slikts

Movies like this are what happens when there's no one to say "no". They're listless; no one wanted to say anything with this work (or script anyway); it's just about ticking checkboxes: animals - yes, constant noisy, busy action - yes, big name stars - yes. It's good to see a formulaic, soulless approach fail yet again.

The responses this film draws are often a study of internalized propaganda; specifically, the smoke screen of meritocracy that attempts to cover the systemic injustices of the world. The common thread is to object to the impoverished characters as being portrayed as too capable; the "If you're so smart, why aren't you rich?" saying being an epitome of this mindset. It's a saying that you could hear in a schoolyard, because it betrays a childish level of understanding, or lack thereof: not considering unearned wealth transfer; not considering the disparity of opportunities; and not considering that the wealth gap is particularly large in South Korea.

It's unclear how many people who are willingly ignorant about injustice can be reached at all, but art like this film must help, at the very least by sustaining a discussion of the topic of injustice and inequality.

Adaptation issues aside, this movie is just stupid; there's no gravity to murdering people; the main character places so little worth on human life as if it was a video game, and it turns out that his crush is equally psycho. The morality is barely explored, they just matter-of-factly treat every criminal as deserving a death sentence, including their schoolmate, for the crime of schoolyard bullying. Even very young children could understand that someone still in school could have the potential to reform, but not these characters.

The 'accidental' deaths seem unintentionally 'cartoonish', basically being variations of slipping on banana peels and landing on sharp objects.

The movie has an interesting borrowed premise, but fails in execution, and as such is just a waste of time and opportunity for a better movie.