Hero (2023) Movie Review
There is one film that South Korean fans cannot miss in early 2023, namely Hero . This film is an adaptation of the musical of the same name which is very popular in South Korea. This film also involves director Yoon Je-kyoon, who previously succeeded in making the audience emotional through the film Ode to My Father (2014).
The synopsis for the film Hero tells the true story of An Jung-geun (Jung Sung-hwa) who is a national hero of South Korea. The focus of the time setting is in 1909 when An Jung-geun succeeded in assassinating Japan’s first Prime Minister, Itō Hirobumi. However, Jung-geun was tried as a criminal, not someone who fought for his country’s independence from the Japanese colony.
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Korean Hero movie review (2023)
The packaging of the story is too much like a theatrical performance
As Buma discussed in the opening section, Hero is a film adaptation of a musical theater. In fact, it is the first musical theater adaptation film ever produced by South Korea. However, Bumareview considers that the packaging of the story in this film is too fixated with what is in the theatrical stage.
Apart from the very simple storyline for war and political themed films, the transitions between scenes in Hero are somewhat untidy. As a result, the audience becomes quite confused, especially with the time gap from one scene to the next. This is similar to the experience of watching a theatrical performance where the movement between scenes is generally less tidy.
In addition, the musical moments in this film also feel too static. Most of the musical scenes are only in one place, as if we were watching these moments on stage. In fact, these musical moments can take advantage of camera angles or other cinematic techniques to make them look more dynamic than those on the theater stage.
Successful music hypnotizes
The packaging of the story is indeed the only drawback of this film. However, you will immediately forget about these shortcomings every time the musical scene appears in the film. Because, every music in this film has succeeded in hypnotizing us as spectators because of its epic and emotional nature.
Epic musical moments in Hero have appeared since the beginning of the film. Jung Sung-hwa and all the players in this film always manage to bring these musical moments with passion and emotion. However, according to Buma the most emotional musical performance in this film comes from Kim Go-eun who plays a woman who disguises herself as a geisha to spy on Japan.
Indeed, there are some musical moments that feel a bit cringy . However, this happened again due to the packaging of the story earlier, so that the moment it entered the musical scene felt very strange. The rest, Hero will feel like a very epic musical film, especially if you are a fan of the musical genre.
Visuals spoil the eye throughout the film
The film is set in 1909, a time before there were skyscrapers in many countries. So, it’s not surprising that throughout this film we will be able to see panoramic views of nature which are very pleasing to the eye.
The setting for this film is mostly in Russian territory, while the scenes that take place in Korea are very few. This beautiful visual also plays a role in making some of the musical scenes feel even more emotional.
Apart from the untidy packaging of the story, Hero is still an epic musical film and is worth watching on the big screen. If you are interested, you can watch this film in a number of Indonesian cinemas starting January 11, 2023.
