Locker Girl when it turned vengeful and just become a bloodbath but damn- Hwayi was way smarter than I thought. Some twists I saw coming, others made me pause and rewind.

The monster analogy was very well done, the part where he just stared it down gave me chills.

The cops really got the short end of the stick here but aside from that I loved the ending. Amazing movie all around. Seriously in my top 10 K thrillers.

This was not what I was expecting but it is a decent film. My opinion is that it was more action than suspense. It moves at a decent pace, acting is good and the plot is different. There is a lot emotion in it and the main character really did a great job conveying his conflictions. I'm not exactly sure what it is but it was missing a little something. Not a bad movie at all though. Just be prepared for some highly dramatic action if you choose to sit down and watch it.

Complex and fascinating too. Typical Asian, it could have been from China or even Japan, not Hollywood anyway. Pretty hard to follow or summarize, or even totally understand. It is gruesome as a script an directing and remains an excellent crime drama. Not for all western audiences. Not in the spirit. The fault of its quality.