Transcript
Speaker: I have spent the entire morning typing and deleting a cold intro for this episode, and I've come away with absolutely nothing.
Speaker: So we're just going to get into it. Welcome back to Lost in the Frame. My name is Alex. My name is Malik. My name is Tachi. And today we are talking about the new movie out of Korea, Hope.
Speaker: But first, how's everybody doing today? I'm well. I've been chomping at the bit for a week now. Ready to talk about this movie. Same.
Speaker: We've said minimal things to each other and it's been quite difficult, but this is definitely a discussion I've been looking forward to all week. Yeah, i watched it I watched it on Friday, so it's been two days.
Speaker: yes Because I watched it in the 40X format. I'm so excited to A little over a week ago now, and it's it's been stewing and brewing, and ready ah ready to get into it.
Speaker: I'm so excited to hear what that experience is like, because I've yet to see a movie in 40X, and I will go off of your recommendation today, i think. um Let's do our rapid review, and then we'll get right into hope.
Speaker: All right. I can go first. um My rapid review is Chinatown, directed by Roman Polanski from 1974. I'm on my journey of ah going through my physical media collection of the ones I have not seen to get that watch percentage up.
Speaker: Chinatown was actually a gift from from a dear friend of mine as I moved to LA he got me a couple of l LA based movies and Chinatown was on my list and that was one that he gave and so i was very thankful for that. um This movie's really good. ah It's starring Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway.
Speaker: it It really felt like... like the set like Movies from the 70s kind of feel like the last ah bit of movies from like that golden era of Hollywood in like the look and like the way that they speak to each other and everything like that, but... um This movie was beautifully shot. I thought it was intense. The script is crazy. um Great performances from Faye Dunaway and Jack Nicholson. Just like good checks all around the all around the board. I will highly recommend it if you haven't seen it. um I gave this a four out of five.
Speaker: It's been on my list for forever. Yeah. Good movie.
Speaker: I go next. I finally got around to watching Mortal Kombat 2, which is starring Carl Urban, Carl Urban, and Adeline or adeline Rudolph.
Speaker: Not sure how to pronounce that one. But came out earlier this year. directed by Simon McCoy, who directed the first reboot, Mortal Kombat, from a few years back. And I was really looking forward to this.
Speaker: I thought Carl Urban was capable of of carrying... um what's kind of a joke of a franchise at this point. And he wasn't really able to, and that made me sad.
Speaker: Ultimately, the movie just was lacking a lot of sauce. It has some, which was great to see, but it was, it was too far and and in few between. So it just really seemed like there was a canyon of like,
Speaker: creative cohesion between the director, the cinematographer or director of photography. I don't know who it is, but some scenes just did not look right.
Speaker: And um yeah, it was just kind of disappointing overall. I had a little fun, but not as much as I was hoping. So get had a 2.5 out of five.
Speaker: Damn. Were the fight sequences at least kind of cool? Some were. Some were kind of lame, but some were pretty cool. I don't know if I can recommend it, though.
Speaker: On that topic, I will say... I think I'm excited for the Street Fighter movie. Me too. I saw a new trailer not that long ago, and I was like, okay, that looks like what we wanted Mortal Kombat to be. Right, exactly. Like, I'm i'm on board.
Speaker: Me too. I think it could be better. I think it should be better. It looks like it could be. It looked ridiculous, but I think they're doing what Mortal Kombat should have been doing, which is like leaning into it.
Speaker: Right. So we'll see.
Speaker: I've actually been doing a a lot of non-pod movies, so I have two. Um... The first one going to go with is Abbas Kirastami's Close-Up.
Speaker: I figured it was a good time to watch it since we have the Nathan Fielder, Elizabeth Holmes like hybrid documentary coming out. Yes. This is also a hybrid documentary out of Iran, made in 1990, and it is a like documentary slash reenactment of a real life event where a young man was arrested on charges that he fraudulently impersonated a well-known Iranian filmmaker.
Speaker: It is a very weird, real story. um Everybody involved in this is in the movie, from a like real perspective, like a a truly like film capturing the events that are happening perspective, as well as like a complete reenactment. I mean, they reenact the scenes of this crime, both perpetrator and victims like,
Speaker: as it happened. it's so very hard to describe. it's a very surreal movie. Um, I really liked it. Uh, I think Abbas Kirstami has a great sense of poetry in his works. Um,
Speaker: something that I don't think I've ever seen another director ever been able to like match or replicate. I gave this one a four out of five. It wasn't my favorite by him, but it's absolutely worth a watch.
Speaker: ah The second rapid review that I have isn't so much a movie, but it's my Texas Longhorns. Last night I watched them come back down 21 on the number one team in the nation, Ohio State.
Speaker: um So if any Buckeyes are out there listening, ah we own you.
Speaker: yeah you Ignore the last two results against Ohio State before this one. This is the only one that mattered. you ah you You graced both me and Tachi with a beautiful video last night. I'm asking, just confirming the time that we're recording it today. Tachi says yes, and then we just get a response video from you just yelling in the crowd going absolutely wild. and tars The tarps were off. Yeah. The tarps were off. my My next rapid review is the video you sent, and that's a five out of five.
Speaker: That one went out a lot of people.
Speaker: How long do you tell me before? I got there at 8.30 in the morning. oh Oh, my God. When you sent the video, was that like live or were you home? No, I was still there.
Speaker: That was sent. When did I send that? What time was that? Because kickoff was 630 p.m.? Yeah. And you were there at 830 a.m.? Yeah. That's nuts.
Speaker: I had to help set it up.
