Traffickers 2012
Starring: Im Chang-jung, Choi Daniel, Jung Ji-yoon
Plot: A passenger boat with an ongoing black-market organ-trafficking operation, and a desperate husband out to find his missing wife.
My Review and Thoughts:
This is a very gritty crime drama mixed with action. A tight jigsaw puzzle of a plot and equally entertaining acting. I found myself enjoying this movie more and more as it went along. I wasn’t sure at first but I have say the movie is a nice and very interesting film of weaving a story and most of all a thick drama that starts and still in the end lingers with a lot of confusion. Now the movie itself is something that slowly plays out in the viewer’s mind as you approach and take the story in. Its starts to develop a deeper and thicker plot as you contemplate just what the real reality of the film is.
Now this can be viewed as truly a darkened reality of life that yes does happen, it’s not a myth or an urban legend. There are people that take other peoples organs and sell them on the black market. Now what makes this movie different and might turn many off is the way the story is told. The way the film is pieced together. The plot at first makes no sense and comes off as very confusing and the viewer has no idea where the film is going. As the movie progresses and the story starts to take shape the viewer starts to understand. It’s a film you have to use your mind on. I think the best reality to the film is the jigsaw puzzle of plot that has to be painstakingly pieced together to figure just what the hell the film is trying to say.
Hong-seon Kim directed a solid film yet with confusion but also contained a dark, action crime thriller that does linger and in honesty makes you want to view it a second time. The second time you view it, I feel it comes off better in knowing and not being so utterly confused. The movie itself is way too long. Could have easily been chopped and stuck together in a more flowing way and not so confusing.
I myself enjoyed the film. Like I say for the most part was confused at first but ended up following along and finally piecing the film together. More viewings of the film will make it make it make sense. I felt maybe the director did not know where to go with the film or how to structure it. It majorly shows this reality. I feel certain people will like it more than others. Some will absolutely loathe it and others will enjoy it. I was in the middle of it all. I found myself stuck with somewhat liking and somewhat lost.
This is a South Korean film that at times seems desperate to make sense and at other times desperate to conclude in some understanding of completion.
Simply put some will like and some will not. I found the film to be interesting and dark and you the viewer enter that criminal world, hidden in the darkness. The acting was amazing. No flaw in the performances. The film is strong on that idea. The actors come off as strong and each one adds a different, believable persona, so that the viewer can follow along and also understand the ordeal taking place.
My Rating: 3 out of 5
Review by Abraham Phillips
