A Man Who Was Superman

 
Starring:
Jeon Ji-Hyeon, Hwang Jeong-Min, Jin Ji-Hee, Kim Tae-seong, Do Yong-goo
Directed by:
Jeong Yun-Cheol
Written by:
Yu Il-Han
Genre:
Comedy, Drama
Year:
2008
Country:
Korea
Language:
Korean
Runtime:
102mins
Media:
DVD, VCD, VHS
Rating:
5    18356_cover.jpg ¨
 
Synopsis

SONG Soo-jung (Jeon Ji-hyun) is a producer going on her third year at a small company.
Her specialty is human interest stories. She is driven to produce these
shallow stories for the sake of her ambition of one day becoming
Korea’s own Oprah Winfrey. However, she is reaching the end of what’s
left of her pride. One day, after months of not getting paid, she
leaves her office with the company camera to produce a story on a lion
apparently refusing to eat its meal. On her way, however, she comes
across a robber, but she is saved somehow by Superman in a Hawaiian
shirt. “Superman” claims he’s unable to tap into his supernatural
powers as the bad guys have placed kryptonite inside his head. However,
he doesn’t let that get in his way from helping others, from saving the
world from global warming to saving a lost puppy. Soo-jung can see this
will make a good story and, with a little tweaking and a little
fabricating, she produces the Superman Saves the World documentary
which goes on to be a ratings hit. However, the true story behind this
“Superman,” including the bullet and not the kryptonite that is lodged
in his brain, helps the frosty, calculating Soo-jung to awaken to
what’s truly important in life.

Location

Review

While the movies plot line was quite similar to others (a better version might be K-PAX played by Kevin Spacey) it did nonetheless have a raw charm around it.  I didn’t feel that this movie had much to really break it away from the others out there. The movie decided to use cutscenes and bad special effects to give Superman the premesis of having superpowers through a more allegorical way rather than a literal way that I felt might have been more effective such as when K-PAX does his little stunt in the space observatory in front of all the top heads of science.  Had there been some sort of twist in the plot like this, i think it would have added more depth to the movie.  Instead it painted a sorry, yet lovable character that ultimately we have to just shake our heads at.
I also was not impressed with Jeon Ji-hyun’s performance.  She seemed listless, tired, and seemed like she was just going through the motions of the different scenes.  After seeing “Windstruck” (2004) a few days ago, the difference in emotion and power in the acting really is apparent. In addition Superman played by Hwang Jeong-min seemed more slapstick and stupid rather than anything believable.  The best parts were most definitely when he was wrestling with the flashbacks and they showed the car accident.  I felt the attachment the movie was trying to draw between Song Soo-jung and Superman felt empty and baseless. It seemed like the plot had some holes in it as well, the abscent yet not quite boyfriend of Song Soo-jung did nothing to add anything to the story.  If you’re a fan of Jeon ji-hyun and want something to tide you over until her debut of “Blood the Vampire”, you might want to see this.  All others, i’d recommend “K-PAX”, a much better alternative.
 

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