Speaker: yeah He sent it? That was like pretty much 1121 p.m. I was still at the stadium. So you had ah at least a 15-hour day, probably 16, 17 by the time you got home, I'm assuming?
Speaker: something like that. That's crazy. i I woke up at six and I only got five hours of sleep because I got home from poker night at 1245.
Speaker: My God. and And I'm flying abroad on Wednesday. And now here you are doing a podcast on a movie that is probably pretty straightforward. Thank God. I'm pretty good. All right. Well, let's get into today's movie. um I will start by reading the synopsis and then we'll get into our letterbox love like loathe.
Speaker: Here we go. Hope, directed by Nah Hong Jin. In the remote South Korean village of Hope Harbor, police chief Bum Siok and officer Song A are called to investigate mysterious creature wrecking havoc on the community.
Speaker: But all is not as it seems and perceptions can be misleading. What begins as ignorance plants the seed of disaster escalating through human conflict into a tragedy of cosmic proportions.
Speaker: I've got today's five star, Alex has our three star, and then Tachi has the one. Here we go. Five stars by Ben David Grabinski. Movie of the year.
Speaker: Exhilarating. Hoian's intro. Wish everyone could see this in 40X. There's mummy returns level CG, but who gives a fuck? Five stars. ah My three-star review comes from, oh my God, I can't even read the name.
Speaker: Taha. Yeah, letterbox is bugging with that font on that background. Okay. The VFX department turned a $50 million Nahangjin epic into a mobile game commercial.
Speaker: Hmm. Sad. This half star comes in from just Ryan. So it says Ryan. um What a fucking joke.
Speaker: A comprehensive failure in storytelling, editing, pacing, and direction. Not a single redeemable thing about this. Such a colossal waste of time that I felt the need to apologize to my girlfriend for suggesting that we watch this.
Speaker: That's crazy. That's harsh. Bending the knee because you picked a bad movie on a date. Nah, you gotta lean into it. He has a pretty good top four favorites though.
Speaker: What has he got? He's got back to the future. All right. The matrix, the thing, and then perfect blue.
Speaker: All right. Yeah. yeah Can't win them all. Yeah. All right. Um, I guess I'll start with a question on the director for the group for Na Hong Jin.
Speaker: Okay. Are you guys familiar with his work? Have you seen any of his previous three features? I think this is his fourth. um His last movie was The Wailing in 2016. So this is his first feature back in 10 years. So it's been a while, but are you guys familiar with any of his past filmography at all?
Speaker: I have seen The Wailing. When did you watch that? last year for October. First book, I think I all may have brought it up in a rapid review.
Speaker: I may have sounds like really vaguely familiar. I may have brought it up. I don't remember.
Speaker: yeah the whaling had been on my watch list for a long time i did watch it in preparation for this podcast i finished it yesterday um so i was just curious if you guys had only seen that one or or any other one but um this movie had its premiere earlier this year at con it was in competition for the palm de or which is like the highest achievement you can get at that festival In hindsight, now seeing the movie, really funny that this was in competition at con for the Palme d'Or, considering what happens.
Speaker: What happens? um But who won? Fjord. Oh, that's right. Okay. Yeah. um When were you guys made aware of this he was pronounced Fjord.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: I hope it is. That's what and so I'm going to say for the rest of the year. When were you guys ah aware of this movie? And what was your excitement levels coming into this? What did you know? This is going to sound insane.
Speaker: This movie was on my watch list like two and a half years ago. Really? Yes. I don't know where I heard about it. But I remember at some point scrolling through my Letterboxd watch list. was looking for something to...
Speaker: to uh to watch and i got pretty deep into it and i was like why is hope down here like i only heard about this movie from con and i guess i had heard about it like two and a half years ago i guess when it went into production or something yeah um interesting yeah But UT money, when did you hear about it what was your excitement level coming into this?
Speaker: I heard about it pretty recently, maybe anywhere in the last three to six months. Yeah, same. I didn't have much time to build anticipation or excitement, but um it looked interesting from like the one snippet I saw.
Speaker: i think um when they started rolling out the the press and the marketing and i tried not to watch anything else because i knew it was going to be a little different of a movie but um i was mildly excited was curious yeah yeah i'm ah i'm about right where where you were um heard about it coming out of con heard it was a ah crazy movie to be competing in this festival so i was like just for that i was curious to see what it was i didn't hear any of the uh Any context behind the movie? I think I only saw like a couple of like the promotional materials, no trailers or anything like that. um So I was excited. like It was a a two and a half hour Korean movie where i was like, all right, looks looks like it'll be interesting.
Speaker: um
Speaker: Reactions out of the movie before we get into...
Speaker: the nitty-gritty as soon as the credits rolled i was i'll say maybe two minutes i've been battered okay yeah we actually can you talk to can you talk to us about your 40x experience first sure so this was my first foray into a 40x movie and i had no idea what to expect i didn't know how intense it was going to be i i saw like two seconds of like someone filming inside their odyssey experience in theaters and um I just, I don't know. i didn't think it would be so i don't want to say realistic because it wasn't realistic, but it was just like so, i don't know what's the word. Integrated into, i don't know. they're They're really trying to emulate the experience of some of the characters.
Speaker: And I felt that. So the movie starts, There's like a pretty short intro about kind of a weird thing that's happening. And then you're basically in a chase scene for a long time.
Speaker: Yeah. It's like an hour long or something. and i'm I'm in the passenger seat of of the cop. And i I swear to God, I was getting actual airtime. i was getting I was getting thrown out of my seat multiple times. Me, everyone else in my aisle, everyone in front of me, I could see them like constantly having to readjust in their seats because they're getting knocked out. And um my like I think twice my butt actually fully left the seat.
