Nearly every review of this film will compare
it to Alien - for good reasons and generally quite unfavorably. Ok. Alien
is a classic, this is not. And while Alien probably took two years off of
my lifespan, this probably only a few minutes. I generally avoid these sorts
of films whether it is an alien killing people on a space ship or a monster
killing everyone on an oil rig as in this one - or a maniac with a machete
killing girls in a cabin in the woods. They are all basically the same. We
wait to see who will be killed next and wait to see who will be the survivor.
The Last Girl Trope. And it is a trope because if done well with enough good
surprise jumps and imaginative deaths it works. It must be harder and harder
to do because there have been so many of these films. Though not seen by
me. I made an exception here because The Last Girl is played by my favorite
Korean actress, Ha Ji-won.
Whether in lame cute comedies of which she has made more than a few - Sex
is Zero, 100 Days with Mr. Arrogant, Daddy-Long-Legs - or horror -
Nightmare, Phone - or a ping pong star - As One - or an action heroine -
Duelist, The Huntresses - I find her simply endearing. The Queen of Tears.
The Princess of Cute. No one cries better than Ha Ji-won. While here I wanted
to mention two TV series that she made and recommend both. Damo made in 2003
led to the film Duelist two years later directed by Lee Myung-se. In this
period series Ha Ji-won plays a servant working for the police. She turns
out to be so much more - a master martial artist and a detective. It is 14
episodes long. Lots of melodrama, lots of action. Very doable and out there
with subs.
Lately, the best thing I have been watching is another Ha Ji-won TV series
- Empress Ki from 2013. And 51 episodes! I may never finish this so I figured
I might as well squeeze it in here. It is fantastic. Way too complicated
to even begin to say what the plot is but it is another period piece in which
Ha Ji-won is born low and rises very high and it is full of court intrigue,
battles and heroism. It has twists and turns by the bucket full, a great
cast of characters, Ha Ji-won disguises herself as a man and goes to war
in the first 10 episodes and is now a servant in the palace wanting to assassinate
the Emperor. Who loved her when he thought she was a man. Who is going nuts
now that he knows she is a she. It has fantastic sets and costumes and every
episode leaves you wanting more. So I would highly recommend both of those
TV series if you enjoy period Korean shows and especially if you like Ha
Ji-won and who doesn't.
As to this film? It follows the trope and for a weenie, a wimp, a whimpering
whip-poor-will like me it had enough nervous moments. It doesn't take much.
Put a group of generally nice people in a situation where they can get no
help and cannot leave - ie an oil rig in a storm with all communication knocked
out - and a monster that is quite repulsive picking them off one by one in
these claustrophobic situations. And that is basically it. From about the
40 minute mark to the end it is the monster looking for dinner. Ha Ji-won
is Ripley. It also stars Ahn Sung-ki as one of the men running for his life.
So three reviews for the price of one. Feel free to leave a tip at the door.
