Movie: Monopoly

The story was about Kyung Ho (Yang Dong Geun), a genius computer programmer whose job was to manage the online networks for all of the banks across the country. But having such an important job didn’t really help him in the social life department. Kyung Ho was more like a Japanese otaku: living a solitary life, socially retarded, always a mockery object to one of his co-worker, and his only friends that he often talk to were his animation character figurines collection.

One day, he runs into John (Kim Sung Su), a smooth talking and certainly dashing, handsome, charming, smart, beautiful sight for the sore eyes who had nice smiles (okay, we’ve got your point, Chi ;-p) businessman who invites Kyung Ho to experience the high life with him. Kyung Ho said to himself that this man was the one he’s been waiting for, the one that was like his knight in shining armors. And even though John already had a girlfriend (Yun Ji-Min) who’s madly in love with him, he seemed to return Kyung-Ho’s passionate feelings for him.

So, Kyung Ho was seduced and agreed to help John with his master plan. By using Kyung Ho's computer skills and unlimited access, John asked him to withdraw small, unnoticeable amounts of cash from every bank account in the country---making them rich without anybody noticing the money missing. But, it turned out that even in a crime that seemed victimless like John's, there has to be a loser, or two.

Okay, that was the story, and my thoughts were:


The was no doubt, of course, about how Kim Sung Su’s making the movie a pleasant one to watch, even though he didn't leave strong enough impression in it, unlike his role as Min-Yok oppa in Full House. Somehow he didn't succeed in making me believed that he was the cold-hearted puppeteer who would use anything and anyone for his own goal.

Yang Dong-Geun in the other hand played well. His version of an otaku really worked out for me. And when he looked at John, I could feel his adoration and vulnerability to the superior male. Yun Ji-Min was sadly not alluring enough; a bit off from my idea of the enticing female who used her body to deceive.

And… for the bummer of it, the BIG problem of this movie for me was: I have saw The Usual Suspects! (Omitting the tragic tragedy when I actually SLEPT! during the last five/ten crucial minutes of this masterpiece. Yeah, I know! I must had been really tired that day to be able to do THAT!) Anyway, seeing the ending of Monopoly was a bit like seeing the ending of The Usual Suspects—not the exact copy, but still.

So, to tell you the truth, I was a bit disappointed. But still the movie wasn’t a total letdown because after all, the plotting of the beginning and midway of the film was quite entertaining.

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Casts: Yang Dong-Geun, Kim Sung-Su, Yun Ji-Min Director: Lee Hang-Bae Producer: Kim Hyeong-Jun Duration: 91 minutes Release date in South Korea: 2006/06/01 Source: www.hancinema.net