Apr

12

2008

The Game

Posted by luna6

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Movie: The Game | 더 게임
Release Date: January 31, 2008
Country: South Korea
Director: In-ho Yun
Starring: Ha-kyun Shin, Hie-bong Byeon
Runtime: 116 Min.
Editor Rating: 4.5
Users Rating: 7.08 1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars6 Stars7 Stars8 Stars9 Stars10 Stars (13 votes)

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The influx of South Korean thrillers seem to rise by the month and the hokiness of those movies (if measured by new Korean films like “The Game”) seem to rise exponentially as well. Certainly, the setup for “the Game” requires the viewer to suspend any expectations of plausibility, while the many loopholes found in the script begs for further forgiveness from the viewer. If you can get past these two major hurdles than you can (POSSIBLY) enjoy the Game.

In “The Game,” Hui-do (Ha-kyun Shin) is a struggling artist that barely makes ends meet by drawing portraits for passersby in a park. One day, Hui-do receives a phone call from an elderly gentleman. The gentleman thanks Hui-do for helping him win a bet and invites him over to his house. Hui-do has no idea what the caller is talking about and hangs up the phone. That evening, a lady walks up to Hui-do’s apartment and introduces herself as the wife of the elderly gentleman that called. She again invites Hui-do to their home, which leaves Hui-do bewildered. Initially Hui-do refuses her request, but then believing the gentleman may want a portrait commissioned goes with the wife to their home.

thegame-main.jpgOnce they pass the gates to the couple’s enormous mansion, Hui-do realizes that these folks aren’t your average “halmuni” and “hadaboji.” When Hui-do finally meets the caller named No-Sik, the man places an obscene amount of cash in front of Hui-do. No-sik then asks Hui-do if would like to wager a bet on a game. To win the game, the person has to guess the correct gender of a random phone call that they will make. Hui-do informs No-sik that he doesn’t have anything of commensurate value to play with. No-sik then makes the odd statement, “Of course you do, you have a perfectly healthy body.” No-sik at this point believes the conversation to be too weird and walks out of their home.

On his way home, Hui-do receives a phone call from his frightened girlfriend (played by Eun-seong Lee). His girlfriend tells Hui-do that guys are again at their home and asks if he could come help. When Hui-do arrives at their home, he finds a group of loan sharks harassing his girlfriend and her mother. It just so happens that his girlfriend’s mother is in debt to the loan sharks and they want their money or else.

Hui-do then makes the fateful decision to go back to No-Sik’s home and play the game of his life. Little does he know that the game is indeed for his life.

If you think the movie’s initial premise is wacky enough, well, you just ain’t seen nothing yet. Before you can say “Trading Places” things get even more bizarre with Hui-do and No-sik actually trading bodies. How the hell do these two men exchange bodies you may ask? Well the answer is transplants (duh). Each of the men gets their respective brain and spinal cord removed and transplanted into the other persons body. If you´re wondering who could perform such an operation, well it just so happens that No-sik has employed one of the world’s greatest neurosurgeons as a personal employee in his home (uh-hunh). When all that isn’t hokey enough, then there’s No-sik’s ultimate motive: to live in a younger man’s body, while maintaining control of his company using the alter-ego of an unknown son. Meanwhile, Hui-do is left to slowly wither away in No-sik´s old decrepit body.

While the script is to the Nth degree too wacky for my tastes, there are a few positives about the movie. Once the two characters trade places, so to speak, Ha-kyun Shin and Hie-bong Byeon are then able to ham it up and mimic the other person’s prior exaggerated expressions to recognizable form. If you don’t mind the hamminess of those scenes you might find it fun to watch. On a sidenote, Ha-kyun Shin seems to be emerging as the poster child for South Korea’s black market for organ transplants and operations to fix abnormalities. From “Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance”, to “No Mercy for the Rude”, and now “the Game,” if Shin isn’t playing a character with a disability than he’s likely to be robbed of his body parts. Meanwhile, everybody´s favorite monster killing grandfather (reference the Host), Hie-bong Byeon, does a fine job as the co-star of the film. You could even say Byeon finds new life in “The Game” (sorry couldn’t resist that one). Supporting cast also features two very good actresses; one an acting vet (Hye-yeong Lee) and the other a rising young star (Eun-Seong Lee). Definitely, if you haven’t had the good fortune to check out Hye-yeong Lee in “No Blood No Tears” you certainly should. Eun-Seong Lee, if you have seen “Dasepo Naughty Girls,” will look awfully familiar to you (she played two-eyes) and if you haven’t you will recognize her after “the Game”.

But beyond the selection of the agreeable cast, other factors about “the Game” were just too absurd. The loopholes in the script certainly didn’t help this situation. As an example, when Hui-do (in No-sik´s body) turns to No-sik’s ex-wife for help, she acts like she has no knowledge of their game and wager. But, rewind to the beginning of the movie and you’ll see her legs showing (in an awkwardly composed shot), where she sits in on their initial conversation. Other problems include No-sik allowing Hui-do to leave the compound (this man could easily go public as No-sik and take claim to his insane fortune). Conversely, Hui-do’s reluctance to take over No-sik’s persona was equally absent minded. There’s also smaller annoyances, like the scene where Eun-ah (Eun-Seong Lee) waits for No-sik at his mansion on a rainy evening. Eun-ah waits until the car slowly passes the gate and the gate slowly closes, before attempting to run past the gate. In theory at least, it might have added more drama to that scene, but it sure did look silly as well.

If you don’t mind movies with over-the-top scenarios (and I mean over-the-top) and you can forgive the many loopholes found in the script, than give the Game a try. You’ll likely have a ball with it. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get past step 1 and 2 to enjoy that game.

One final remark. While watching “the Game” I couldn’t help to note Ha-kyun Shin´s eerie resemblance to a Western actor of note. Perhaps in a past life, Ha-kyun Shin and Bob Denver played the Game?

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buy The Game from YesAsia

Cast:
Ha-kyun Shin - Hui-do
Hie-bong Byeon - No-sik
Hye-yeong Lee - Hye-rin
Eun-seong Lee - Euna-ah
Hyeon-ju Son
Hang-Seon Jang

If you like this movie you may enjoy: Return, Rainbow Eyes

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2008 Movie Reviews, Korean Movies, Movies |

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5 Comments so far

  1. 5 Red023 Says: July 12, 2008

    This movie was awesome!!!

  2. 4 luna6 Says: April 18, 2008

    Hey Ed,
    I didn’t notice an accent so went back and scanned through the movie. Eun-seong Lee is the young girl, (Hui-do’s girlfriend). Her accent sounded normal to me. I think maybe you were referring to Hye-yeong Lee (the older actress / played No-sik’s wife). Her accent was odd, not sure what kind of accent she used, but it sounded North Korean to me (definitely not an expert with Korean dialects though). Would like to know myself.

  3. 3 ed Says: April 18, 2008

    oh luna6, this review left me in stitches! good point on the black market organs & shin. i expect he’ll have something ripped out and eaten in the next vampire flick too.

    by the way, what kind of accent is Eun-Seong Lee using? it’s very unusual.

  4. 2 Rico Says: April 16, 2008

    I thought the movie was very entertaining and you are right about the flaws in it, but still it was very exciting and the end leaves you puzzled again as usual in korean thrillers…

  5. 1 maximus Says: April 13, 2008

    This movie is a joke… plain silly from beginning to end.
    How such a bad scenario can go into production and get such a cast is a mystery to me.