By keeping its stakes and scope small and escalating its action as the film progresses, Badland Hunters delivers the B-movie goods.
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It's kind of wild how English speaking nations have largely defined the cinematic image of the "post-apocalypse." Not just because the world as we know it ending is a concern for everyone on the planet, not just the nations with nuclear bombs that speak English, but also because the end of the world is fruitful ground for all kinds of stories. Horror movies, survival dramas and action flicks all add in novel ideas by creating a new world or creating a world of scarcity. Which brings me to Badland Hunters, a South Korean import on Netflix featuring the broad shouldered punching of Don Lee...in the post-apocalypse.
The Setup
Years into the post-apocalypse, Nam-san and his young friend Choi Ji-Wan are making ends meat in their small village by hunting mutated animals and selling the meat. But when a member of their village is kidnapped by a mad scientist, Nam-san will have to tap into a skill set he intended to leave behind to bring the girl back alive.
Post-apocalyptic stories tend to come in two varieties. The first are stories that are trying to say something about humanity through the lens of wasteland where resources are scarce and the old society has died. And the second are B-movie schlock that use the setup almost as an excuse for unhinged violence, cartoon level villains, and a general sense of excess. And if you're really clever you can try to merge the two as George Miller did with his later Mad Max films and how The Walking Dead franchise attempted to do (with notable hits and misses).
Badland Hunters is firmly in the B-movie category.
We've got a mad scientist experimenting on kids to make a serum that can cure death who's kidnapped the nicest girl in our town, so our seasoned bad-ass and his friends are going to go punch a bunch of dudes about it. So what makes this stand out?
Electric Action
As a fan of The Roundup movies, I'm always in for Don Lee to punch dudes in the face and lean into his on-screen persona of "perpetually irritated bad-ass." Like he knows he can beat you down in five seconds and he's really irritated that you're making him do it. He'd much rather every criminal he pursues turn themselves in instead of making him go through a fight he knows he'll win.
For Hunters he's doing something slightly different. Lee's Nam-san is just as tough as his other characters, and also tries to avoid fighting, but not because it all irritates him, but because certain kinds of fights bring out a monstrous side of him.
But as it becomes clear that he and his friends are going to be fighting real monsters, he'll have to unleash his own. This gives each action beat a sense of escalation as Lee takes more and more of his personal restraints off and the action goes from fist-fights, to weapon-based brawls, to shootouts and then included full blown bladed wielding martial arts brutality.
Director Heo Myung-haeng has a great feel for action, which makes sense since he's a former stunt man who also directed Lee in the latest Roundup movie, but what really stands out here is how the same kind of violence a villain in that franchise would be is being done by Lee. He's also great at spinning multiple plates in the air at once so we've got a ticking clock element over here, while Don Lee has to fight a corridor of goons over here and we've got a shootout over here.
That escalation in violence also applies to the KOs/kills that go from almost comedic to near slasher villain level towards the film's end.
That escalation in violence also applies to the KOs/kills that go from almost comedic to near slasher villain level towards the film's end.
B-Movie Villain Energy
As much as a soft-spoken villain can be a lot of fun, like Phillip Seymour Hoffman in Mission Impossible III, there's something about an over-the-top B-movie villain like Yang Gi-su played by Lee Hee-joon.
The key to a great B-movie villain is that you have to hate them, even if they have a semi-sympathetic goal, because they're that obviously villainous and despicable. So much so that you're irritated that they're not dead after their first monologue.
Yang Gi-su is a Wesker-level villain in every way. His goals, his methods, his line delivery. Everything is arch as hell. So not only do we have a very hate-worthy villain, it also means that when we see a little society he's created where no one seems to be asking questions, it's infuriating how many people have bought in.
Which makes is really satisfying to watch his manufactured world brought low by more or less three people including the one dude we've been waiting to unleash his lethal potential the whole time.
What's so funny is how lean/efficient/effective and fun this is compared to other post-apocalyptic media. Our villain is the villain because he's a literal mad scientist. He clearly lost his mind before the world fell apart and it's only gotten worse. So we're bringing in a legendary warrior to take him out. No giant lore dumps about how the world works now. No attempts to make our villain nuanced.
Just lean, efficient fun.
Just lean, efficient fun.
The Verdict: Slight, but Satisfying
By keeping its stakes and scope small and escalating its action as the film progresses, Badland Hunters delivers the B-movie goods. 7/10
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