What Is the Story About?
Black Knight, based on the webtoon of the same title by Lee Yun-kyun, is a dystopian action thriller where extensive air pollution has become a menace post a comet incidence. However capitalism takes its worst form yet again when the survival of people depends on the delivery from elite through drivers.
Performances?
Kim Woo Bin as ‘5-8’ plays the guarded heroic and equally dreaded driver character with panache. His character follows a predictable robinhood like hero sketch and is no Tom Hardy in Mad Max Fury Road, but is still the best part about the film simply because : towering screen presence.
After her devilishly wicked performance in Kill Boksoon, Esom churns another interesting performance in the show and also carries a better written female character.
Analysis
Black Knight is a 2023 South Korean streaming television series written and directed by Cho Ui-seok, based on Lee Yun-kyun’s webtoon titled ‘Black Knight : The Man Who Guards Me’ starring Kim Woo-bin in lead role. Writer-Director Cho Ui-Seok is coming after successful films like Master & Cold Eyes with a dystopian action thriller that seems like a marriage of Mad Max Fury Road and the latest Apple TV show Silo but yet individual in its own way.
Black Knight depicts Korean Peninsula’s dystopian future where the entire peninsula gets drastically changed and wiped out post a comet incidence. The land becomes terribly polluted and capitalism thrives, quite expectedly. The elite runs the world, guards oxygen supplies and oppresses the ones below them, segregate them with QR codes and limited supply of essential goods.
The delivery men who does supplies to the elite act as a middle layer between the elite and non-elites, as people who has exit and entry access to gated safe communities owned by the rich. 5-8 is one such delivery man but a legendary one at that. As a second coming of Robinhood, he works overtime to issue supplies to the ones with no access to these safe communities with breathable air along with other things.
He is the hero, an idol figure for many who wishes to break the cycle and gain access to the elite communities as delivery people. He drives around dusty unbreathable spaces like a cool cookie and also plans to destroy the ultimate intention of the rich oxygen supply controlling corporate to completely relocate survivors or refugees.
The set up of dystopia is quite versatile in itself. You mould the future world anyway you want, terribly, scary and unpredictably.. audience will buy it. You could add zombies, pollution, environmental degradation and what not and the basic pattern would remain the same. There will always be the rich and non-rich, the refugees will be termed dispensable by the rich and after all survival of the fittest.
Black Knight checks all these boxes but still manages to establish its story convincingly and cleverly. Survivors are tagged with QR codes, there’s a social hierarchy mapped from pre-dystopian times itself, uncountable assets like clean air, water being reserved by the rich etc. However, Black Knight holds on its own and does justice to its source material.
One of the hiccups with Black Knight is its convoluted and sometimes confusing screenplay. There is an abundance of sub-plots and the loose ends do not tie itself by the nd. There is an evident lack of emotional connect as well, something like Squid Game or even Silo had on its side.
In short, Black Knight is totally binge worthy if you dig dystopian shows and films. If you’re a fan of action, you’d dig it more. And also a droolworthy Kim Woo Bin amps up the watchable meter. Go for it.
Music and Other Departments?
Primary’s music rightly aids the desolate dystopian reality the show projects and elevates greatly choreographed chase and action set pieces. Cho Ui Seok’s writing gets dragging and sometimes overly convoluted, but still maintains the grip on the audience.
Highlights?
Ambitious Writing
Cinematography
Production Design
Stunt Choreography
Drawbacks?
Convoluted Screenplay
Abundance of Sub-plots
Lack of Emotional connect in places
Did I Enjoy It?
Yes. Definitely.
Will You Recommend It?
Yes. Especially if you’ve dug films like The Last of Us and the latest Apple TV show Silo.
Black Knight Series Review by Binged Bureau
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