Barba Azul

Bluebeard was a welcomed surprise among other recent South Korean thrillers. While movies of this genre tend to be more frantic and action-packed, Bluebeard takes an U-turn from this and is quite a slow burner, focusing more on its plot and on the psychological aspects of its protagonist.

Although it has its problems, like the sudden cuts and confusing timelines, it does a pretty decent job all-around, delivering an entangling and disturbing narrative that leaves you questioning your own reality.

What can I say about Korean crime and horror movies? When it comes to plot twists and character development Hollywood isn't even close. The plot centers around a middle aged Doctor whose life is in turmoil. He seems like your ordinary guy. This is one of the best movies I have seen in awhile it kept me enthralled.

First of all: you will get your dose of Asian thriller which is what you are probably here for. However it's not a masterpiece or modern classic, but feels more like an "okay" smaller movie.

The reasons why it's not completely convincing or satisfiying have to do with the fact that it first tells one story and then a completely different story where some of the variables and personalities are changed completely. But the truth is again a little different.

This is not convincing not only because of lack of resolution but because there are no clues that could make one guess at anything beforehand or even looking back, but the stories are just told completely differently, which is kind of lazy and a cheap trick.

And all throughout the protagonist doesn't behave very reasonably, which is kind of a standard horror trope: all could have been prevented or at least been much easier if he had called the police right away (after the confession of the old man under unaesthesia or even later). Go figure. There are many stories that work that way, making one almost wonder if it's a deliberate, cheesy schtick... Certainly in some cases, however not in this one.

In this way, the story is deliberately bereft of some intelligence and self-awareness only to keep one guessing pointlessly and to keep the plot moving.

Watch this movie because a lawyer who has a website about crime recommended it.. thought it would be a great watch.. but its just an average movie with predictable not so clever twists..

Firstly I'd have to say if you like the trailer you will get something completely different. I watched this film thinking it was going to be something a little like the Hannibal series with a some cannibalism and quite a bit of blood and gore with a touch of Hannibal's class, I was dead wrong. There are twists in this film where they show you one thing and then confuse you by showing you what really happened a bit later on, this goes on throughout the movie almost right up to the end. By thought provoking I mean even 15 minutes before the ending I was still quite confused. The main drawback of Bluebeard is that it's almost 2 hours long with confusing twists but I stuck to my guns and really wanted to see the ending. I'd give Bluebeard a 6.5 but I lent towards the 7 because it has quality you'd maybe see in a film once a year. I would have given it a solid 8 out of 10 if it was half an hour shorter and wasn't as confusing as they made it. The ending is good I must say, if you have a couple hours of spare time it's worth the watch. I'll probably watch Bluebeard again in a few years, would be interesting what I think of it the second time around after seeing the "true" ending.