Customer Reviews

Save The Green Planet

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Save The Green Planet" is many things. It is funny, parodic and innovative. It is well made, although the story isn't terribly well constructed. It is sickeningly violent and gruesome, maddeningly cagey about its plot points, and completely and utterly insane. It's also a great movie, because of everything above.

It's important to note that this is not a film for everyone. The torture scenes are painful and plentiful, and make up the bulk of the film. They are NOT done in a slapstick fashion, as the title and opening sequence might suggest. There is repeated electroshock, stabbings, stranglings and an even gorier plot twist later on. Suffice it to say, this isn't a kids movie.

"Save The Green Planet" is about Byung Goo, a man who is even more messed up than is initially revealed when he begins saying that wealthy, successful industrialist Kang is an alien from the planet Andromeda. In fact, Byung Goo is patently psychotic, a kidnapper who cons his tightrope-dancing girlfriend into helping him carry out his paranoid schemes.

All the while, he pops powerful metamphetamines, robs banks to take care of his comatose mother, raises bees and creates manniquins. Byung Goo becomes the movie's simultaneous hero and villain, and it's clear that our sympathies are supposed to lie with this utterly screwed up loser. The odd thing is, more often than not, we do sympathize with him.

If you think that's weird enough as it is, the movie doesn't stop there. The tone swerves wildly from whacked-out comedy to brutal violence to teeth-on-edge suspense, swinging from one to the other as rapidly and disorientingly as possible. The plot is equally wobbly, the psychopathically quick and risky twists constantly threatening to lose the viewer. Some serious suspension of disbelief is required much of the time, just because it's unrealistic that several main characters haven't died from all the damage they've sustained.

But as many things that can be said against it can also be said for it. "Save the Green Planet" is a true original, a movie that only a total mind-job could make and is interesting, if not always pleasant, to watch. It helps that there are a number of entertaining references dispersed every so often to keep the viewer going, and that there's the occaisional glimmer of sanity in everything that's so terribly off-kilter. The filmmaking is as good as anything else in the film, well-executed and often joltingly original. It's a visionary film, if an undeniably strange one.

let me preface by saying that Jun-Hawn Jeong is my favorite writer/director in Korean film right now so I'm probably a little biased.

As far as presentation, Save The Green Planet is very well shot. There are some very moving shots in the film that add a very lush and colorful package for the main story where the film really shines.

In short, a disgruntled man has become convinced that his boss is an alien from the planet "Andromida" and so kidnaps him and immediatly begins to torture him. While this doesnt sound like a good film, trust me it is. In context of the IMF fallout and other economic troubles and threats of violence, the film really starts to make sense on another layer; a much more real and personal one about the fate of humanity. Honestly though, words just cannot discribe this film. It is a darkly comic mix of sci-fi, horror, HK Action, and good old fasion drama/romance. The finest moment in the film comes with a retelling of the Andromidan history of earth which makes many good emotional and moral points without overmoralising (which would be very easy to do in a film like this)

On the downside, if the translation remains unchanged since the Asian Film Festival of Dallas where I got to see this, is the poor word choice. Repition of the same word over and over really hamper to poetic nature of the screen play. Also, some parts of the movie are dreadfully over the top such as the ending which cannot even be put into words.

Very graphic violence makes this movie not for the squeemish. If you cant handel leg amputation and nails being driven through hands then I'd stay away from this. In addition, strong language and some nudity make this film definatly 18+

Overall, Save The Green Planet is an excelent film from one of the best directors working in Korean film, or film period. I highly recomend it to anyone.

