Baby's First Asian Cinema Experience

Tonight YongHee and I treated ourselves to a pre-fall semester viewing of the hottest Asian blockbuster, 괴물 (The Monster). It being an action/horror movie, I rightfully believed that the plot would be cookie-cutter and not dependent on dialogue and that I would be able to almost fully enjoy the film. Supposedly six years ago an American scientist forced his Korean intern to pour hundreds of bottles of formaldehyde down the drain because the bottles were dusty. The drain then fed the chemicals into the Han river, and mutated some frog or something into the elephant sized sea monster known as the 괴물 (GWAY-mool). When it takes several Korean citizens, including one man's daughter, and stockpiles them under one of the dozens of bridges on the Han, the man and his family set out to find the beast, kick some monster butt, and rescue his daughter. This movie reconfirms many cinematic truths.

Americans are the root of all evil

Pollution will one day bite us in the ass

Every day convenience store owners can be ultimate monster battling warriors if the script permits

Hundreds of deaths are forgivable if one orphan finds a home

Stay tuned, for in a couple of weeks YongHee and I will return to CineWorld to watch the new action flick coming to Asian theatres near you, 일본침몰 (Japan is Sinking! [finally])