Jung_E (2023) Review

“Jung_E” Netflix Poster

Director: Yeon Sang-Ho
Cast: Kang Soo-Yeon, Kim Hyun-Joo, Ryoo Kyung-Soo, Lee Dong-Hee, Uhm Ji-Won, Han Woo-Yul, Yun Ki-Chang, Lee Ga-Kyung, Ki Hwan Cha Hee
Running Time: 100 min.

By Paul Bramhall

Watching the journey of director and screenwriter Yeon Sang-ho has been an interesting one. Originally making a name for himself through animated features like King of Pigs and The Fake, stories which were grounded in reality and tackled a range of social issues, his transition to live action movie making has taken a decidedly different direction. His last animated feature was 2015’s Seoul Station which arguably acted as the bridge to his live action ambitions. Involving a zombie outbreak amongst the homeless community who call the station home, Sang-ho incorporated a subtle social commentary into the expected chaos, making it a minor but effective piece of filmmaking.

The following year he’d make his live action debut, which would also become his breakthrough production with Train to Busan, a direct continuation of the story involving (perhaps unsurprisingly) a train that becomes overrun with zombies. 4 years later he’d unleash a 3^rd instalment in the form of Peninsula, crafting a heist flick set in a post-apocalyptic version of a Korea which has been overrun by the undead. In-between he helmed 2018’s Psychokinesis, which sees a deadbeat father acquire telekinetic powers to comedic effect, and most recently in 2021 he directed the 6-part Netflix series Hellbound, a mystery involving a trio of supernatural beasts that appear at random to attack those who have sinned. Netflix were pleased enough with the success of Hellbound that not only did they greenlight a 2^nd season, they also backed his next movie, which arrived in 2023 in the form of Jung_E.

In opening onscreen text that rivals Kim Jee-woon’s Illang: The Wolf Brigade for the sheer amount of backstory it attempts to convey, we learn it’s 2194 and that climate change has led to much of the world being made uninhabitable. Humanity has migrated into shelters built in space, however some of these shelters have broken off into their own republics, with the particularly aggressive Adrian Republic waging a war which has already been ongoing for 40 years. In a world where it’s now possible to download consciousness into AI, down on Earth they’ve been attempting to create the ultimate cyborg soldier using the consciousness of a legendary mercenary (the titular Jung_E) who’s been in a coma for the past 35 years, and is played by Kim Hyun-joo (If You Were Me 5, Shinsukki Blues). 

The project is led by her own daughter, played by Kang Soo-yeon (Hanbando, Whale Hunting 2), who in the 35 years since her mother was downed in battle has grown into a scientist specialising in the field of AI. In order to convince the higher ups in the military that the project is worth funding through to completion though, Hyun-joo needs to get past the battle simulation that recreates her final moments, and so far every attempt has failed.

Like any story involving the ethical dilemmas that come with AI, the setup for Jung_E is an interesting one, however Sang-ho seems to struggle with what exactly the end goal of his narrative is. Is it simply that Soo-yeon and the corporation she’s employed by continue to secure funding and successfully create the perfect soldier? Should we be expecting an epic finale where a clone army of Hyun-joo’s go into battle and finally put an end to the Adrian Civil War that’s been raging for 40 years? At no point during the punchy 100-minute runtime does it feel that he confidently has an answer, and as a result there’s a lack of narrative thrust which at times makes Jung_E feel considerably longer than it is.

After a perfunctory opening battle scene in which we see Hyun-joo in action, much of the next hour feels like an overly long collection of project meetings, as Soo-yeon and the company director, played with teeth grating annoyance by Ryu Kyung-soo (Broker, Pluto), try to figure out why Jung_E keeps failing. With much of the plot playing out in a limited number of rooms, most of which are digitally rendered giving them a depthless quality, there’s a confined feel to Jung_E that sits at odds with the broader scope of the story. Things aren’t helped by having Soo-yeon and Kyung-soo as the central characters who interact with each other the most, and appear to be acting in completely different movies based on their performances.

It should be mentioned that Jung_E is the last movie of Soo-yeon, who died from a brain haemorrhage in May 2022 and sadly wouldn’t get to see the final product. One of Korea’s most recognizable actresses, her frequent collaborations with director Im Kwon-taek in the likes of 1986’s The Surrogate Woman, 1989’s Come Come Come Upward, and 2010’s Hanji ensure she’ll leave a lasting legacy behind. Jung_E is actually her first role in a feature length production since Hanji (although I’d encourage anyone to seek out the entertaining short film Jury from 2012, in which she plays an exaggerated version of herself), and she puts in a rather dour and restrained performance. This is in stark contrast to Kyung-soo, who plays his role so broad it almost feels like a pantomime, comprising of incessant yelling, constant gurning, and wild gesticulation, whenever his character is onscreen (which is most of it), Jung_E becomes a tougher watch.

Kyung-soo’s character also appears to be Sang-ho’s attempt to inject some humor into proceedings, however the contrast in his performance against the poker-faced seriousness of Soo-yeon only makes such attempts fall flat, none more so than during his initial introduction the military higher ups. Sang-ho’s script does much better when it comes to conveying his ideas about the futuristic world the story populates, and while the influence of Bladerunner (with a sprinkling of Total Recall) is clear, there’s also plenty of originality on display. The options available to transfer your consciousness into a prosthetic body are wonderfully cynical, with the most expensive Option A offering full human rights, Option B offering limited rights (for example marriage is illegal), and the cheapest Option C providing full data access to any company who wishes to use it.

Sadly these ideas are only presented on purely a surface level, and nothing is done to explore or develop them further, with the narrative eventually revealing itself to be more of a traditional story of a daughter who wants the opportunity to bring her mother back. The sci-fi leanings and potential the world Sang-ho has created are left merely as window dressing, and once it becomes clear what story is really at the heart of Jung_E, events play out much as expected. 

Ironically, despite playing the title character, Kim Hyun-joo often feels like a supporting player in her own movie, so it’s a relief when she eventually let’s loose in the finale. Essentially an extended bout of taekwondo robots kicking the daylights out of each other, how much excitement audiences get out of these scenes will largely depend on how much they enjoy fight scenes crafted almost completely by CGI. I confess there’s at least some level of enjoyment to watching a bunch of cyborg boot masters go at each other rather than opt for the usual firepower, however Hyun-joo is once more pushed aside during the final slice of action, again reenforcing the feeling of her being a supporting player in her own movie.

Korean cinema continues to have a rocky relationship with the sci-fi genre, but has proven that it can do it right more than once, whether it be a big budget blockbuster like Alienoid, or a low budget indie like Hunger. While both succeeded thanks to their originality, Jung_E ultimately falls into the same trap as 2021’s Space Sweepers, spending too much time on creating an impressive visual aesthetic, and not nearly enough on the story or characters that populate it.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 4/10