Director: Hanmin Yun
Year: 2017
Country: South Korea
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Action/Thriller
Plot:
A psychology professor has been murdered by a killer with a method called “Murder game,” described in the novel named “Sigmund.” As a result of this, the author of “Sigmund” gains popularity and uses the media and other people to succeed in life. A month later, he receives a blackmail notice from a mysterious man that mentions his secrets and promises to bring him down unless he reveals who the real killer is. While he’s stuck in the crosshairs of the killer, his friend and a reporter work together to try to solve the case that has the detective and the rest of the police stumped as to how to solve the crime.
Review:
Overall, this one is watchable if somewhat lacking drama/thriller. The main aspect to enjoy here is the main setup that creates a compelling mystery angle to see play out by adapting a ploy similar to several giallo features. The investigation by the police into the personal life of the creator due to the connection he shares with the crimes makes for a riveting setup. Having written a scene in his latest novel that closely resembles the way a person died in real life, this sets a fine starting point for the unraveling blackmail scenario that plays out. Resorting to numerous ploys within various social media outlets to try to either discredit him or set him up as a potential suspect, this use of modern social media makes for a highly effective angle here that starts the film off nicely.
However, this does end up suffering from several factors. Most of these are relegated to the sluggish and outright lethargic pace present here. This pacing is quite problematic as it renders a large part of the movie to listen to people talking about clues and connections. Rather than focusing on a serial killer running loose and knocking off numerous victims, the majority of the running time is spent on him and the reporter discussing facts or starting to develop feelings for each other. As a result, regardless of how intriguing the initial crime is and how good the setup that Yun created, it isn’t enough to overcome the boredom that sets in. The focus on these storylines isn’t that intriguing, and our attention wanes during the second half as a result.
That’s also due to the other issue within here, which doesn’t make the killer all that interesting anyway. Not focusing on the killer and spending the time it does on those other side stories leaves little room for the killer to make much of an impact in the storyline. The targeting of the inventor feels quite random, with there being little connection beyond the first murder being taken from his book, and the importance of the coin game from the book is all but forgotten by the time it develops any kind of steam. As well, with virtually no contact between them until the film is nearly over, it’s really hard to get a sense of fear that they’re going to strike at all, which makes it really hard to care about any of this. These factors end up leading to the film’s downfall.
Overview: *.5/5
Graced with a fantastic premise but ruined by some utterly problematic areas, this one has some watchable factors that are turned down by some rather big factors that keep it down. It’s really only for those who are fans of this style of crime drama/thriller due to those issues, while most others out there should heed caution.
This review was originally published on Asian Movie Pulse and is gratefully reprinted with their cooperation.
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