Speaker: so I was getting tossed around i was getting water splashed on me I was getting air water like blasted into my ears um sometimes it was like a weird smell and it was insane it was awesome there's no way you could possibly fall asleep um it was it was unbelievable it was totally worth the money had a blast I don't know if everyone wants to experience a movie like that but For this movie and this experience, like I thought it was awesome.
Speaker: Wow. Yeah. Is it distracting at all from like watching the actual movie? mean, yeah, you're getting knocked around. like I swear, i was for anyone viewing the the video right now, I was moving around like this.
Speaker: like He's gyrating for the folks listening. Yeah, lot. um how How is it balancing the movement and reading subtitles? think thankfully i'm used that's a great question Thankfully, I'm used to reading subtitles. okay I'm very pro subtitle, but it it probably was hard for people that are unfamiliar or just. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. um But it it was awesome. And he's great even if you miss a couple words, you're getting the the vibe is pretty clear on screen. So yeah, it's a percent.
Speaker: Yeah. And what was your to look back to the original question? What was your initial feeling? If you could summarize it in like a couple sentences when the credits rolled. If I had fun.
Speaker: i
Speaker: I do. i did want more. It left me wanting more.
Speaker: but also maybe not the movie starts. ah It asks a lot of it asks a lot of questions. It opens a lot of different pathways and plot lines.
Speaker: I don't know. It's really hard to tell. It's just one of those movies where it feels like you like it or you don't. Yeah. And For the most part, I felt like I had a really positive experience and I i can't tell if it was just because it was 40x and I was just getting tossed around um and it was new and fun and exciting, but.
Speaker: I had fun. I'll leave it at that for now. OK, yeah, um I'll say for me, as soon as the credits rolled, my jaw was on the floor.
Speaker: I was just like, there are so many times throughout this movie where i was like, I couldn't believe what I was watching. Like, and I have been looking forward to this conversation to figure out like my feelings on specific moments and scenes and choices to like, like all, all week I've been talking to myself and having this dialogue in my head of,
Speaker: What happened in this movie? What was the intended feeling? And is that like a positive or a negative for me? And I've just been like floating in this limbo space where I'm like, I don't know.
Speaker: Like what I know for a fact though, as the credits came up and the lights came on was I also had a fun time. I think the experience overall was positive Does that translate to the movie?
Speaker: Aspects of it, for sure. But i wasn't I don't feel like it was a waste of time. And I was actually, and still am, very antsy to watch it again.
Speaker: like i want to I want to take Cam to watch it. If she doesn't want to watch it, like I'm more than happy to go by myself. and like I just want to watch this movie again. And that's that's kind of where I'm at.
Speaker: What about you, Alex? I think my initial reaction was what? You texted the group. You just said, bro.
Speaker: Literally, i was like, what on earth? What the like, huh? I was so confused. I was like.
Speaker: Let's just talk about it. All right. The movie opens up, like Tachi was saying, with an incident that happens with a cow that is mutilated beyond repair in the middle of the street.
Speaker: In Hope Harbor, Korea. In Hope Harbor, Korea. Which apparently, according to this movie, is very close to the North Korean border. mm-hmm okay yeah cool it's not a real place so it's like a harbor not north a demilitarized zone North Korea is a real place so harbor is not a real place I can't prove that North Korea is real it it seems like that's how they wanted to explain why everybody was just strapped yeah that was my takeaway from it yeah strapped in this secret secret gun secret like in insane guns like the craziest guns you've ever seen
Speaker: um Pretty quick, we are launched into what looks to be an attack on Hope Harbor. There is an unknown presence running amongst the town. A tiger, supposedly. the That they heard from an old man, and he always tells the truth.
Speaker: um And yeah, like we were saying, this is a a car chase scene for the first hour. It feels like hour, hour and a half. We're chasing this thing. And it is...
Speaker: some of the best stuff I've seen in theaters this year. Like that first hour is such a fun ride. And i was like, holy shit, we have an hour and a half more of this. Like, what are they like? What are they going to do to like keep up this energy to keep up this pace?
Speaker: I was totally on board. And I think that's like some of the most fun sequences I've seen in a theater this year. Some of the most fun experiences I felt. Yeah.
Speaker: It got you right into it for sure. but like what was Where were you guys at like during that first hour? Locked in. yeah Yeah, locked in. Absolutely. I wish I was strapped in.
Speaker: There's no seatbelts in 40X. They were strapped in. was gripping the the armrest so hard and I was still getting thrown around. It was unreal. um The entrance of Hooyeon's character. Yeah.
Speaker: Dubbed. Absolutely. So sick. Absolute peak cinema right there. Like speaking of like being strapped and like holding these like guns that are just insanely powerful. She just pulls up in this car, whips the car around and starts firing at this. What is revealed to be some type of monster creature.
Speaker: Also, I guess spoilers for hope. If you haven't seen it, stop this episode right now. i Please, I beg of you. Stop this episode now and go watch it. Before we do Hoi-An, we have to talk about like the actual monster reveal.
Speaker: Okay. Because...
Speaker: The monster's in the trailer for this movie. Well, a monster is in the trailer for this movie, but it wasn't that one. Yeah. And when its face appears in the window, I was so caught off guard.
Speaker: Same. And then I was really caught off guard when it bursts out of the thing and tomahawks a guy with another guy. Bro, that was nuts. Yeah. I couldn't believe it I had the biggest smile on my face. I couldn't believe it. That was freaking awesome. It was awesome.
Speaker: Insane. And this was a lead up of almost an hour and a half. Like the, the main cop is chasing this thing around the town for so long. ah And you're only teased by like flying bodies or random explosions in the background fire.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. Cars flying and smashing into people and just like blood splattering. Like this, There's like, there's a lot going on and the set design of the town I think is absolutely impeccable.