On a side note, if you like this film I suggest "Marrying The Mafia" also by Jun-Hwan Jeong

I was unprepared for the level of violence in the film, and was *this close* to turning it off, but opted not to. I'm glad I didn't. STGP is about a deranged young man (Ha Kyun Shin) who is convinced that aliens from Andromeda are trying to destroy the world. His chubby girlfriend as his accomplice, he kidnaps the head of a business who he believes is the only one who can communicate with the Head Prince of Andromeda.
I wasn't sure what to expect from Save the Green Planet, but one thing I was unprepared for was the amount of violence. I'm not much into violent movies (I shut off Ichi after the first ten minutes) but I stuck with it because I love Ha Kyun Shin. In the end, it turns out the violence is for a purpose, it is not meaningless, and it makes you think twice.
Another thing I liked about this movie was the relationship between the deranged young man and his girlfriend. The girl was not your typical asian beauty that you would expect. She's chubby, homely and insecure, and the perfect match for Ha Kyun. Ha Kyun's character genuinely loves her, but does not realize how much until she is gone.
There is a message in this movie, that is very clear at the end. And if you stick with the film through the ending credits you will see clips with the main characters that will break anyone's heart.

4.5 stars

A truly unique and mind-warping film. This is kind of like Plan Nine From Outer Space if it had actually worked on every level!

I had no idea there would be moments of intense violence here, but must say that they don't detract much and in fact occasionally add to the overall psychotic weirdness of the script.

I felt like I was really seeing another culture, which is a great feeling when living in a country that uses the media to tell its citizens that it's the only country worth living in (hence we can bomb whomever we please!). No pale imitation of Hollywood films here. This guy makes Tarantino look normal, and uses much less violence to much greater effect.

The writer/director/auteur Jeong is definitely possessed by genius (and some other entities, no doubt). The plot is truly wacked, and the twists are gorgeously wrought. This is a beautifully-shot film, and on a pretty small budget. This guy deserves kudos and then some for how well he made this come together. It could have been a sick, twisted mess; instead it's a convincing look into an insane mind and and insane era of history on this ever-less-green planet. Just when it seems too weird to cope with any longer (about 90 minutes in or so) suddenly this film goes cinematically ballistic and becomes one of the wildest visual experiences you will ever have watching a film (no hyperbole, check it out!).

Highly recommended for those tired of the kool-aid pouring out of Hollywood and D.C.

Not many films are a genre unto themselves, but STGP certainly is.
Extra half-star for the wonderfully subversive girlfriend character and the special relationship she puts at at the heart of this film.

"Those sly bastards! They're the ones who made those movies!" This enigmatic remark by the main character is key to understanding this flawed but brilliant film. "Those movies" will be seen throughout the film and alongside the closing credits.

"Save the Green Planet" is much better than you might think from initial impressions. At first view, this just a violent and simple minded flick about a psychopath kidnapping and torturing a business executive. I notice several of the negative reviewers say that they stopped watching after the first ten minutes. So why should you force yourself to keep watching?

First, the Director delights in causing you think you are about to see something worse than you will. The torture scenes are relevant. Believe me, the second time you watch, you will see the torture in a completely different light. Anyway, some who refuse to watch this are the same people who send their kids to see "Passion of the Christ" on Easter Weekend. This film is not nearly as gruesome as "Passion" and it does not have an anti-Semitic or anti-Human axe to grind. The exact methods of torture relate to real world associations and the historical and psychic environment in which this movie was produced.

What was that environment? Shortly before this movie was conceived, Jose Padilla, a mentally retarded ex-convict, was arrested and confined for 13 months in windowless room with bright lights and loud music 24/7. He was arrested because a person being tortured had identified him as the terrorist mastermind behind an attack that was to be more destructive than 911. Also, about that time, an associate of the late L. Ron Hubbard revealed a secret alignment between the highest elders of the Mormon Church and a splinter group that had been expelled from Scientology after Ron's death. The purpose of this alignment was to resist "Markabians" from another galaxy who supposedly had already taken over the Original Church of Scientology as well as major corporations and financial institutions. Also about then, the Director saw the movie Misery, which he found unsatisfactory. And a rumor was going around Korean chat rooms that Leonardo Decaprio was a space alien.

