Badland Hunters - Mortality As Humanity
Thoughts On: Badland Hunters (황야, 2024)
A former fighter in post-apocalyptic Seoul must rescue a young woman from a maniacal doctor.
A powerful blast, Badland Hunters brilliantly balances action, character and levity to produce a blistering post-apocalyptic action thriller. Ma Dong-seok shines as the stoic action hero here - so much so that I wish we could have seen more from him with a more pronounced arc allowed for his character in the narrative. Badland Hunters choses, however, to have us follow him through a Raid-like plot of ever-intensifying action in which he retains his stoic persona and likeably reserved facade. And it is The Raid that Badland Hunters feels most reminiscent of with its gory, pristinely fluid action sequences and relentless, unforgiving violence. So not only does it imitate its enclosed, cut-throat structure in which we enter hell with our characters and battle out with them with no reprieve, but it has action choreography on the level of, in terms of execution, verisimilitude, blocking and creativity, what is arguably the best action film of the 10s. All of this comes together in support of a narrative that quite directly asserts that mortality is tantamount to humanity; one that displays the notion that monsters are born in the immoral quest for unearned life and heroes from the moral pursuit of preserving the lives of others. With characters who reside on the edge of destruction in their heroism, Badland Hunters epically weighs narrative and action against each other to near perfection. Quite honestly surprisingly good, I can't help but recommend Badland Hunters to any action/thriller/horror fans; not for the faint of heart.