Speaker: You hear, oh hey, the first hour of this movie is a car chase through a town and like you're getting glimpses of a monster. I think that could be hard to keep someone engaged. But this movie does it, and it blends humor, I think, throughout the movie very well.
Speaker: We get to know these characters a bit like throughout this chase sequence. it's ah it's all It's all very like riveting. It's it's actually like my like one of the favorite like hours in a theater that I've had like all year, for sure.
Speaker: saying But the reveal of the monster was not what I was expecting because was a lot scarier than I thought it was going to be. Well, it was.
Speaker: And then it wasn't. And then you get a really good look at it. Yeah. Oh, my God. Yeah. What am I looking at? Yeah.
Speaker: The VFX in this movie.
Speaker: Really? I don't know what happened. um Actually, no. Let me let me let me let me change that. The monster VFX in this movie.
Speaker: Yes. Yes. Was really bad because there's other VFX in this movie that's done that I thought looked great. Yeah. We'll touch on that when we get towards what happens at the very end of this movie.
Speaker: Right. And up until this point, I was like, this movie is immaculately shot. Yes. It was so well done. I mean, some gorgeous you know Korean countryside scenes. It really captured like that this place was rural in the middle of nowhere.
Speaker: And then all of a sudden, I'm caught flat-footed because I'm looking at something from a PS2 game. Straight up. Yeah. I'm not joking. Yeah. And... I think that was one of the things I heard out of Khan was some of the CGI was shoddy, but people thought that it wasn't finished.
Speaker: So upon wide release, maybe the VFX team would finish it. Like people legit just thought like, oh, like the movie wasn't fully done. Like it was 98% complete. They still some VFX work to be done.
Speaker: That seems to be the final, that seems to be, it is. That's that's the that's the final cut. Yeah. um Speaking of how it's shot, I do think it's shot beautifully outside of the VFX cinematographers.
Speaker: Hong Kyung-pyo, who's the cinematographer for Snowpiercer, Parasite, and Mother. So he worked with Bong Joo-ho. He also worked with Nahung Jin on The Wailing. So just wanted to shout him out there. But to get back to the VFX, the cop is outside of the window.
Speaker: And he we get our first like real good look at the monster in like slow motion. And that's where the PS2 graphics come in. And it it completely took me out.
Speaker: The running? Yes. Like, no shadows on the ground. It was like like an inch above the ground. Like, there was no contact with the floor.
Speaker: Which is just very surprising because there's so much in this that looks so good. Like you're saying, Alex, like, there's a lot of VFX that is really good. But what happened with the monster department?
Speaker: I'm stoked. Yeah. It was rough. and and it's not the first And it's not the first and only time where it's like, oh, like bad VFX. Like if it's like maybe just one shot or two shot, I'm like, okay, maybe that could be a little bit forgiven. But I think going back to what you said, Tachi, after the movie, you either like it or you don't.
Speaker: People seem to either be forgiving of the CGI or not. Right. it I will say it did completely take me out.
Speaker: Which is strange because some of the other... Spoiler alert. The other monster aliens, ah they actually didn't look too bad. was just that one particular one in the city.
Speaker: it just, I don't know. i don't know what happened. i think I think one of them looked good. I thought for the most part they were pretty shoddy.
Speaker: But the level of shoddiness was a spectrum. The shoddiest was the one Hope Harbor. right Yes. Yeah, later on, I think some of these creatures in the forest, like behind the trees lurking, I think some of that looks really good.
Speaker: But it's when we're like focused on specific creatures where i'm like, ew. Or when they're running. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. There's a lot of aliens running in this movie. and they're really fast. Yeah. but they're also slow. Yeah. They also can't catch these people like at all.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: This is a two and a half hour movie. There's um a lot that happens, but also like not. There's maybe like four big set pieces and we're in those set pieces for a long time.
Speaker: The first being the chase through the town. ah The second being the forest. So it's like you can kind of break it up like act one, and act two, act three, like town, forest, highway. Yeah. Yeah, pretty much. um In between there, we're getting...
Speaker: We're getting stories of like the people in the town once the the chase is kind of dissipated and the first monster is taken down by a truck. That also looked really questionable.
Speaker: ah But then like the autopsy scene the monster, i'm like, oh it looks pretty good. So what are we doing We have a practical monster on the table as they're trying to like dissect it and see like what the fuck is this thing?
Speaker: And it's there like they're interacting with this thing and it looks really good. like game Yeah, we're getting close-up shots like of the eye. They're moving it around the teeth. They're cutting into it. It's really gross. It's visceral. yeah it's it's really it's some It's really good stuff there.
Speaker: And then we just gotta we just keep going back to like these weird yeah these weird things.
Speaker: What happens after kind of the the autopsy? We're seeing... ah There's a stuff in the forest that starts to really kick off. Diarrhea scene.
Speaker: How did that scene work for you guys? I did not like that at all. What didn't you like about it? It was so long.
Speaker: like i would is Like, this is completely taking me out for no reason.
Speaker: Yeah, it yeah, it was a little too long. The movie needed to have been like more slapstick, I think, for that to work. It had like some jokes in there.
Speaker: Some moments of humor, but that was they were like little quips. This was. Something else, I mean, for the listeners who haven't seen it and want to know, there is a probably five minute monologue where an old man is describing how he had intense diarrhea in the woods.
Speaker: ah and then saw an alien, and he needed to stop having diarrhea to not get caught by the aliens. It's very graphic, very visceral, and Hoi-An is writing every detail down like Sherlock Holmes.
