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The Green Planet Movie Review:
On the
surface, this outrageous Korean action-comedy is over the
top madness; underneath there's both a tender drama and
a fascinating rumination on humanity and the earth. That
all of this works brilliantly--if you let it--is nothing
short of a miracle! Living in the remote countryside, Lee
(Shin) is a paranoid young man convinced the world is about
to be destroyed by aliens from Andromeda. He has isolated
the top spy as Kang (Baek), the CEO of a chemical corporation.
So Lee and his circus tightrope-walker girlfriend (Hwang)
kidnap Kang and try to get him to tell them how to save
the planet from destruction. Meanwhile, two detectives are
on the case: the unorthodox veteran Chu (Jae-Yong Lee) and
the up-and-coming Kim (Ju-Hyeon Lee). Can Lee figure out
the truth before the apocalypse? Or is he just a nutcase
who needs to be taken down before he kills again?
That
writer-director Jeong manages to keep us guessing about
which character is the real villain right up to the very
end is no mean feat. This is brilliantly inventive filmmaking
that somehow walks the tightrope between full-on sci-fi
adventure and psychological thriller ... and we're not sure
which one it is until the final scene. Scenes are punctuated
with moments of sheer horror and grisliness, silly animation
and outrageous fantasies, and references to all sorts of
horror and science fiction movies. And Jeong also touches
ideas and themes from paranoia, oppression and bullying
to loyalty, love and tolerance. OK, so it's basically gonzo
mayhem from start to finish, but at least with these ideas
gurgling underneath there's a subtext that makes it worth
chewing on. And along the way he brilliantly combines every
creation theory imaginable into a kind of coherent narrative
leading up to global warming! The actors are very clever,
keeping us guessing with mercurial performances that veer
wildly from manic insanity to lucid thoughtfulness in the
blink of an eye. And it also needs to be said that this
is one of the coolest-looking movies you'll see all year--truly
imaginative touches fill every scene, keeping it funny,
scary and utterly gripping.
Rich
Cline
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