3. Save the Green Planet (2003)
A madcap blend of genre, Save the Green Planet is the kind of film that shouldn't work. Its everything but the kitchen sink approach is normally a recipe for failure but in Jang Joon-hwan's hands, it's the stuff of cinema magic. Perhaps it doesn't immediately come to mind as a revenge film, but for me its greatest impact comes the insane protagonist's traumatic background and how his demented quest is payback to a system consumed by greed that completely destroyed his life. It's no accident that he kidnaps the head of a chaebol, symbolizing the powers that be, which, through their insatiable avarice and far-reaching cronyism, preyed on the weak.
Here the revenge begins against one person, but this smoke screen soon dissipates, revealing the macro extent of the anti-hero's travails. Normally, protagonists die, loses their minds or have their memories wiped upon the completion of their quest for revenge. In Save the Green Planet however, his vengeance is born out of insanity.
Reviews and features on Korean film appear regularly on Modern Korean Cinema. For film news, external reviews, and box office analysis, take a look at the Korean Box Office Update, Korean Cinema News and the Weekly Korean Reviews, which appear weekly on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings (Korean Standard Time).
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