The cliché elements were put together to create a cliché work. “Narco-Saints” may be a well-made series, but it has no fresh fun.
Netflix’s original series “Narco-Saints” (directed by Yoon Jong-bin), which was first released on Sep 9th, is a Netflix series about the life-threatening journey of a civilian businessman who has no choice but to cooperate with the secret operation of the National Intelligence Service to catch the Korean drug lord who has taken control of Suriname.
This is the first series directed by Yoon Jong-bin, who helmed the films “Nameless Gangster: Rules of the Time”, “Kundo: Age of the Rampant” and “The Spy Gone North”. Aside from Ha Jung-woo, long-time movie partner of director Yoon Jong-bin, and Hwang Jung-min, who worked with Yoon Jong-bin in “The Spy Gone North”, actors Park Hae-soo, Jo Woo-jin and Yoo Yeon-seok also appeared.
“Narco-Saints”, which is about the Korean drug lord who has taken control of Suriname, was originally planned to be made into a movie, but director Yoon Jong-bin turned it into a six-episode series. “Narco-Saints”, with a total production cost of 35 billion won, has been considered one of the most anticipated Korean original series by Netflix this year.
Among them, “Narco-Saints”, which was released, has an impressive visual completed with exotic scenery. In the aftermath of COVID-19, people had regrets about overseas locations, but “Narco-Saints” completed South America’s unique lively atmosphere and exotic scenery through location filming, CG, art and costumes in Jeju Island, Jeonju and the Dominican Republic. In particular, it showed well-made production to the extent that it was impossible to distinguish between the shots in Jeju Island, Jeonju and the Dominican Republic.
In addition, the OST, which adds to the tension of the series, is one of the attractive elements of “Narco-Saints”. The power of the OST, which matches the story development, is so strong that you might want to listen to the OST only.
But that’s all the good points until now. There are many negative factors in “Narco-Saints” such as the stretching build and the story development that has already been shown in many previous Korean crime movies. First thing first, the storyline. The series shows a boring story that is not much different from the undercover theme that has already been used in many criminal movies and dramas. Director Yoon Jong-bin claimed that “the story of a civilian being put into undercover in an operation of the NIS” was what makes “Narco-Saints” different, but even this offset the difference with repeated story patterns. As the big story of Jeon Yo-hwan, who is constantly acting suspicious, and Kang In-gu, who uses various means to survive, is repeated every time, the story behind becomes predictable after the midpoint of the drama.
It is interesting to see the twisting revealed in the middle of the 5th episode, but the effect of the twist is limited. The repetitive pattern is so obvious that it is easy to understand the story even if you return 10 seconds later.
It is also regrettable that despite being premiered on Netflix, it has a low understanding of the OTT platform viewing environment. “Narco-Saints” shows a dragging story development that does not fit the viewing pattern of OTT viewers who cannot stand the boring development and take speed playback as a basis. In particular, the description of Kang In-gu’s life history, which stretches like a TMI show at the beginning of the 1st episode, is stretched more than necessary, lowering the initial immersion.
“Narco-Saints” is the first acting collaboration between Ha Jung-woo and Hwang Jung-min, but it is cliche because viewers can only see an extension of the images that these two actors have already portrayed a lot in other works. This is why many may sense that they seem to have seen this series somewhere. It is a series of details that are so obvious that it is no longer fresh as it is similar to what viewers have already seen in those actors’ filmography.
At least Jo Woo-jin and Park Hae-soo do CPR on that cliché. In particular, the impact of the character Byeon Ki-tae (played by Jo Woo-jin) is strong enough to penetrate the entire “Narco-Saints”.
The use of female characters is also regrettable. The female characters in “Narco-Saints” are used as a tool to explain Jeon Yo-hwan’s luxurious life, or are only described as the reason why Kang In-gu must return to Korea. It is a retrograde that is out of step with the current trend.
It is “Narco-Saints”, which has made such cliché elements more cliché.
Source: daum