Speaker: Yeah. I think that's the funniest part of it is how serious she's taking it. like She's not laughing at him at all. shots just like... the shots were just like God. And then she's like, wow, that's that. That's tough. Like, yeah, yeah do we gotta do I did think her reaction to it was really funny, but I agree.
Speaker: It felt out of place. And I see a lot of people talking online. They're just like, oh, this was so funny. Like, I love this movie. I'm like, it was funny, but it also very much like the shoddy CGI just takes me out of it.
Speaker: Because it just felt like a completely different movie. And I think that's like the the point of the movie where it kind of flips to something else. Right. Because we get the ridiculous monologue and then ridiculous things just start happening.
Speaker: And they don't stop for the rest of the movie. And so now we're following like this ragtag group. of hunters that are intentionally going out to see like what's going on and they stumble upon a ship and at this point we're like okay these aren't monsters these are aliens that came down um and then in tandem there's also the other guy who apparently caught one of them which which was a baby that guy was my god as hell too yeah
Speaker: wait Who's your goat? The weird guy with the barn? the weird guy, the redneck. Why is your goat? just like murked this little alien baby for no reason.
Speaker: Why is that your goat? I don't know. I'm just talking around. He made me so uncomfortable. He is weird. Very weird. i mean, maybe he did.
Speaker: it Every time he talked, I felt like he had like a mouthful of dip. Oh, yeah. you know, like, calling a lippin.
Speaker: I did not like his house either. no no no, very creepy. But yeah, he ended up catching one of these aliens, an alien baby, which we assume is the initial monster in Hope Harbor. We assume that that is her baby. Yeah, I don't think that's ever like confirmed, but I think that's pretty like, like, pretty noticeable. It's implied. Yeah.
Speaker: So We find out, yeah, we find out that information and this guy kind of being the reason that Hope Harbor has been demolished because this creature just wanted her baby.
Speaker: And so we're expected to like sympathize with these creatures and then going back to the PS2 shot. We have a slow motion looking between the cop and the monster. And we see that she's crying and he hesitates for a second to shoot it. Cause he's like, what the fuck? Why is it crying? Like, what is this? And we find out it's because she's looking for a baby and she's just scared. And the emotional emotional aspect of it, I think does did hit for me.
Speaker: then again, it's just the CGI where i'm like, ah, but he's not looking at anything. I know he's not. Where are you guys like at at this point in the movie?
Speaker: What are you thinking? like What are you feeling? I was thinking... oh go ahead, Tachi. I just wanted them to move along and just let's go to the next thing. Yeah. i got I was kind of ready for the the slow part in Act 2 just kick off the the climax.
Speaker: Yeah. I was just... ah so curious as to how this was going to end. Like, how are they going to wrap this up? Yeah.
Speaker: Is it going to be just, you know, total alien death?
Speaker: Yeah. I was wondering how much they were going to want us to sympathize with the aliens and and what they were going through. and I think we got some answers later on.
Speaker: We get some answers. Some answers. And then... Way more questions. A boatload of questions. Left over. We get to the alien ship.
Speaker: very Very alien, like Ridley Scott alien. Aliens, like... It was a lot of the the design of the ship kind of reminded me of that, especially when they're looking down and they see, like, the cargo hold with, like, whatever other creature.
Speaker: um And this group of hunters starts getting... obliterated by the other group of aliens that that we meet um i don't know their names i'm gonna just call them out by their color i thought the vfx on the blue alien was actually good and decent i don't know if that's what you were hinting at alex for whole the antler one yeah she yeah she had like the the the spikes coming out yeah like she's like the queen it seems like your majesty yeah yeah your majesty i thought she looked really good like she they cooked with her
Speaker: For some reason. um The lackey, the dog red one. The Beast Titan? Yeah.
Speaker: Had the same like stance as like the Beast Titan. When he wasn't in like dog mode, yeah, he looked like the Beast Titan a lot.
Speaker: Ugly face, though. There were a lot of moments in this where I was like, this is just Attack on Titan. like This is probably what it would have felt like. If it happened in our world. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. Especially like amongst like the forest and everything that kind of feels like that. um At this point in the movie, there's a lot of plot armor that's going on where.
Speaker: Sorry. Go ahead. No, no, go ahead. Go ahead. No, no, no, no. Go. I meant to tell you that there is a post-credit scene. I don't know if you guys watched it. I watched it. I watched it. Yeah. It just reminded me of the plot armor thing, which kind of became a bit.
Speaker: Yeah, it... I think that this is the point of the movie where I'm just like, I don't know if I'm on board. Yeah. Like, i can't i I can't figure out if I'm like... Part of me is like, fuck yeah, this is awesome. yeah But then another part of me is like, but why?
Speaker: Like, why is this all happening? These... Yeah, I mean, the plot arm we're talking about is the aliens look like they're running at like 200 miles an hour.
Speaker: Yeah. They cannot catch up to like horses. Like they're just always far, but far enough behind where they're out of reach or at the last second you you get out of the way. And.
Speaker: But then one of the characters, gets into like a fist fight with one of them yeah and gets thrown into a tree and another tree and a third tree and he just tanks it.
Speaker: Yeah. This is the Sun Ki character. The main hunter. Yeah. And we think he's, you think he's a goner multiple times. Yep. Like he's not just gently being thrown into a tree. He's being like yeeted.
Speaker: yeah he hits the And he hits the tree hard and they're tall trees and he falls at least 20 feet three times. yeah And he just keeps getting up. Now, I've seen the argument that in the spaceship he did like touch something.
