Well, THIS Looks Interesting

by Robert Koehler on August 12, 2009

in Korean Culture

You seen the trailer for “Laundry Warrior” yet?

That’s a hell of a trailer. To borrow Hugh Hewitt‘s terminology, it’s a double wide with a porch.

Tagged as: Korean film, Laundry Warrior

{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Granfalloon August 12, 2009 at 3:04 pm: I am cautiously optimistic. I’ve been following the production of this flick for a few weeks now. Some of the trailer’s scenes look fantastic; others look like exactly the sort of silliness that makes Americans wary of foreign cinema.*

First time director AND writer. That’s always a roll of the dice. On the plus side, Jang Dong-kun is excellent, but then again, even he couldn’t save that previous piece of Korean cinematic hubris called “Typhoon.”

If anything, though, the more Korean cross-over cinema in English, the better.
2 vince August 12, 2009 at 3:16 pm: I love trailers like that. I now saw the Cliff Notes version of the movie and don’t have to bother sitting through the whole 100 minutes.

However, it sure looks more like a video game than a movie…
3 Adams-awry August 12, 2009 at 3:18 pm: My goodness. I thought I was on acid watching that. How does this tosh ever get funding?

And as for the “Cowboys are tough, but Korean Samurai are tougher” shit, I mean, really? I’m not even going to steal this one from mininova…
4 letsbook August 12, 2009 at 3:42 pm: Shit just got shit y’all
5 mkaplan August 12, 2009 at 4:09 pm: Garbage.

I feel like I’ve seen that movie a thousand times before, each time with different special effects.

Jesus, how many permutations of the same basic movie can they make?
6 timmy August 12, 2009 at 4:21 pm: Well, at least it looks 10 times better than Ninja Assassins.
7 shakuhachi August 12, 2009 at 4:24 pm: Have to agree. I am not even going to torrent this shite.
8 Robert Koehler August 12, 2009 at 4:26 pm: It’s got Geoffrey Rush — how bad can it be?
9 babotaengi August 12, 2009 at 9:35 pm: Didn’t you not see Pirates of the Carribean? A second bullet to the head I don’t need.
10 Bipolar Mindscrew August 12, 2009 at 10:18 pm: Nothing could be worse than Die Hard 4, Rocky 4, Indiana Jones 4, Terminator 4… and after Transformers 1 & 2, GI Joe, Mattel can go to hell. I’d rather not get started on comic book movies but Marvel sucks and DS somewhat less sucks…

You criticize this Korean version of a Jet Li/Jackie Chan movie… and yet, I’d be willing to bet that most of you watched at least 4 of the movies in my list. Every action/adventure movie with CGI is brain poison.
11 babotaengi August 13, 2009 at 12:07 am: I watched ‘em all, but I regretted doing so every time (except for Rocky 4 – that was pretty good until the long, boring climactic fight).
12 babotaengi August 13, 2009 at 12:09 am: Oh, I tell a lie – I didn’t watch Transformers 2 (once bitten…) and ain’t bothering with GI Joe (“I’ll get you, Cobra!” – no thanks).
13 WangKon936 August 13, 2009 at 3:01 am: I liked Transformers 1 and 2. Well, truth be told I was totally hammered when I saw Transformers 2. A buddy of mine and I shared a bottle of whiskey at a bar and we just thought it was a great idea to see a brain dead movie like Transformers.

Interesting side note. There was an old guy sitting nearby… I guess 45 years old or so… and he was crying during the scene when Optimus Prime got a blazing sword stuck into his mechanical guts. I did a double take, but crying he was (a slow, painful sobbing). My buddy and I laughed our guts out. Dude, it’s a movie! And it’s not like based on a true story or anything either!
14 Mizar5 August 13, 2009 at 5:38 am: You must have been hammered. A 45-year-old guy looked old to you…
15 Maximus2008 August 13, 2009 at 9:09 am: “There was an old guy sitting nearby… I guess 45 years old or so…”

You’re what, an 18yo kid ???
16 dry August 13, 2009 at 9:34 am: #13: No amount of alcohol can save the plot and dialogue of Transformers 2, and the movie’s length simply outweighed any remote positive thing that could be said about the CGI. I’m gonna just knee-jerk towards the idea that you very much enjoyed the premise of Megan Fox liking the character that is Sam.
17 WangKon936 August 13, 2009 at 9:48 am: # 15,

Okay, old is relative. 12 is too old for a kiddie ride outside a supermarket, but it’s too young to drive a car. 45 is old for a movie like Transformers but it’s young for say the President of the United States.
18 Maximus2008 August 13, 2009 at 9:58 am: Again, why 45 is old for Transformers? He was a teenager back then when Transformers was a hit on TV. He could have liked by then, while his friends were saying “let’s get drunk, we are teenagers now”. So what? He may like sci-fi, he may have been following the genre way before 2001, a Space Odissey, Star Trek and such, saw the transformation of it when merging with action, and then he is into Transformers (an Asimov reader, perhaps?).

Don’t judge. And it’s good the dude at 45 is watching Transformers. He may be open minded, and may as well be into a lot of other stuff that people at the same age are not (probably, they are watching dramas and doing nothing else). Let’s see in a few years who still has good control of his/her brain, is still active, not screwed up because of not provoking his/her mind with different stuff, etc…

I wish I get to 45 still watching not only Transformers, but still enjoying simple things like action movies and such.
19 WeikuBoy August 13, 2009 at 10:44 am: “There was an old guy sitting nearby… I guess 45 years old or so… and he was crying …”

Might’ve just been a coincidence. He was probably wondering why he was in a theater in Korea, alone in the dark at the age of 45, watching a kids movie like Transformers, wondering where his $5 went — wondering where his life went, and why Koreans are so hung up about age and all of the cute agashis recoil in horror at the idea of romance with anyone more than 3 years older than them, while none of the ajummas, especially the ones who are separated or divorced, speaks a word of English

Or not. I’m not bitter.

(Yes, I’m just trying to be funny.)
20 commander August 13, 2009 at 10:58 am: Maybe Maximus2008 was the crying “old guy”… methinks he doth protest too much.
21 Maximus2008 August 13, 2009 at 11:04 am: @20
I saw that coming, for sure…

But no, wasn’t me. I’m 35 (probably VERY old for the standards here)…
22 Mizar5 August 13, 2009 at 11:46 am: WeikuBoy, that was hilarious. Thanks.
23 WangKon936 August 13, 2009 at 11:49 am: To everybody here,

I don’t think 45 is old but I do think that it’s too old to be crying over the death of a non-human fictional character who was based on some 80′s kiddie cartoon show.

The End.
24 Granfalloon August 13, 2009 at 12:00 pm: I’m pretty sure the original “Transformers” cartoon had more character depth and emotional drama than Michael Bay’s movies. Not sure about “G.I.Joe” (never watched the cartoon).

That adults seem to enjoy them as anything more than pretty, flashing lights is a bit disturbing to me. Sort of like all the 30-something-going-on-40-something rock bands who write lyrics that only high school students relate to. Pop culture is fucked up, ya’ll.
25 NetizenKim August 18, 2009 at 2:48 am: Whoever came up with the title “laundry warrior” needs to get their head examined.

It’s got Geoffrey Rush — how bad can it be?

Who the heck is Geoffrey Rush?