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Natural City
- Genre: PostApoc
- Release Year: 2003
- Director: Byung-chun Min
- Writer: Byung-chun Min
- Running Time: 114 min
- Rating: R (violence, language, brief n
- Reviewed by: CyberpunkFuture on Fri 5 Oct 07
Official Blurb:
In the year 2080, the world's familiar national boundaries have faded, replaced by a consortium of individual nation-states connected by a massive computer network. Born into this high-tech landscape, a race of helpful human clones known as Combiners develop a process that allows them to merge their souls, wreaking havoc in a deeply divided society. Ji-tae Yu, Jae-eun Lee, Du-hong Jung and Seo Rin co-star in this Blade Runner-inspired thriller.
The Story (may contain spoilers):
Like the blurb says, this movie was a heavy nod to Blade Runner. It's set in a post-apoc future where cyborgs are incorporated into many facets of our daily lives. These cyborgs are built with a finite lifespan of three years after which they are supposed to turn themselves in for decommissioning. Sometimes, they don't always go willingly. Sometimes, they just go bad during the course of their life. That's where two of our main characters come in: R (he's so badass he only needs one letter) and Noma. R and Noma work for some police/military special division that deals in taking out rogue cyborgs. Early in the movie we see them in action attempting to eliminate renegade combat-model cyborgs which have broken into some government center and are attempting to access the populations DNA records. This leads into a fast-paced visually appealing wireworks combat sequence, the first of many more to follow throughout the movie.
Why these cyborgs were accessing DNA records isn't immediately clear, but we later learn that there is a professor that has developed the means to shift memories/personalities between cyborgs and humans. The catch is that the cyborgs and the human must have similar DNA. R knows this, and does a little black market dealing of salvaged cyborg brains to pay for research into saving his love interest, Ria, a exotic-dance model cyborg. This leads to both R and the renegade combat cyborg leader chasing this hood-rat girl named Cyon, who happens to have matching DNA needed for both the combat cyborg and Ria.
As Ria's deactivation period approaches, we see R losing it. He sacrifices his job, partners, his friendship with Noma, just to get the money to pay for research on Ria's transfer and to capture Cyon. The combat cyborg gets to Cyon first, and holes up in a government center with the necessary technology to begin transferring his consciousness. To guard his back, the combat cyborg activates an army of other combat cyborgs. Noma is tasked to take them out, and when his forces start getting obliterated, he calls and pleads with R to return and help. Having given up on everything and everyone except Ria, R is on his way offworld with a nearly nonfunctional Ria. Wrestling with his conscience, R finally returns, saves Noma, saves Cyon, saves the city, and dies in the process.
The movie as a whole is very visually appealing. Lots of good CGI and sets. The street scenes could be right from Blade Runner (dark, crowded, rainy, curbside eateries, etc). The nature of humanity is a strong theme in this movie. Ria is a cyborg, but develops real feelings of attachment to R. R is human but eschews all human contact for Ria, and is even willing to kill for her, yet regains his humanity in the end. Cyon at first despises cyborgs, and even after being abused and nearly killed by one, shows envy towards Ria for finding love, something that she wasn't able to do.
The Good and the Bad
Good::
- Good cyberpunk film. Not so much post-apoc other than they tell you “This is set post-apoc”
- Beautiful sets and imagery
- Though borrowing heavily from Blade Runner, still a good enough story that it can stand on its own
Bad:
- It’s in Korean. Not a bad thing, I just know some people don’t like subtitled movies
Rating:
- Genre Feel: 4.5
- Acting: 4
- Effects: 4.5
- Production Quality: 4
Final Scoring:
4.2 MegaTons of a possible
5 MegaTons
Personal Recommendation: Better Cyberpunk Film then PostApoc film, but enjoyable anyhow
Availablity:
Netflix Amazon
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