Illang: The Wolf Brigade

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Movie
German title Illang: The Wolf Brigade
Original title Illang ( 인랑 )
Country of production South Korea
original language Korean
Publishing year 2018
length 138 minutes
Rod
Director Kim Jee-woon
script Kim Jee-woon
Jeon Cheol-hong
production Kim Woo-sang
music Mowg
camera Lee Mo-gae
cut Yang Jin-mo
occupation

Illang: The Wolf Brigade (original title: 인랑 Illang , werewolf ') is a South Korean science fiction - action thriller by Kim Jee-woon from the year 2018. It is a live-action adaptation of the anime Jin-Roh by Hiroyuki Okiura and Mamoru Oshii .

scenario

In 2024 there will be more territorial conflicts between China and Japan . Japan then decides on military armament. Against this background, the two Korean states decide to reunify with a five-year transition phase in order to withstand war. The great powers of the Pacific region, China , Russia , Japan, and the USA fear a united Korea and are placing the country under sanctions. These are having an impact, the Korean people are becoming dissatisfied and resistance is building up against their own government. As a result, a terrorist organization called a "sect" is formed to fight against reunification. In order to counteract the attacks, the government is forming a new police unit, known as the “Special Unit” (also known as the Sonderkommando ). When they shot 15 innocent schoolgirls during an operation, further criticism against the government rose. The special unit hides behind their steel helmets and finds itself in a power struggle with the state security.

action

At a large demonstration on Gwanghwamun Square , the sect shows itself through bombing raids on the police. The special unit can track the fleeing members into the sewer system and hunt down some members there. Special Forces soldier Lim Joong-kyung encounters a girl who is carrying a bomb and tries to get her to surrender. When more soldiers arrive, the girl detonates the bomb in her hands. The soldiers survive, but Lim is shocked.

Lim receives a diary from his friend Han Sang-woo, which is said to have belonged to the late girl Lee Jae-hee. Since Lim was the last to see the girl alive, Han asks him to give the book to her sister. Lim meets Lee Yun-hee at the Namsan Tower . Yun-hee tells him how her sister's accession to the sect destroyed her family. Nor can she blame Lim for her death. He didn't even shoot and they were just opponents on different sides. Together they both go to the bookstore that belongs to Yun-hee. In it, Lim discovers a poster of Little Red Riding Hood . Yun-hee tells him that she saw a puppet show by Little Red Riding Hood , but a version with no happy ending . The story ends with the wolf eating Little Red Riding Hood.

When Lim leaves, Han from State Security goes to see Yun-hee. He inquires about Lim. Yun-hee is a former member of the sect that is supposed to lure Lim into a trap for the State Security. In return, she is promised a waiver of her prison sentence and an operation for her sick brother. The State Security wants to disband the special unit. The special unit has meanwhile already collected evidence that the sect was financed by the State Security and is planning a coup. They can arrest the terrorist Gu Mi-kyung and ask her to track down the leader of the sect so they can have evidence.

Yun-hee lures Lim into a trap. However, Lim sees through that State Security agents are present. An agent tries to kill Yun-hee, whereupon she joins Lim. Both managed to escape and were instructed by the Jang Jin-tae special unit instructor to go into hiding. However, they cannot achieve this because the soldier who was supposed to take them there was caught and murdered by the state security. The new instruction is to go into the sewer with Yun-hee. Yun-hee turns on the tracking device through which the State Security can track them down.

In the sewer they both meet Jang Jin-tae. He knows about Yun-hee's true identity and expected that the State Security would lead her to them. He then surprises Yun-hee by telling her that Lim is not only a member of the special unit, but also belongs to the infamous sub-organization Illang , the Wolf Brigade. Lim is supposed to switch off the state security in the sewer system. With the help of the Wolf Brigade battle suit, he manages to kill everyone, including his former friend Han.

