"The human weapon called wolf." This is Illang: The Wolf Brigade (인랑). This South Korean science fiction action film directed by Kim Jee-woon and adapted by Kim and Jeon Cheol-hong. It is a live-action adaptation of the Japanese animated film Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade (1999). In 2029, the elite police squad Illang combats a terrorist group opposing reunification of the two Koreas. But another enemy may be lurking nearby.
In 2013, the film was announced with Kim in the director's chair and penning the script with Jeon, and financed by Union Investment Partners. Unlike Jin Roh, which is set in an alternate reality of 1950s Japan, the film sets the action in Korea and places the story ten years in the future. With a budget of 19 billion won (US$17.04 million), principal photography began in mid August 2017, and wrapped in late March 2018, with filming taking place at South Korea's filming complex Studio Cube. The militaristic Special Unit costumes were designed by Hollywood artist Vanessa Lee, who remained faithful to the designs in Jin Roh as much as possible. Before the film's South Korean release on July 25, Webtoon writer Yoon Tae-ho penned a prequel titled Illang: Prequel, which took place five years before the events of the film. It was developed by Kakao Pages and Daum Webtoon and was released on June 27, 2018, each chapter was released weekly that led up to the film's release.
The film stars Gang Dong-won, Han Hyo-joo, Jung Woo-sung, Kim Mu-yeol and Choi Min-ho. The cast gave confident performances. Gang gives Im Joong-kyung a tragic stature. He's a soldier torn between his duties and his emotions.
Cult director Kim Jee-woon delivers the goods with Illang: The Wolf Brigade, an ultra-stylish actioner. He keeps the suspense going for as long as possible with gorgeous cinematography, and bravura sequences. Consistently, astonishingly, relentlessly and ruthlessly brutal. Style may ultimately not triumph over content, but it's one hell of a fight. It fills the screen with enough show-stopping images to put an army out of work. It's carefully crafted chaos cloaked in gloriously gruesome colours. Mainstream audiences should get a kick out of this polished, often exciting militaristic action drama. But those looking for a deeper, mightier resonance would be well advised to keep their expectations in check. Several impressive action scenes sustain the tension and electrify this often hard-to-follow story. Parts of the movie are luridly enthralling, and its ugliness is strangely appealing. Yet it pushes too many buttons that eventually it becomes tiresome. I watched every frame attentively, and my mind was engaged with the action, but my heart was never in the story. While one might argue that it loses credibility and impact as it reaches further along the ledge of outrageous, tummy churning plot developments, there's no denying the turbulence it creates. It works best as a thrilling ride, a genre piece, not as a movie to gain insight into the human experience. Kim's frenzied thriller is entertaining to watch.
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