Speaker: And so people are like, oh, maybe, yeah. it's it It feels like people are kind of like reaching to justify it. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not i'm also not on board with with that school of thought where I'm like, oh, he slightly touched something and now he's in involved he got the plot armor. Yeah.
Speaker: um Yeah. The chase sequence in the forest has like some highlights, but some lowlights specifically. I'm just like, how are they not catching up to these people? Yeah. Like, I know we have to suspend our disbelief, but like the movie straight up gets really ridiculous at this point where it's asking you to really, really suspend your disbelief. And I think that's where it gets split down the middle of, are you on board? Are you not on board?
Speaker: Which is strange because so much of the first hour and a half of the chase scene in the town feels so grounded Very.
Speaker: And just terrifying. like These things will obliterate your body into mush if they want. And that's what they were trying to do in the forest all the time to this guy.
Speaker: And he just kept taking it. So it's like at at some point you need to decide how durable are we against these aliens or or not.
Speaker: Apparently the answer is super durable. Some of us. If you're chosen.
Speaker: But also, cra yeah. Sun Ki just may have been built different. Yeah. He might be. I will say, like, he does have aura. Yeah. He's got drip.
Speaker: Love what he's wearing. Dude, some of the hunters were dripped out, especially the second group that showed up. The dude with the glasses and the blue striped shirt and the chain. So cool. I need to just wear that. I need to dress like that.
Speaker: That's why like I'm so torn because like I see these people pull up just like absolutely dripped out, and I'm like, this is the coolest shit I've ever seen. Dripped out? You got like automatic weapons? Yeah. Let's go kill them. Yeah.
Speaker: It's awesome. Sick. but it's But then the movie's also like, take me seriously. But I'm like, I kind of can't. Yeah. Please.
Speaker: Please.
Speaker: And then we get to, I think, Act 3, The Highway. Another really good chase sequence, quin I would say. Good-ish. I was torn on this one.
Speaker: Torn on what? So it was just like the same thing over and over and over again. it went on for a long time. It felt like, because I played ah the remastered Dead Space recently.
Speaker: um It felt like one of the boss fights in Dead Space where, like, no matter what you do, you'll get, like, caught into this, like, cinematic thing. And then you have to, like...
Speaker: shoot the right things at the right time or else you die. You get a first triangle at the right time. it would take me like three hours to get through this this one mission. I wasn't very good at the game.
Speaker: I did beat it though. I did beat it. So. But.
Speaker: but The Beast Titan. That's what we'll call him. I don't know if we want to talk about who actually played these aliens. Not yet. Not yet. We'll do when I found out. The Beast Titan.
Speaker: the beast titan
Speaker: he we've already seen that these, these aliens are not impervious to grenades. The beast Titan tanks like three grenades and then each one. And it's just like, Oh, I ate something bad. ah And he just, just fine with it.
Speaker: And they're only going like 40 or 50 miles an hour. That Hyundai is not that fast. No. I can tell you that much. And and the the visual effects seem to imply that he can run at like 100 miles an hour as in dog form or whatever.
Speaker: Dog form does go kind of hard, I will say. um i think the part of the chasing that I liked and then I saw some behind the scenes was like, they did this like...
Speaker: they're out of a car in like in reality with stunt people hanging out of the car, going at like 20 miles an hour or whatever. Like they did it all like practically with someone on a motorcycle, like in a blue suit as the monster, just going behind the car. So I'm like, all of that is really cool. job so bad. Yeah. Just running up on stunt people. I'm going to get you, you back off a little bit. Like, yeah.
Speaker: I did pay yeah union wages for that. I mean, come on, man. Yeah. I did like the way it was shot. I love the car scenes. Um, like in, in a way it's so captivating, but also it goes on for a long time and it's just gotta be a 30 minute stretch, right?
Speaker: Yeah. It shows that way. They're just going straight. Yeah. So it's, it's hard to to stay locked in for that long when there are really no obstacles. They're just trying to slow down the, the beast Titan.
Speaker: And then the one obstacle we do get is when they're quote unquote victorious and they're trying to pull Sun Ki back into the car. Hoi-yeon's just like, Hoi-yeon's character is just like, oh my God, that was so badass. They're cheering, yeah. Yeah, they're cheering. Like, I love so hard you. You're so hot. You're so hot. Like, this is awesome. And then he gets hereditaried.
Speaker: Something happens. It's really hard to see. And I still don't know what happened. The driver says that like he like swerved or something. But it looks like he hits like a stop sign or something. And there's just like blood splattered like on people in the car. and Yeah, on everyone. And Sunkey's gone.
Speaker: we're like, oh, fuck. That's what ended up killing him? Not the yeeting into the tree and falling hundreds of feet. And he's gone. um Then we see a huge ship.
Speaker: crashing into the atmosphere. yeah why was this Was that crashing in North Korea? Like, was that side North Korea? Could have been. out a Maybe. i think from the side of the freeway they were at, it was like north. So depending where they were, I don't know. I can tell you that's, I mean, there's probably not a highway running along the DMZ like that. I just can't imagine that there is one. Oh, look at this beautiful forest.
Speaker: That's, from my understanding, that's not what that area is like. Yeah. I'm going to pretend it crashes into North Korea, though. Okay, so the alien ship crashes into North Korea. We also see the alien creatures having conversations with each other at this point in ah in their own like alien language. Right.
Speaker: um Our humans see what's happening and they just kind of say, we just need to keep going. We need to keep. Yeah, we need to lock it. We need to just persevere. And at the same time, we see the blue alien and the beast Titan interact with each other, seeing what we now know is their ship, their emperor ship crashing into North Korea.
Speaker: What do you think the news was like that day? I don't know.
