Save The Green Planet (2005) Movie Information:

Save The Green Planet (2005) Directed by: Jang Jun-Hwang Save The Green Planet (2005) Written by: Jang Jun-Hwang Save The Green Planet (2005) Cast: Shin Ha-Gyun, Baek Yun-Shik, Hwang Jeong-Min, Lee Jae-yong, Lee Ju-hyeon, Gi Ju-bong

Save The Green Planet (2005) U.S. Distributor: Koch Lorber Films Save The Green Planet (2005) U.K. Distributor: Not available at this time

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Save The Green Planet (2005) Synopsis:

Save the Green Planet is a tilt-a-whirl genre-blender from Korea that turns film history against itself to create one of the most savage, affecting and inspired anti-violence movies ever made. This is a movie that defies all marketing labels and is exactly what it wants to be: like nothing you've ever seen before. Lee Byeong-Gu (Shin Ha-Gyun, JSA) is a sensitive, blue collar sad sack hopped up on conspiracy theories and sci-fi films whose life has been derailed by one bad break after another. Yet he knows there's no such thing as bad luck. The only thing that could have made such a mess of his life are...aliens. Nasty, disgusting aliens who have infiltrated human society. Sly aliens who are planning to destroy our planet at the next lunar eclipse. The one alien possessing the Royal Genetic Code needed to contact the Crown Prince and stop the destruction just happens to be his old boss, CEO of Yuje Chemicals, Kang Man-Shik (Baek Yun-Shik). So with the help of his circus-performer girlfriend he sets out to kidnap Kang and torture him until he confesses to his alien identity and stops the invasion. Of course, it's hard to confess to something that's just a delusion in a sick man's mind.

Save The Green Planet (2005) Movie Review:

On the surface, this outrageous Korean action-comedy is over the top madness; underneath there's both a tender drama and a fascinating rumination on humanity and the earth. That all of this works brilliantly--if you let it--is nothing short of a miracle! Living in the remote countryside, Lee (Shin) is a paranoid young man convinced the world is about to be destroyed by aliens from Andromeda. He has isolated the top spy as Kang (Baek), the CEO of a chemical corporation. So Lee and his circus tightrope-walker girlfriend (Hwang) kidnap Kang and try to get him to tell them how to save the planet from destruction. Meanwhile, two detectives are on the case: the unorthodox veteran Chu (Jae-Yong Lee) and the up-and-coming Kim (Ju-Hyeon Lee). Can Lee figure out the truth before the apocalypse? Or is he just a nutcase who needs to be taken down before he kills again?

That writer-director Jeong manages to keep us guessing about which character is the real villain right up to the very end is no mean feat. This is brilliantly inventive filmmaking that somehow walks the tightrope between full-on sci-fi adventure and psychological thriller ... and we're not sure which one it is until the final scene. Scenes are punctuated with moments of sheer horror and grisliness, silly animation and outrageous fantasies, and references to all sorts of horror and science fiction movies. And Jeong also touches ideas and themes from paranoia, oppression and bullying to loyalty, love and tolerance. OK, so it's basically gonzo mayhem from start to finish, but at least with these ideas gurgling underneath there's a subtext that makes it worth chewing on. And along the way he brilliantly combines every creation theory imaginable into a kind of coherent narrative leading up to global warming! The actors are very clever, keeping us guessing with mercurial performances that veer wildly from manic insanity to lucid thoughtfulness in the blink of an eye. And it also needs to be said that this is one of the coolest-looking movies you'll see all year--truly imaginative touches fill every scene, keeping it funny, scary and utterly gripping.

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Save The Green Planet (2005) review written by: Rich Cline