Natural City

I would put this as one of the most beautiful science fiction films ever made ...

As much as this is an homage to Blade Runner it also draws heavily from the Matrix and HK Cop films. Like a great hip hop record or a Tarantino film, it weaves familiar elements together in a way that not only seems fresh but gives you a new appreciation for the original sources.

One of the things I loved most about this movie was its look and in particular the way the CGI was integrated almost seamlessly with 'real' live action cinematography. As opposed to many western sci-fi movies, for example the new Star Wars movies or I, Robot where the actors are shot on a green screen and then composted over a completely synthetic background.

Natural City might use a shot of a cityscape and then drop in CGI elements like a craft flying over. They employ another technique which was used a lot in 70's scifi films like Logan's Run - inter cutting SFX scenes with live action that was just shot on real, futuristic-looking locations. This really balances out the artificiality of the effects and shows that a little can go a long way ...

The result is an extremely realistic look and feel to the movie. I believe that this is what the world could look like in 2080.

Natural City's only real flaw, in my eyes, is that it does tend to get slow in a few key spots. But every shot in this film is so gorgeous it's hard to know where they would cut.

All in all I really enjoyed this film and would highly recommend it.

Natural city

While Natural city gets often compared to blade runner, I think it is a comparison is not quite fair to Blade runner. Don't get me wrong I don't think NC is a bad movie, but it is not the ultra paranoid Phillip K dick style future noir. The film looks great and shows a dirty, unhappy view of korea's future like Blade runner.

I admit I got a little lost and bored at times but the film has great visuals and for the most part the story is a interesting take on cyborgs robots and the like. The gun battles and the various martial arts action scenes were well done(except for a minor overuse of Slo-Mo).

Worth a rental. If you're a Sci-FI addict it should be on your list.

I read through the reviews here before I watched it and didn't know what to expect: a classic or a bummer? In my view, the truth is in the middle and the average vote of currently 5.8 seems justified. "Natural City" is by no means a movie on the "Blade Runner" level. Take away the futuristic eye-candy, and what is left? A man is in love with a cyborg lady without really telling us why, how or what for. Real character development is not happening! He gets in a conflict with his friend over the cyborgs which leads to gratuitous violence with faces covered in blood like in a million action flicks before. Meanwhile, a girl plants flowers in a roof garden to provide a contrast to the post-war destruction scenery around. "Natural City" doesn't really have any new ideas, it simply spices up the collection of familiar trade marks with "Matrix/Equilibrium Next Generation" visuals which is fine for web 2.0 designers but not for the art of film making. Everybody who truly believes this is going to be a classic should go watch "Soylent Green" where it was the actors and the story that mattered.

Still, "Natural City" is a movie that has its touching or stunning moments. Actually, I liked that explanations were not provided in many cases. One might argue whether it is a deliberate attempt to open it for interpretation or simply plot holes. But I think, if we once really caught a glimpse of the year 2080, there would be much that we won't comprehend, either. You know how silly SF movies of the 1950s seem today because they applied manners, moral standards and ways of conversation that are outdated. In this respect, I'm curious what people will think of "Natural City" in the future. Keep it in the archive.

I don't understand the low rating of this picture.

THIS is what science fiction SHOULD be!!! Too much sci-fi has become pretty people in black PVC or leather bondage gear blowing things up in 360 slow-mo. Natural City actually sits back and tells a tells a story without bludgeoning us with Matrix-lite effects.

This is as much a sad tale of love denied as it is a renegade cop, a cyborg, a "hooker with(out) a heart of gold" and the military-industrial complex of a the future.

YES, the story is derivative of Blade Runner. Most, if not all, sci-fi of today is derivative of either Blade Runner, Mad Max or 1984. Move on. Enjoy the good stuff when it happens.

LOVED the fact that they did not stomp all over the subtleties of this movie with the standard industrial metal soundtrack that is de riguer in much sci-fi. The piano score was haunting and kept us grounded in R's sorrow for his pending loss.

Come into Natural City with an open mind and no Blade Runner hang-ups and you will be rewarded with a very good film. Not since Minority Report have we seen sci-fi done with this much respect paid to thinking grown ups.

NATURAL CITY (2003) Directed by Min Byong-chan. Arresting productions design and state-of-the-art visual effects can't disguise a dull plot that borrows so liberally from BLADE RUNNER and GHOST IN THE SHELL that the word 'tribute' could warrant legal action. To date, this is probably the most beautiful looking AND most vapid Korean science fiction film to come down the pipeline, and one feels almost guilty in knocking it in spite of the undeniable amount of craftsmanship that went into it. Set in a futuristic megacity in the year 2080, it's about a sullen policeman (Yu Ji-tae) who wants to extend the life of his beautiful android dancer Ria (Seo Rin) by finding a new host for her brain-chip. As she's nearing her sell-by date, which requires her complete destruction, this puts him at odds with fellow cop Noma (Yun Chan) and evil android Roy Batty...err...evil uber-android Jeon Doo-hong, who has plans on accessing android headquarters and programming a massive robot uprising. Flying police cars, slow-floating dirigibles with gigantic projection screens, endlessly vertical skyscrapers forming a mountain of technology in a post-war wasteland.

We've seen all this before. And indeed, it all looks amazing here. But what's missing is any depth of character to make the story more convincing. The leading man is a complete cipher whose motivations for prolonging the life of his robot are never explained or explored, and while his robot clearly has functional difficulties with her impending doom, Seo underplays these scenes to a fault, generating neither tension nor sympathy, only indifference about her fate. To give credit where it's due, Korean is one of the few Asian countries - and one of the few countries outside of America and Japan - even attempting such high-minded science-fiction films as this, WONDERFUL DAYS, 2009 LOST MEMORIES, and YESTERDAY. One hopes that one day, the quality of screen writing will improve to meet the superb level of technical artistry already apparent on screen. The 2-disc Special Edition DVD of this film has tonnes of interesting (unsubtitled) materials for those inspired by its technical merits, including an art gallery, a sketch gallery (tres Syd Mead), a 45 minute TV doc with plenty of behind the scenes and FX footage, a 24 minute DVD doc with more of the same, a 14 minute interview with the lead effects man, an 8.5 minute interview with the animator of the opening credits, 6 minutes of deleted scenes, an English language Cannes trailer that pumps up the action quotient, cast interviews and a 20 minute walking tour of the films locations with the director and lead actor. A cool easter egg can be found on disc 2 by arrowing up on the main menu to highlight '*REC'. This will give you access to what appears to be a 7 minute, effects laden music video about the plight of a country devastated by a nuclear attack, which almost feels like the backstory to the main feature. 5.