The pitch was excellent. An agent in charge of protecting the first immortal human clone that everybody wants to get or kill.
However, every single detail that was not in the pitch was a deception.
First, this happens in our world right now, and the general population doesn't know about Seobok's existence. I was expecting some topics around cloning, immortality, their ethics, the consequences on society. There is none of that. Only one tiny interesting detail about that, is the way the lab guy considers that Seobok is not technically human, and so we should not apply human feelings on what is done to him, and absolutely cannot fathom that anyone could see it any other way.
Second Seobok is actually a child, raised in a lab, that has never been outside, with all the very obvious consequences this has on Ki-Hun and Seobok's interactions. This is very cliché.
Third, Ki-Hun is actually dying and would be able to be saved using treatment developed thanks to Seobok. This pretty much simplifies the whole ethics part of the movie to "should I save the child or save myself ?"
Fourth, out of nowhere, turns out that making an immortal clone also gives him psychic powers. This is not even a plot device, this is just an excuse for actions scenes where Seobok makes stuff flies. I mean, sure, he was created to be immortal and to be used to cure diseases, it was not the goal. But he can move things with his mind, and the whole lab and company behind are all like "oh yeah, btw this happened, moving on". Nobody wonders where it comes from, tries to study it, to understand it, to reproduce it, at least see how it works and test what he can do, or at the very very least, take measures against it. Nothing. That's totally insane. It's like it's been written in the actions scenes and not even in the story.
Action wise, it's pretty ok, and FX during the big fight at the end when Seobok goes wild with his power are great.
Plot wise there's a bit of double/triple crossing between the different entities that want to get their hands on Seobok, but it's not that interesting. The relationship between Ki-Hun and Seobok is also pretty boring, as is Seobok's little quest on the outside.
Basically I felt like I already seen this movie several times. Just change "immortal clone" by whatever important unique thing, a person being a cure for something, a spy with some critical info, a very intelligent dog, and you get the same movie.
Review by FLYVIP 2BlockedParent2022-09-26T23:03:38Z
The pitch was excellent. An agent in charge of protecting the first immortal human clone that everybody wants to get or kill.
However, every single detail that was not in the pitch was a deception.
First, this happens in our world right now, and the general population doesn't know about Seobok's existence. I was expecting some topics around cloning, immortality, their ethics, the consequences on society. There is none of that. Only one tiny interesting detail about that, is the way the lab guy considers that Seobok is not technically human, and so we should not apply human feelings on what is done to him, and absolutely cannot fathom that anyone could see it any other way.
Second Seobok is actually a child, raised in a lab, that has never been outside, with all the very obvious consequences this has on Ki-Hun and Seobok's interactions. This is very cliché.
Third, Ki-Hun is actually dying and would be able to be saved using treatment developed thanks to Seobok. This pretty much simplifies the whole ethics part of the movie to "should I save the child or save myself ?"
Fourth, out of nowhere, turns out that making an immortal clone also gives him psychic powers. This is not even a plot device, this is just an excuse for actions scenes where Seobok makes stuff flies.
I mean, sure, he was created to be immortal and to be used to cure diseases, it was not the goal. But he can move things with his mind, and the whole lab and company behind are all like "oh yeah, btw this happened, moving on". Nobody wonders where it comes from, tries to study it, to understand it, to reproduce it, at least see how it works and test what he can do, or at the very very least, take measures against it. Nothing. That's totally insane. It's like it's been written in the actions scenes and not even in the story.
Action wise, it's pretty ok, and FX during the big fight at the end when Seobok goes wild with his power are great.
Plot wise there's a bit of double/triple crossing between the different entities that want to get their hands on Seobok, but it's not that interesting. The relationship between Ki-Hun and Seobok is also pretty boring, as is Seobok's little quest on the outside.
Basically I felt like I already seen this movie several times. Just change "immortal clone" by whatever important unique thing, a person being a cure for something, a spy with some critical info, a very intelligent dog, and you get the same movie.