Put all this together, and you have what?

When a detainee subjected to enhanced interrogation declared Jose Padilla to be a terrorist, that belief was already in the mindscape of the interrogators. But what if the detainee had revealed information completely outside their belief system? What action would they have taken if the detainee under torture had declared Padilla to be an alien from another planet?

Green planet is a mind boggling dark comedy. It draws from War of the Worlds, The War on Terror, Arthur C. Clarke, Stephen King, Kung Foo, Natural Born Killers, L. Ron Hubbard, Columbo, The Book of Mormon, Close Encounters, previous movies by Chan Wok Park and Kim Sang-Jin, and just about anything else absorbed into the director's sponge like mind.

"Those sly bastards! They're the ones who made those movies!" exclaims the villain/hero as the film opens. OTs will recognize the reference to the process of R6 implantation. Other aspects of the Xenu cosmography appear throughout, sometimes cloaked in numerology, sometimes overtly. "Those movies" are our lives as we perceive them. "Where were you if you knew everything?" he later asks. "Where were you when I was going crazy?"

The villain/hero detects aliens by an auditing technique based on passing electricity through the body. An ordinary E-Meter sends a very small electrical current through the body causing a feeling of euphoria, relief from pain, and eventually a craving for more auditing. In the real world, fluctuations in this very small current are used to identify resistances or withholds or to detect the presence of "Body Thetans", alien beings attached to the personality. In the fantasy world of this film, a super charged E-meter, (actually a high amperage welding machine) is used to detect aliens from "the planet Andromeda"!

The movie was not popular in Korea. The director made creative decisions that were commercial mistakes, however brilliant they may have been artistically. Essential information you need to understand the movie is not revealed until the closing credits. Many people left the theater thinking the movie made no sense at all. So you need to see this movie to the end. The second time you see it will be completely different. You must see this movie twice to understand. You need to understand, because you are the only one. Only you can save the Green Planet.

Save The Green Planet is one of those movies that defies explanation or classification. This film is at once twisted, thought provoking and amazing. I do think that this has been somewhat miscast as a *dark comedy*, which it could only be for the very darkest of people. There is satire here, but also gruesome realism. This is a difficult movie to watch at times, and definitely not for the squeamish or faint of heart.

This movie is not *horror* in the strictest sense of the word, but it still certainly qualifies. There are strong elements of science fiction and psychological drama, but there is also a very philosophical thriller within this film. If you are watching this only at face value, you will miss 90% of the reason why I personally was so blown away with this movie.

On the surface, our main character Byung Goo is the quintessential anti-hero. He is clearly dealing with many psychological issues on top of his paranoia and obsession with wild conspiracy theories. While normally some of his tendencies would make him unsympathetic, clues are expertly peppered through-out the script regarding the reasons for and meaning of his mental state. He focuses his sights on his boss Kang, believing him to be an alien, and enlists his girlfriend's help in undertaking his amazingly twisted and convoluted plan.

The plot to this movie is definitely non-conventional, but I think the deeper questions it makes you ask are probably more interesting than a literal telling of this story. Like, what is madness and what is sanity? Who is good and who is evil? Are the people who are there to protect us doing us good or harm? And in the end, what good is love really when the world is so overrun with hate and the pain and violence it leaves in its wake?

When I saw this recently, I couldn't believe that this movie had flown under my radar for so long. I am becoming more and more amazed by the depth and breadth of Korean film making over the past 10 years. Dare I say, they may have collectively produced the very best horror out of any nation over that time period. That's no small statement.

This movie is expertly shot, well acted and by all indications well directed. If you can stomach the gruesome torture, you will be rewarded with a film worthy of multiple viewings. This is a movie that should be added to your collection if you are a fan of psychological horror movies and thrillers.

Enjoy.

An offbeat and original film with a surprise ending. I did NOT find the violence excessive or difficult to watch. The touches of humor, the human relationships, the going back and forth between settings maintains a balance.