As a sect member and spy for the State Security, Lim is now supposed to kill Yun-hee as well. However, he refuses because he sees no need for her death. He opposes instructor Jang Jin-tae. In the end, everyone stays alive. In the last scene a boy from a train sees a man sitting on a bench. Yun-hee sits down next to her brother while the train leaves. When she looks out the window, she sees Lim.

publication

Illang: The Wolf Brigade opened in South Korean cinemas on July 25, 2018. Netflix secured the international rights to the film and released the film on October 19, 2018.

To promote the film, a special event with director and leading actress took place on July 18, 2018, one week before its release, in the Times Square Mall in Yeongdeungpo-gu ( Seoul , South Korea ).

In the lead up to the film, Yoon Tae-ho released a webtoon entitled Illang: Prequel , which takes place five years before the events of the film. From June 27, 2018, new chapters were published weekly through Kakao Pages and Daum Webtoon until the film was released.

reception

The film had 897,548 viewers in South Korea and is therefore a box office flop. Especially in comparison to the historical thriller The Age of Shadows (2016), which was also produced by Warner Bros. Korea and directed by Kim Jee-woon but recorded 7.5 million moviegoers, Illang comes off disappointingly.

Jason Bechervaise from Screendaily calls the film ambitious, but too melodramatic. In addition, director Kim tries with Illang to offer the niche work Jin-Roh to a wide audience, which was not shown at the box office. However, the record of making Seoul the Noir style some weaknesses of the film well again. According to Variety's Peter Debruge , the opening of the film is overwhelming and, in the gloomy depiction of the near future, is reminiscent of films from the 1980s such as Tim Burton's Batman (1989) or RoboCop (1987). However, the plot is confusing and does not reach the quality of the promising first half of the film in the end. In addition, the film has cult potential due to the spectacular setting . Shim Sun-ah from Yonhap comes to a similar conclusion as Debruge: The film is spectacular and makes you thoughtful, but then gets lost. Kim Hyung-seok concludes that Kim Jee-woon is not the right director for films with a complex plot.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Patrick Frater: Netflix Picks Up Kim Jee-woon's 'Wolf Brigade' (EXCLUSIVE). In: Variety . July 17, 2018, accessed October 21, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Park Pan-seok: '인랑' 강동원 · 한효주, 역시 프로 .. 열애설 흔들림 없었다. In: Naver . Osen, July 19, 2018; accessed October 21, 2018 (Korean).
  3. ^ Pierce Conran: MOSS, INSIDE MEN Writer Pens ILLANG: PREQUEL Webtoon. YOON Tae-ho Writes Lead-in for KIM Jee-woon's Upcoming SF Drama. In: Korean Film Biz Zone. July 10, 2018, accessed October 21, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Illang: The Wolf Brigade (2018). In: Korean Film Biz Zone. Retrieved October 23, 2018 .
  5. ↑ a b c Peter Debruge: Busan Film Review: 'Illang: The Wolf Brigade'. Director Kim Jee-woon transplants the Japanese anime to a unified Korea, where steel-plated super-cops make a strong impression, then disappear for most of the movie. In: Variety . October 7, 2018, accessed October 18, 2018 .
  6. ↑ Jin Min-ji: How 'Illang' went from blockbuster to major box office flop: Warner Bros. Korea's summer release failed to please audiences. In: Korea JoongAng Daily . August 24, 2018, accessed October 18, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Jason Bechervaise: 'Illang: The Wolf Brigade': Review. In: Screendaily. July 27, 2018, accessed October 18, 2018 .
  8. ↑ Shim Sun-ah: (Movie Review) 'Illang: The Wolf Brigade' eventually loses its way. In: Yonhap . July 24, 2018, accessed October 18, 2018 .
  9. ↑ Jin Min-ji: Despite star power, 'Illang' can't meet high expectations: Local adaptation of a Japanese hit film fails to satisfy movie critics. In: Korea JoongAng Daily . July 27, 2018, accessed October 18, 2018 .