Tag Archives: Kim Sang-joong

chingu123 2:30 pm on April 8, 2019
Tags: A New Leaf, , , Kim Sang-joong,   

A New Leaf

I was browsing and came across this older drama. I had always meant to watch it because of Kim Myun Min and thought that this would be the perfect time since I just enjoyed his performance in A Miracle We Met. Have you seen it?

I’m only a few episodes in and of course have had to endure the usual courtroom cringeworthy moments and workroom antics but that’s not why I’m here so it doesn’t bother me much. I’m here for KMM, who does an exception job (as usual) portraying the unlikeable, ambitious shark with no conscience who was stopped in his tracks due to an accident. The subsequent amnesia is, of course, the reason for the rest of the story to unfold in a totally different way than he had anticipated. He’s lost none of his courtroom brilliance but he suddenly seems to have found a conscience of sorts and is looking inward at his past actions..doesn’t seem like he likes himself very much. This begs the question: can amnesia REALLY change your whole personality like this? It’s convenient in a kdrama of course but real life? Hmmmm..

The female lead is played by Park Min Young (WHY does she get all the luck..lol??)..I’m not crazy about her so far but no doubt she will be a positive influence on our grumpy lawyer. Excellent supporting cast as well..makes me appreciate how well I’ve come to know most of these korean actors.

#a-new-leaf, #chae-jung-ahn, #kim-myung-min, #kim-sang-joong, #park-min-young

Robin N 11:40 am on June 30, 2017
Tags: Bad Guys, Jo Dong-hyuk, Kang Ye-won, Kim Sang-joong, Ma Dong-suk,   

Bad Guys – Final Impressions

While I was waiting for us to officially kick off the commentary on Man X Man, I decided to check out Park Hae-jin’s earlier action drama, Bad Guys, from 2014. I won’t say that it was time wasted, but there are plenty of one eye-rolling moments (in honor of the ridiculous hairstyling of both Park Hae-jin and Kim Sang-joong, aka evil daddy from City Hunter). Both of them sport hairdos with one eye completely obscured thanks to an overlong angled fringe of hair! Seriously, I would think it would cause vision problems!

The premise: suspended detective cooks up a plan to use 3 criminals in jail for their respective crimes (serial killer Park Hae-jin, gangster Ma Dong-suk, and contract killer Jo Dong-hyuk) to track down a serial killer (and later other criminals). They get sprung from jail for each mission with the promise of time off their sentence if they solve the crime.

I generally enjoy Ma Dong-suk, our burly muscle-bound teddybear baddie, so he was okay, though his part is fairly predictable. The best part of the show for me was Jo Dong-hyuk. He was just that little bit more compelling – his roundhouse kicks were swoon-worthy and (hallelujah) he had a very short-cropped haircut so you could enjoy his chiseled features.

Unfortunately, the woman who plays the primary female role, Kang Ye-won, is either not very good at acting, or has no idea how to play the ambitious policewoman type of role. It wasn’t exceptionally well-written, but her delivery was pathetic and annoying.

The music is also generically cheesy – swelling violins at inappropriate moments – and it’s little things like that which take you out of the moment.

All-in-all, it’s highly formulaic, repetitive, and not all that exciting, so I’m not sure why they want to do a season 2 (different cast, slightly different plot angle, so more of a spin-off), but it just goes to show that there’s something for everyone!

#bad-guys, #jo-dong-hyuk, #kang-ye-won, #kim-sang-joong, #ma-dong-suk, #park-hae-jin