Seven Days

Decent thriller ruined by excess of zooming and panning of camera.

Seven days in which you can feel despair to find the little girl! Besides it has a very big intrigue. It would give him more points but sometimes the protagonist wasted time, although that led her to find more clues. In simple words in a film that complies, it keeps you glued to the screen for two hours and that today is very difficult!

I was eagerly anticipating the return of Kim Yoon-jin to Korean movies after her long absence due to the 'Lost' TV show. What I didn't anticipate what a tired, confused and ludicrous thriller she'd end up starring in; granted she was parachuted into the production at short notice but didn't she read the script first? Re-tread the well-worn elements of the CSI franchise, stretch them out to a painfully overwrought 2 hours, toss in so many nonsensical plot twists so as to induce migraine and you're pretty much there with 'Seven Days'. The movie starts off running, which is no bad thing (given how many kidnapping movies we'll all seen) but then proceeds to twist and turn like the coherence of a headless chicken. Single-dimension characters with 'plot function' written on their foreheads do not make for an engaging thriller and the less said about the incongruous opening title sequence that shamelessly apes 'Se7en' the better.

Korean movies can be big-scale (Taegukgi), they can be thrilling (Memories Of Murder), they can be bleak (Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance) and still be excellent. 'Seven Days' is none of these; it's a nasty, crudely executed, schizophrenically edited and cack-handedly directed piece that wastes your time and the talents of Kim Yoon-jin.

This movie has elements that are not really coherent to the main plot and just drags things out. Such as the assumption scene that looks like it clearly came of that CSI show. The director that made this movie probably watched a lot of these thriller movie and mixed a lot of them together but it's just not effective. "Midnight FM" did a better job with it's execution with the mother looking for her kidnapped daughter scenarios although this came first. It's kinda obvious the director took ideas from other thrillers although that is my assuption and investigation TV shows which is fine but it's just not well blended. And comes together pretty darn lame and generic than cool and thrilling. The acting is just over the top for some characters and not believable including the direction. Yeah, this is a movie but for a movie like this if it went in a more realistic direction it would have been a upgrade. This movie just felt really dragged out with constant uninteresting scenarios that could have been shortened down. The twist at the end was alright though actually pretty good. And I did like is how it shows how some lawyers mentality can be driven by victory over if that person they are defending is guilty or not or visa versa. The thing is the story seems to be all over the place but not for good reason. This isn't awful but there are better thrillers worth watching.

5.8/10

Director Shin-Yeon Kim has used multiple cameras to accomplish the angles that he had incorporated into the film and the result is a lot of quick flashes and cuts that are very reminiscent of a Michael Bay film, truly fast-paced with the Hollywood feel, which impress all the way. The film's premise is smart and satisfying. A mother's love and a crime for a crime is the film's main theme; and fortunately, the director focused his sights mainly on the dramatic emotions being felt by Ji-Yeon and the victim's mother, Han Suk-Hie played by veteran actress Kim Mi-Suk. The two women are the main strengths of this thriller; both have given impressive performances and credible portrayals of their characters.

It's been a while since I have had a good time watching a film and I was impressed. The acting is superb, story tight with a few twists and turns,everything is not as it seems. All in all, this Korean murder mystery had a lot to offer.