It's a mix of detective story, sci-fi, love story, and more with a moral-laden ending.

Must see! Would have given it 5 stars if the pacing was a little tighter.

Very rarely can it be said that when watching a film with expectations I had as high as this one, that they are met. It's a very surprisingly thing for me because I am usually set up for disappointment. The first thing I must say about SAVE THE GREEN PLANET is how truly unique it is. There are several points throughout where I would predict what would happen next - obviously being brought up on too many blockbuster movies - and the film did not fall into the ensnarement of my clichéd predictions. In fact it goes to places I really did not expect at all - freely switching between comedy, thriller, melodrama, sci-fi to even a touch of horror. Perhaps one should be apprehensive of a film that seems so undecided on what it wants to be but SAVE THE GREEN PLANET knows perfectly well what it is. It has a very strong (and valid) message and it handles its genre-leaps very skillfully - succeeding in making me cringe, laugh, saddened, thrilled and amply entertained.

I will save you the synopsis because I am sure if you're interested in seeing the movie you've already read it, but just know that the less you know about this flick the stronger the viewing experience will be. Try your best to avoid spoilers because I found out the ending beforehand and while I still very much liked the movie the ending would've been improved without this knowledge.

The acting on all parts are great. We have two major characters and two other more minor but important characters and all four play their roles very well - Ha-kyun Shin and Jeong-min Hwang especially being outstanding in their portrayal of the comic, sympathetic, violent, potentially-crazy, murderers. I would like to point out how much I enjoyed the protagonists in SAVE THE GREEN PLANET. The two aforementioned actors are the two alien hunters we're introduced to in the beginning and while they torture their victim several times I never saw them as villains. Instead I am rooting for them and in some cases empathizing with them. Other than originality - which is always a plus - the characterization is the best aspect.

If I were to get into the reasons I do not think of this movie as perfect, one would definitely include the special FX department. This movie is low-budget and this becomes blatant when you see some of its more elaborate FX scenes. While I know having flawless looking FX isn't totally necessary it definitely did detract from the film for me. The second criticism was that I felt the ending was a bit too over-the-top. You'll know what I mean if you watch, but I was enjoying it hugely up until the film's final two minutes and I was wishing what I had just seen was cut. Some of this reason was special FX related, but its not entirely so.

Although I personally loving this movie I would not recommend it carelessly. It's not meandering or puzzling, two complaints often made about foreign films, but it is too zany for some. A fan of inventive movies with an open-mind would be the best audience for a film as wacky as SAVE THE GREEN PLANET.

Despite having a couple of issues with the film in its special FX and its superfluous finale neither of these are large enough problems that I did not enjoy the movie. It's become an instant favorite of mine as well as one of the best Korean movies I've ever seen. If your taste in films borders on the "questionable" and if the movie sounds like it might be good to you - take a chance and purchase it because I am sure you won't have any regrets.

9/10

A man, with the aid of his girlfriend, and a hand written book provided by his mother, hunts down aliens in order to save the planet Earth. These aliens also just happen to be former bosses who have fired him.
This could be a cult classic if the Coen brothers would do a remake of it. It has all the quirky characters, although not that well developed. It has some plot points that should be cleaned up. I thought the plot was a spoof on Scientology.

The cover art on this one may give you a better idea of what your in for when you watch this movie, but I kind of wish I had opted for the tame cover. This is a little scary. I guess it doesn't matter now, and I'm still glad I have this movie in my collection. This movie is a strange mix of genre. It's a dark comedy, that's part thriller, part sci-fi, and all very very strange. It could've been shorter, and I think it may have gotten a little too far-out at the end, but it's still a memorable movie. I've become a follower of Korean film, and if your also interested in that, then this is a must see film. For all others, this movie has some good performances, and two of my favorite Korean actors, just be aware that this won't be everybody's cup of tea. Maybe get it on Netflix first?