We’re back with a new film review and this time we watched the film ‘Jung_E’. The sci-fi film is distributed by Netflix and was recently released.
The 2023 film was written and directed by Yeon Sang-Ho who has a pretty impressive filmography under his belt. He directed epic movies like ‘Train To Busan’, and its follow-ups ‘Seoul Station’ and ‘Peninsula’. He wrote the screenplays for the series ‘Hellbound’, ‘The Cursed’ and ‘Monstrous’.
Plot
‘Jung_E’ is a science-fiction film that follows the work of scientist Yun Seo-Hyun, portrayed by the late Kang Soo-Yeon. Kang sadly passed away last year after filming. Her character is trying to create the perfect soldier who could end the forty-year-long civil war between the different districts.
The soldier she’s working on is her mother who’s being held in a coma, while they use all the data from her brain to copy it in robots who are being put in the battle that put her in said coma.
The mother is Yun Jung-Yi, played by Kim Hyun-Joo who was also in ‘Hellbound’.
Kang Soo-Yeon’s and Kim Hyun-Joo’s acting is absolutely brilliant. With Kang it was amazing to see the portrayal of the struggle of seeing her mother put through harsh scenarios and even at times torture. Kim’s acting when she realizes she’s a robot, had me on the edge of my seat.
The last prominent character is Kim Sang-Hoon, played by Ryoo Kyung-Soo who was also in ‘Itaewon Class’. At first, his behavior is cringy and weird but that all makes sense later in the film. It was acted out really well and honestly, his character had me unsettled.
Overall
The set-up of the film is pretty confusing. There’s a lot of world building that happens in the first couple of minutes that could have been expanded upon a bit more. In the film itself you don’t really see that the district is still at war.
The concept of the data with the brains is pretty interesting but maybe would have been better explained in a mini-series. I hope the director comes back to that concept either in another film or a series or even a book. It’s a pretty cool concept.
Overall, the performances were stellar, but I wish that either the film had been a bit longer with a bit more exposition or that it had been turned into a series.
If I could compare it to anything I’d say it’s ‘Westworld’ meets ‘I, Robot’.
Watch the trailer below.