Speaker: You're telling me the aliens have crashed in North Korea?
Speaker: I wish we could have done it first. They ruined my plan. I was going to do it. I think they got the idea from me. Kim Jong-un is dead.
Speaker: he the Probably he didn't survive that. The conversation between the two aliens... So their mission is to get who they're calling the prince back from us, the humans. So the prince is the baby.
Speaker: Right. And the key to... I thought the prince was in the ship.
Speaker: That was what I understood. I understood the prince to be the baby. And as the Beast Titan takes out his like life form, that he was going to give that to the baby to revive him.
Speaker: That was my understanding. Because the baby... I'm an idiot. that I guess I'm just an idiot. I'm like, who is the prince? For a second, I was too. And I was like, okay, well, maybe it's the baby. Because whenever he brought up the thing and he said, oh I'm going to use this to revive him. i was like, oh, the baby's dead. So they got to get the baby body back.
Speaker: and do all that um I'm looking at a transcript of their conversation. They talk about the prince. And then the last line said is bring forth true fate.
Speaker: Which I thought went hard when he was like, he's like, yeah, I got to go fucking get this. And then the magic her majesty is like bring forth true fate. And then it ends black screen.
Speaker: I guess I'm an idiot that the prince was. the The the slimes kid. Yeah. Yeah. yeah Some prince gets one-shotted by an absolute bumpkin? Are you kidding me? He's a baby.
Speaker: an alien. How's he supposed to know? It was one shot. I've seen every other alien in this movie take like eight mags and grenades.
Speaker: Nothing is consistent. Right. that that Yeah, there's no consistency in this movie. yeah Oh yeah, there's also a baby in the ship. Yeah, there was a baby in the ship. Yeah, yeah a second baby has hit the ship.
Speaker: Why didn't the prince just stay in there? Yeah. I don't know. wouldnney wells yep Why was he out and about? God. The true fate is your prince is washed.
Speaker: Yeah, the movie does feel like it we ran out of quarters. And it just ends. He has a second one written. There is a Hope 2, I think, written. He does have it written. And I don't know what needs to happen to get that greenlit. Because I don't think a sequel is greenlit.
Speaker: um But there is a script. How's the movie doing in Korea? It is the highest budget Korean film, I think, ever. Yeah. Right.
Speaker: I did see that. um It said and its opening weekend, it had one and a half million admissions in South Korea, grossing 11.3 million at the box office. And then the end of the film had grossed $31 million at the local box office. So it's doing really well in South Korea.
Speaker: I don't know how that's translating here in the States. um I guess we'll find out soon. Yeah. I really would like to see a sequel of this, but like, I'm also extremely annoyed that this two and a half hour movie just ends like that.
Speaker: gene What do you mean?
Speaker: Huh?
Speaker: I don't know. i don't know how to feel. There's so many questions. Like, what are they running from? Why was their ship already in flames? Why was it crashing? Why earth?
Speaker: You know, it's like Korea. Yeah. I, I'm of two schools of thought where i think it's kind of cool. If you're making an alien movie and this is how you're kind of setting it up.
Speaker: But I'm also just so annoyed.
Speaker: Do you want more, though? That's what happens. Yeah. I do, too. i really liked the script, despite some some weaknesses here and there. But overall, it felt like so much of the dialogue, at least between the humans, felt pretty reasonable and...
Speaker: I don't know. I like the humor. For the most part, it works for me. I do too. I would say like my only caveat with like the actual like humor in the script is like the diarrhea scene because it just goes on a bit too long.
Speaker: Yeah. Kind of like diarrhea. Very true. Very true. You know what? Now I like it. i get it now.
Speaker: Were there any performances that you just couldn't get into, jive with? I think everyone was really good in this. Me too. I do think we were a bit silly for talking about Hoi-An for best actress.
Speaker: yeah Or best supporting, whatever he had her for. I love the theater and I'm like, oh, I think we already got one wrong. I think it'd be a cool nomination, but yeah, there's there's no way that happens. um Let's talk about the cast of the aliens.
Speaker: Okay. And who that is revealed to So how'd find out? Because I knew going in. You did. Yes. I found out when the credits rolled, and I saw Taylor Russell, Alicia Vikander, and Michael Fassbender's names pop up. I went, no fucking way. Okay.
Speaker: As I'm looking at the blue alien, Alicia Vikander, I'm like, this alien looks so familiar. I didn't really see... i don't see Michael Fassbender in The Beast Titan. I do.
Speaker: You do? It's the nose. I see Alicia Vikander, but I was like, she looks so familiar. So as soon as the names popped up, I was like, holy shit. What?
Speaker: Yeah. um I didn't recognize Taylor Russell. I didn't either. Same. uh was she the the green lady yeah the one that's like peeping through the trees yeah kind of creeping kind of got gill looks like gills like on the side of her head yeah and i i saw a picture of it i'm like that looks like taylor russell but she was always kind of just creeping in the back right yeah kind of like in bones and all
Speaker: eating people um I think it's a really based casting decision to make them the aliens. I am insanely on board with that.
Speaker: Like that is the most big brain energy I think I've ever heard in my life. I can't, I can't knock them for it. I love it. It's great. What was that phone call? Like, I don't know.
Speaker: going to play an alien. Yeah. You're going to play an alien. And the CGI is going to be really bad. In the last 30 minutes of this movie and we might have a sequel. And they're just like, yes.
Speaker: um I didn't realize that Michael Fassbender and Alyssa Vikander were married. I didn't either. Yeah. ah list So Alyssa Vikander was cast and then she convinced Michael Fassbender to do it as well.
