Save The Green Planet!
Image From IMDB
Save The Green Planet! (2003)
Lee Byeong-gu believes the Chairman of a massive company is an alien from Andromeda, and that him and his race are experimenting on Humans. So, naturally, he enlists the help of his girlfriend in order to kidnap the alien and put an end to the invasion… only, is Chairman Kang an alien, or has this kid just kidnapped and tortured a human being, along with many many others like him?
Save The Green Planet! has an absolutely fantastic premise, and it’s a batshit crazy film in every other way too, from the characters, to the direction, editing, and ending. The movie is nuts, but you spend most of it not sure what genre you’re even watching. (Which I wrote about for anyone on Medium Here.)
Is it a Sci-Fi? Or is it a Korean Revenge Flick? A Thriller? Horror? Torture Porn? Honestly, it could be any of the above, depending what character you are in the movie. Am I watching I Saw The Devil, or Mars Attack!
There’s plenty of times when we feel some sympathy for Byeong-gu, but he might also be a murdering insane asshole, who’s roped his naive girlfriend into his delusions. Chairman Kang isn’t exactly likeable, but when’s he’s tied to a chair in his underwear getting his head shaved so he can’t communicate with the mothership, we can’t help but feel he’s been a little hard done by.
Byeong-gu case isn’t helped when he starts offing anyone trying to stop him, and has presented exactly zero evidence throughout the entire movie, apart from electrocuting Kang and saying that amount would have killed a human.
The entire movie is a mystery, with us having to take some giant leaps of faith in order to believe our ‘protagonist.’ His story is further debunked when we start learning more about his history, and his affiliation with all the men who are supposedly aliens. Does the whole race have a grudge against him? or is it just consequence that he also blames them all for fucking him and his family over in some way? Like some kind of intergalactic grudge.
Still, by the end of the movie, we know the truth…
Save The Green Planet! is an early example of how exciting and creative Korean cinema is. How tone is adaptable in their movies, and can change depending on the scene. Nobody does it better. The movie is part Sci-Fi, Part Revenge Flick, and is sprinkled with horror elements throughout. It’s kind of savage at times, yet also funny. It really is a bit of everything… and that ending!!
