JUNG_E (2023)

JUNG_E (2023)

Tagline: AI Combat Warrior Will Be Unleashed

(Action, Adventure, Robots That Will Kill You) [PG-13]

Note: This movie was not given an MPAA rating, but it did end up with a TV-14 designation. PG-13 and TV-14 are essentially the same, so I think if this had come out in theaters it would have been PG-13. 

This one takes place in the near future when sea levels rose rapidly due to climate change. Humans have resorted to moving to space and ended up building 80 living quarters between the earth and the moon and spend decades moving people into them. 3 of the living quarters declare themselves “THE Adrian Republic” and soon begin attacks on earth and the other shelters. This leads to war over decades between the “Allied Force” and “The Adrian Republic”. Captain Jung Yi from Team 45 in Squadron 8, is a key top leader for the “Allied Force” who ended up in a coma on her final mission. It is believed that an experiment where they clone her brain could lead to the war's end, but the plan has its skeptics.  

One thing you are going to notice right away is that there are a ton of robots in this thing and the visuals are very solid for a movie you probably didn’t even know was coming out. I mean, we’ve got humanoid robots, skating dog-looking robots, all kinds of rad stuff and it all wants to kill you. It’s pretty great. I don’t often put what I learned from a movie in my reviews, but what I learned from this movie is that if you are going to base AI on someone’s brain, you want to give them all their body parts before you wake them up and start talking to them. I would think the last thing you want to do when you are a robot is wake up and find out you are just a head and torso. Lame. 

The design works stands out in this as the scenes where we can see the earth’s devastation from war come into play. The roads are built above the rubble and the ocean levels. The lighting and camera work are strong throughout making this a pretty amazing atheistically pleasing cinematic achievement. The movie's two main stars are Kim Hyun-joo as Jung_E and Ryu Kyung-Soo as Sang-Hoon, but I haven’t seen anything else they have been in. The acting is pretty solid, but you will need to watch this without the dub to pick up on that. 

The downside of this movie is the storyline. If you read my reviews a lot, you know that I like movies that have characters I can root for in this. This one does, but the story doesn’t revolve around them as much as I would have liked. A few of the scientists working on JUNG_E are the worst. I won’t give too much away, but one of these clowns “The Director” makes Gordon Ramsey look mild-mannered. I did really like both Jung_E and another character. Not everything she does, but it feels like she’s in it for the right reasons. I am not going to say who the other character is, because it would give away an important plot point. This thing does have some pacing issues almost slowing the more emotional parts down too much. It was good that they gave this some depth, but killing your middle frame isn’t always the best move if you don’t really draw the audience in. 

The final act in this is pretty suspenseful and engaging with at least one twist, but I wouldn’t say this is the most amazing sci-fi “robots will jack you up” flick ever. I think a better score would have fixed a lot, but the one we get makes this feel a bit more “drab” than what’s going on, on screen. 

It seems with virtually every movie that comes out these days we are going to get a part 2 and this thing sets up for that. It feels like a “part” of a series and that’s fine in a sense and annoying in another. Overall this thing gets a 5 out of 7, but it had a chance to be really really amazing and missed the boat.

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF CLIMAX STUDIO AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY.