DIRECTED and co-written by Jung Byung-gil and co-writer Jung Byeong-sik, Carter is pretty much like a zombie film. Carter’s narrative revolves around the unravelling mystery of the lead hero’s identity.
The film opens with Carter (Joo Won) waking up in an unusual location before being pursued by several forces, including the governments of North and South Korea, as well as the CIA. He soon finds himself charged with protecting a young Korean girl named Ha-na (Kim Bo-Min), who may hold the key to rescuing the world from the DMZ Virus, a horrific zombie-like sickness.
The movie’s main selling point is that it appears to be filmed using one long take. However, the film’s single-take strategy is probably their worst mistake. For one, the editing of the multiple scenes to maintain the feeling of a single sequence is so evident that you might wonder if some scenes are being skipped. In particular, the scene where Carter is hiding behind a bus appeared fake, and made it pretty obvious that it was computer-generated.
The action scenes in Carter are a mix of intense violence with digitised blood and camera zooms through an entire area. The super shaky cams attempt to capture all the moves of the battle, and action scenes are shot against a green screen background, evoking the sensation of watching a fight against poorly delivered special effects. All of these various types of action are then patched together so badly that they hardly recreate the impression of seeing a single take.
Despite the poor editing, I would say the main character is the one and only reason to watch the film. When it came to the action and stunt scenes, Joo did an amazing job. The actor weaves his surroundings into fight sequences with incredible accuracy and deftness. Joo carries the serious operator character with easy confidence.
His character development is mostly supported by the young Kim Bo-Min, the scientist’s daughter. I would have liked to see more interactions between the two but sadly, every time she’s on screen, she’s always facing one near-death encounter after another.
Carter is a character whose narrative motive is passed to him by insignificant little characters between punch-ups, much like a computer game scene. The absence of clarity appears to be holding the film back from becoming a consistent, substance-driven story. As much as I want to love the movie, the entire film is just dizzying and violent leaves you feeling a little depleted.
Carter is now streaming on Netflix.
Director: Jung Byung-gi
Cast: Joo Won, Kim Bo-Min, Sung-Jae Lee, Camilla Belle
E-VALUE: 5
ACTING: 6
PLOT: 4
