User reviews

There's always something grappling and intriguing about Korean cinema, especially from the seasoned actors and actresses. It's a great escape from the Hollywood preaching, politics, hedonism and the message. As such I'm well invested in the Korean filmscape and find myself a critic when necessary within my mind. Troll Factory is a very well laid out film, with great pacing, acting and a powerful story, however it feels like it feeds you so much ingredients, with a chef by your side and then says - now you cook. Huh!!

The story is said to be based on true events as such I totally understand the narrative ending the way it did, since it's most likely still unfolding in real life and probably would never end (the corruption of the world can't end till Jesus comes I think), but I was almost wishing they added fiction just to make it more - erm, cinema.

That said I like it. The subject matter is sensitive (I don't know if I really care), the acting and directing is great, feels like a passion project with intent on passing a conscious narrative to it's society, but it just kinda ended.

Crowdturfing, especially when it is used politically, is the problem that is rotting the society from the very core, spreading so fast and so wide, invading all aspects of the society, dividing it from all angles, and hiding and transforming its form at its will. Even talking about Samsung's involvement in Internet rigging could not have been easy for the director and the producers. One of the bravest topics that a Korean movie can ever choose.

Editing and the style of the movie is trendy and unique, and they increase the sense of reality as well. Comments and replies are written and shown in the same structure and style as they are in real Internet forum sites.

The only but noticeable shortcoming is that the story is too linear but too tangled at the same time. It feels fragmented and elongated at the same time. The plot needs to be trimmed more delicately. The ending is hasty.