Tajja: Sineui son (2014) Reviews

• Better than decent, watchable more than once

  dianaarous-346402015-10-08

  (i didn't watch the first movie nor i've read the original comic) If you an overseas watcher u're not gonna appreciate the repetitive scenes of an unknown game with the same way of cheating without realizing who or how they're cheating, but the directing saves it for you, it's has an attractive way of showing and moving between plot points very smoothly and that's thanks to the excellent cinematography which is in my opinion the winner in this movie, saying that, i have to mention that the movie is more than watchable (talking from a person who isn't a fan of the korean cinema) It's not Oceans 11 but a gambling movies fan myself, i grew to consider this movie one of the fine ones, it has its problems when comparing it to global cinema, but it's more than decent and a very good gambling movie. i was tuned in all the movie long. The cast is superb, usually while watching a korean film there's some kind of secondary characters that u start to wonder what they're there for, but this movie has a very good if not great line of cast, the protagonist (TOP) didn't have much special qualities to his personality but he def has his moments, playing the honest-smart-naive protagonist with some life threatening scenes where he exceeded my expectations (as a fan too), the female lead (Se-Kyung Shin) didn't have much to say thru out the movie as an actress, but her character doesn't require any, not necessarily bad, but let's just say it's a male protagonist movie (with the lacking of some expressions when it's needed), the rest of the cast was more than excellent, even with the characters that doesn't require much they've added to their characters a lot. The plot has its holes, i didn't appreciate the pacing of the movie which i find it kind of messy and in-continuous, with a lot of 'YOU STILL ALIVE ?' kind of moments which makes the viewer a bit helpless, not to mention the parts cutting of the movie as in we don't see how the characters exactly got to where they are in such a short time, it's not a plot hole more like the directer being lazy, a simple hint of the way would be enough, i can't comment much on the story because i don't know if it's from the movie or the comic, i came to appreciate the good script and the pace of the events more than the pace of the sequences, It's definitely a movie that is worth watching more than once if you're one of those people who don't mind repeating movies, because especially when it comes to gambling movies you gotta stay focused, it took me about 3 watches to realize what exactly was going on in Oceans 11, and i wouldn't mind watching Tazza again to pick up everything i left off. Quick review as a fan of the actor Choi Seunghyun : am not interested in the korean cinema as i mentioned earlier, obviously i watched this one because of TOP, which thru out the movie i started to forget that he's in it, he was so much into character it made me look at the protagonist and not at TOP, he served better than good, left me in awe. One thing i didn't come to appreciate is some /if not most/ reviews come to mention TOP as the protagonist who has a lot of fangirls who are watching the movie because of him, ignoring reviewing his role and his skills as an actor, noting that whoever reviewed his acting were positive with him serving his roll perfectly, also a lot of wrong facts were stated and imo a false reviews on certain elements that the movie is based on which i didn't appreciate. shame, i hope more well-aware critics will watch this movie and review it

• Stylish but lacks substance, still watchable though

  KineticSeoul2015-01-16

  Another style over substance movie from Korea. Sure it's watchable but it just isn't a satisfying film. With the direction mostly being predictable and doesn't have the factors that would grip the audiences enough to even care. Maybe the fan girls of the singer Choi Seung-hyun. Who is all about trying to portray him as cool to the max. Which is alright, since there is nothing wrong with having a protagonist that tries to act cool all the time. But when the movie is just mainly about trying to appear cool and stylish, it doesn't necessarily equal a good movie. This movie goes from point A to point B to point C and for the most part it becomes a bit tedious because of the formulaic direction of it all. The main drive for this movie is the cool factor when it comes to using trickery with cards. But like I said some fan girls might really eat up the protagonist trying uber hard to appear cool and stylish. So I can only see fan girls getting attached to a character in this movie. Don't get me wrong it's a watchable movie and it at least doesn't really get dry. I also liked the colorful cinematography but overall it's mostly forgettable. I recommend checking out the first film "Tazza: The High Rollers" which is most definitely a way better film. 6.8/10

• Underground gambling

  kosmasp2017-12-28

  I read here that this is a sort of follow up to another movie. I haven't seen this other movie (made over 10 years prior to this one), but I never felt like this could not be enjoyed as a standalone. So while I can't actually tell if there are some characters who are overlapping in this and the other movie, I can say that it made sense nevertheless and it tells the story of our main protagonist. Now I don't actually know the game that is being played in this. I reckon it is very well known in South Korea and other parts of the world. So while I don't completely understand everything that is going on, that is not really necessary. For some the level of violence may not feel entirely necessary, because it is quite graphic at times. There is also a small level of nudity, if that bothers you. Other than that, this is more about the thrill of gambling/playing rather than anything else. And how to trick people "properly" - uneven in its approach it may be, but there is also a lot to enjoy