Review of 'JUNG_E'

jung_e.jpg In the 22nd century, Earth is no longer habitable with groups of humans living in 80 large space habitats. Several of the habitats declare themselves the Adrian Republic, attacking Earth and the other habitats leading to war. Legendary mercenary Captain Yun Jung-yi (Kim Hyun-joo) of the Allied Forces was killed in action. Dr. Yun Seo-hyun (Kang Soo-yeon) is the leader of a group of researchers hoping to to clone Jung-yi's brain, fix it's flaws and create an army of super-soldiers but for some unknown reason in every test simulation she is killed at exactly the same point. But time to complete the project is running out…

An interesting futuristic Korean shoot-em-up with a couple of mildly surprising twists. The effects are generally quite good though there are a few scenes that do not entirely convince and look more like a cheaper video game. The story is reasonable if slightly predictable though at the film's relatively short length, this is not entirely surprising.

Kang Soo-yeon is quite convincing as the generally down-beat Dr. Yun Seo-hyun, forced to face her mortality and the premature end of the JUNG_E project while Kim Hyun-joo as Yun Jung-yi herself is channelling her inner Laura Croft. Ryu Kyung-soo plays director Kim Sang-Hoon and hugely grates as his childish antics clash with the seriousness of everyone else. Perhaps meant as light relief, he is neither and is best ignored…though his character arc does have a bit of an unexpected twist.

It is ok, but not exactly amazing. Lots of guns and fighting, most times like watching someone play the same scene from a FPS over and over again – If it is your sort of thing, you will like it, if you want a bit of story then there is a bit here as well.

Rating: “Average, but who wants to be average?”

Review Date: 2023-04-18


Directed by: Sang-ho Yeon

Studio: Climax Studio

Year: 2023

Length: 98 minutes

Genre: Science Fiction

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt22352848/