I have long been in love with Korean cinema, and thanks to unexpected plots, elaborate characters and original findings their thrillers and dramas can safely be referred to a separate genre, and of course I can not pass by the new film "Space Sweepers" by director and screenwriter Jo Seong-hee', which became a real breakthrough of South Korean filmmakers in the genre of adventure fiction (and the first Korean space blockbuster).
Of course, it's a shame that we couldn't see it in the theater because of the global pandemic, but the good thing is that the film appeared in the Netflix catalog, and things are looking up for it to become one of the big hits of the winter on this streaming platform.
Distant Future. As a result of an ecological disaster, Earth becomes uninhabitable and the population migrates to the planet's orbit. The UTS Corporation, whose employees and management live in an "orbital paradise" promises to terraform Mars and prepares to send the first colonizers, and the inhabitants of the planet have to work hard and pay exorbitant taxes to accomplish this mission.
The crew of the "Victory" spaceship (big Korean pop-star Song Joong-gi, beauty Kim Tae-ri and сharismatic Jin Seon-gyoo) collects space debris - spent satellites or crashed ships - and during one of the raids they find a little girl aboard an abandoned ship, which the news calls a "terrorist tool" and a high-tech bomb.
Сrew try to earn money and turn her in to government agents, but it turns out that the news lies, and the truth could lead to the discovery of a massive conspiracy that promises death to an already dying planet.
Despite the fact that the film is "sort of" composed of familiar and easy-to-read references to Joss Whedon's "Firefly", the anime "Cowboy Bebop", "Futurama" and, among other things, follows the plot scheme of the classic "Star Wars" (with the obligatory grand battle in the final), it looks just great and the two hours that it lasts literally fly by in the same breath.
Vivid characters, great special effects and sets, simple and straightforward humor, brilliantly staged action scenes with fancy effects and outrageous focus shifts and a bit of suspense make it a great entertaining movie, and you can see why it took Jo Seong-hee about 10 years to write the script.
It's a story polished to a tee with room for the traditional Korean hero going through a very traumatic situation, the funny robot saving up money (like Bender from "Futurama"), the caustic social commentary on the political situation in the country or a rather creepy version of Elon Musk.
All this patchwork quilt makes a very complete picture and, hopefully, the sequel won't keep you waiting and the brave "Victory" crew will have many more exciting adventures :)
8 out of 10
P.S. @adm what's wrong with you?? What a downvote???
