Hero Yang Dong Gun

Cast
Yang Dong Gun– Kim Heuk Chul
Han Chae Ah– Yoon Yi On
Son Byung Ho– Kim Hoon
Choi Chul Ho– Kim Myung Chul
Otani Ryohei– Lee Jae In

Official trailer
Celestial Movies FB

Gist
In the year 2020 (which really isn’t too far away), the port city of Muyoung in Korea is ruins, socially and finacially with corruptions and power struggle amongst the local government.

The scene opens with a group of innocent children singing Christmas carols in a church. The next few minutes however, gives us a glimpse of the state of situation when everyone in the church- children and pastor are killed by a lone assassin.

Kim Hoon, the local mayor fighting for the election, promises to put things right if he is elected. His elder son is the chief of the local police department- a great political ally. His younger son, Heuk Chul though, seems to be a good-for-nothing, lazy playboy, who is a good fighter.

Heuk Chul ran into Yi On, a pretty police officer who is also good with her fist (Must say she looks rather cool) and is attracted by her. I guess she is one of the rare few who doens’t find him or his money attractive?

In the course of pursuing her affection, he gets caught in her police duty and during one of the sting operation, he was shot in a gun fight.

And this is where the fun begins..

Injured fatally, he was pronounced dead or was he in a coma? Hmmm.. anyway, under his father’s instruction and directive, Heuk Chul was miraculously brought back to life with an untested medical serum. With this new lease of life, he also gained superhuman powers and became indestructible.

Slwoly, he discovered the evil plots and the extent of corruption that runs deep in the city amongst the powers-that-be. Infuriated, he decided to use his new found pwers and protect the city by ridding all the evil within? Will he succeed?

Overview:

At the kind invitation of Celestial Movies, I was able to catch the first 2 epidoses Hero back-to-back. I wasn’t too sure what to expect out of the drama as I have never watched Yang Dong Gun’s dramas or movies despite him being a veteran actor.

The drama is certainly fast-paced. Within the first 2 episodes, we already found out the who, the why and the how of this “Hero”. There were plenty of thrills and chases that reportedly costs one billion won to produce. Many have called it a Korean version of ‘Batman’. The character’s background (wealthy family) and a future city in the realms of corruption and lawlessness is reminiscent of dark cape crusader. But Mooyoung is not as dark as Gotham and Heuk Chul, with his sly ‘playboy’ side is a little more fun and sleezy than Bruce Wayne. Becausee the drama is only 10 episodes, it has avoided falling into the syndrome of many K dramas by filling it with too much details and character development (normally starting with child actors). There is enough intrique and suspense to keep fans of crime/ fantasy genre happy. I hope the remaining 8 epsiodes delivers the story as well as the first 2 episodes.

The interesting aspect of this drama is- how will the he fight to end the evil when it is those closest to himthat has caused the chaos and destruction?

Whilst Yang Dong Gun doesn’t fall into my category of ‘eye candy’, he is definitely a good actor. Most of his works though not great office hits, were all critically acclaimed. The most notable would be “Ruler of your Own World” in 2002. I know quite a few of my friends highly rated it.

So if you want a show that is not your usual Korean fare, then this would be a good one to watch. It was amongst the highest rating drama within the cable channels during that time slot. Even dramasbeans has good reviews of the show.

I must say that the baddie caught my eye as did the cool looking futuristic gadgets in the drama. Would love to have one of those transparent handphone. hehe!

“Hero” has started airing on Celestial Movie from the 3rd September. Here are the viewing times:

Dates and timing:
3rd(Monday) – 7th(Friday) September – Episodes 1-5 daily, 8pm and 10.45pm (repeat telecast)
9th(Sunday) September – Episodes 1-5 marathon session, 1pm – 6pm
10th(Monday) – 14th(Friday) September – Episodes 6-10 daily, 8pm and 10.45pm (repeat telecast)
16th(Sunday) September – Episodes 6-10 marathon session, 1pm – 6pm

Channels:
Starhub channel 868
SingTel mio TV channel 52

This is Celestial Movies maiden foray into the Korean entertainment as the channel is more well know for its Hong Kong and Taiwan hits. To celebrate the occasion, there will be free viewing from 8th to 10th September. ^^ And if you are a Rain fan or a fam of K Pop, then you will be pleased to know that Celestial Movies will also be airing “Rain, The Best Show” exclusively on the it’s channel on the 23 September. It will also be showing Rain- The Best show on 23rd September.

Might be a good time to subscribe to the channel….

About tiffany