9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Twisted, strange and wrong... in the best way possible., June 7, 2005
This review is from: Save the Green Planet (Tame Cover) (DVD)
"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, the box cover 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.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Shocking to the point of madness, May 23, 2005
This review is from: Save the Green Planet (Tame Cover) (DVD)
I think this movie was outrageously brilliant as the storyline was wicked. It's about a couple who believe theirs Aliens among us who look just like humans, as they feel that they are the only ones to stop this madness. They kidnap theses supposable aliens and tortured to the point of no return. This movie rocks in every way, its suspense keeps you watching this most usually story that take's you into a completely different setting all together.
Some of the scenes in this movie are unimaginable and shocking; I feel if you have seen Seven or Saw you will be able to stand the heat of this remarkable movie.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Surprise Surprise Surprise, June 26, 2010
This review is from: Save the Green Planet (Tame Cover) (DVD)
I barely know what to make of this film. It runs the gamut on so many levels and so many directions it makes your head spin. It never goes where you think it will go. It never does what you think it will do. There are moments of wonderful sweetness and moments of brutal savagery.
Others have recounted the plot so I won't waste your time. But this is not too far from Woody Harrelson's Defendor. It's the same basic idea but taken to extremes.
The key here is in the entire unexpectedness of everything. I simply did not know from moment to moment what would happen next. Every time I thought it was going a certain way it would make a neck-snapping U-Turn and go someplace else. Movies can be a bore when you know what's coming. Filmdom is replete with cookie cutter plots. Too many people want to make money doing the same old same old. This simply is not the case here. It's a total thrill ride.
The acting is great. The main characters are great. Good sets, good music. Every time you hear "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" it takes on a different meaning. And each time it is performed in the film it is rendered differently. I just cannot say enough about this. If you liked Defendor, give this a shot. If you didn't like Defendor, give this a shot. If you like left of center insanity, give this a shot.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