Speaker: Nice. He said, all right, yeah I'll do it. So that seemed like a pretty pretty easy conversation to have um overall. ah Oh, but my God. This movie has a lot of bold, extremely bold creative decisions. And yeah, i am on board for like pushing the envelope and in a way making people uncomfortable. But I don't know if that's the intention. It's just like we said earlier, the the movie is inconsistent with some elements.
Speaker: but it's very bold. It is confident and it's really fun if you yeah accept it.
Speaker: And I have to give it credit for that. And I wanted to watch the wailing ahead of this episode to just, cause I hadn't seen, I've only, looked cause I'd only seen hope at this point. So I just wanted to see what his movies were like before this and see if there's any like through lines. And I think both are,
Speaker: Similar in theme when it comes to like the unknown and unknown people or things coming into like our world and kind of messing up like our day to day. I think both tackle that.
Speaker: The Wailing is a completely different movie. It is straight up horror movie um that just tackles like a similar theme. And I think it's executed better there, but because it's more, it's a much more focused script and,
Speaker: It's not extravagant like hope, but but it's kind of cool to do it yeah in this way. I don't know. it's i i think i i it may not always work for me, but I do respect it.
Speaker: Me too.
Speaker: Me too. Yeah. Look at that.
Speaker: What other thoughts do you guys have about this movie that maybe we didn't hit on that you want to shout out?
Speaker: The acting? Have we talked about the acting?
Speaker: Like, I guess we said. pretty Like, performances? Performances. Oh, yeah. Yeah, you said everyone nailed it. I agreed. Yeah. Yeah. I really loved the the main cop guy. Me too. yeah and He was pretty good.
Speaker: Yeah. I haven't seen him in anything else, but i i would like to see what else he's done.
Speaker: Yeah, it was real believable. Great performance. Yeah, man. Good performances all around, for sure. Oh, I think rating this movie is going be kind of difficult. I think I know my answer.
Speaker: Do you guys want to watch this again? Like how soon do you think you will watch this movie again?
Speaker: I want to watch it pretty soon while it's in theaters because i I would like to compare my experience between normal style and 40 X. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: Because the 40 X was so fun. It really, really was. And I i hope if you if you have the opportunity to watch it in your city that may have 40X, I would push for that.
Speaker: Damn.
Speaker: I'll have to check out a 40X movie soon. I think I can see myself watching this in the next week or two. um It was a really fun theatrical experience. The crowd was lively. seemed like everyone had a good time.
Speaker: And just the murmurs of... huh? As soon as the credits rolled was so funny yeah and like worth the price of admission alone. The, the old guy next to me, lean to his wife. That's the worst thing I've ever seen.
Speaker: The thing with this movie is if you hate it, i think you're justified. And if you love it, I think you're justified.
Speaker: I agree. The guy next to me was giggling like the whole time we're job go around the guy. the giggler The guy on my left was giggling. The guy on my right was so locked in for like the last half of the movie.
Speaker: He was elbows on knees, like hands on the on his hands, too, and just he was leaning forward. So he did that locked in move. Yeah, I love that. All right, guys.
Speaker: Let's rate it. OK.
Speaker: I can go first. I normally don't. So I'll go 3.5 out of five.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I think that makes that makes the most sense to me. I think that makes the most sense to me. I'm like I'm in between a three and a half and a four. Like that first hour and a half guys is like, is so good.
Speaker: It's straight up cinema. Like the movie could have ended after the chase and I would have been fine. Yeah. I think like if that, that first hour and a half is for sure a four out of five. It's a four and a half out of five with better VFX on that part. Yeah.
Speaker: I think, I think right now I'm going to land out at a three and a half as well. That feels, that feels fair and fine to me.
Speaker: I think three and a half is right. Right. Like a low three and a half though. Yeah. It feels like it could sway either direction.
Speaker: that Which is a big reason that I do want to rewatch it. Like now knowing what I know and then going into it with that mindset, like I'm curious where, like how the movie will play on a second, on a second viewing.
Speaker: I really hope you can watch it in 40 Yeah.
Speaker: That might have to be the move. um Okay. We're on the line. Three and a half out of five. That's kind of surprising. I thought we'd be divided. i did too.
Speaker: i came into this. I thought Alex was going to hate it. like i thought like one star like hate it And then Tachi, I thought you might have also hated it that's fair i thought i thought i was gonna be the one that liked it the most out of out of us that's why i want to re-watch because i don't know if it was just the fun of like feeling like i was on a roller coaster or yeah if it was like an actual good movie that's fair we'll see that's fair because the theatrical experience is huge for all of that uh wow well i definitely recommend this movie
Speaker: To go watch it. um I can't say I've seen anything quite like it. So 10 out of 10, two thumbs up from me. Recommend it. Go watch it if you haven't. I just want to call out how we've now had two Aliens are on Earth movies this year.
Speaker: And it treats them so much differently. i had similar thoughts and maybe something we can talk about in a later episode comparing this to like disclosure day. Is that what you're?
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. Again, very similar. Disclosure Day all like, all these are our friends and they're nice. and They're here to teach us empathy.
Speaker: Shoot them out of the fucking sky. i do I did think of Disclosure Day a couple days after. um And I think that does warrant a future discussion and maybe how they handled both of those.
Speaker: But we'll save that for another day. Cool. Cool. All right. ah Follow us on Letterboxd if you're not. Subscribe to us on YouTube if you're not. Thank you so much for listening to this episode.
Speaker: We'll be back next week with some type of Robin Hood episode. Yeah. Watch the uprising and watch the death of Robin Hood. Be prepared for both. We might only do one. And we hope to see you there.
Speaker: See ya. Bye.
