A movie like Whasango, you either dig it or you don't. Of course I dug it: this is a cross between a manga, a wuxia movie and a Final Fantasy-style video game come to life. It's not perfect, and anyone who's not already a fan of this sort of thing is likely to be irritated by the showiness of it all. Those of us who came for the showiness will be rolling around in glee. Those of us who were bullied in high school and want vicarious revenge will also love it.
Korea is fast becoming the new hot spot for Asian cinema. Shiri and JSA were competent political thrillers-cum-action movies (although JSA was more political than action), and now with Whasango, we get a comic-book-style FX-driven event film. It's not terribly deep — in fact it's downright silly at times — but the filmmakers know it and have a grand time with the material.
Whasango takes place, I think, in something of the same kind of alternate universe as Jeunet and Caro's fantasy The City of Lost Children. Everything is low-tech/high-tech; everything's rusted metal or stained concrete, and it's raining all the time. The kids fight in the mud of the school's athletic yard and apparently demolish half the school every time they fight, and yet somehow the walls are still standing.
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