Hope isn’t something you dream of in South Korea.
A teenager who has been dealt bad cards in life tries to navigate his depressing existence. He lives with his mother, who is in a relationship with a violent man. I can’t remember if they were married. This man has brought his daughter, who is the same age as the protagonist, into their home. After the protagonist gets in trouble for defending his, let’s call her, stepsister, he needs money. A kind gangster helps him out without asking for anything in return. However, the protagonist eventually joins the gangster’s crew, which only worsens his situation and future. The protagonist is a lost cause.
If you miss those depressing South Korean gangster movies where darkness suffocates you and there are no lights at the end of the tunnel, then you should watch Hopeless. This is a pitch-black movie that will suck out your soul and spit on it.
The protagonist doesn’t have much to offer the world except his kindness and consideration for others. This makes it interesting to follow his journey when he joins the gangsters and is forced to do things that will haunt him forever, going against his morals.
The problem with this movie is that the character depth is lacking, and the storytelling could have been much better. It feels like the director didn’t have enough time to tell the whole story, so he had to move the plot forward quickly. This results in many scenes lacking explanation and depth, which undermines the story.
I enjoyed the first 70 minutes of the movie. Even though the script and editing aren’t top-notch, it’s interesting to follow the protagonist and his new dangerous friend, who feels like a long-lost brother trying to take care of him and protect him. However, the protagonist is still dealing with dangerous people.
There’s a strange scene that the movie never fully explains, which sort of ruins the rest of the movie. After that, it never gets back on track. It’s too bad the filmmakers chose to complicate the protagonist’s life further in this way.
The acting is pretty good. I especially liked Song Joong-ki, who I have seen in other movies. I enjoyed his interpretation of the gangster with a heart of gold. I also found the actress who plays the stepsister of the protagonist to be quite interesting, even though she doesn’t have a long acting career. She calls herself Bibi, and although her acting towards the end can be a little uneven when she tries to pretend to be nervous and stiff, she is an actress worth keeping an eye on.
If they had worked more on the script, especially on character depth, this could have been a solid movie. It’s still a good movie that I would recommend if you like darkness, suffering, death, and more suffering. The South Koreans are specialists in this field of suffering, but the script needed more work, that’s for sure.