Drama Digest
Directed by Park Jung-Bae, who hadn’t directed other feature films before this but was the assistant director of movies such as My Father, Silenced, and Miss Granny. Collector was a crime-adventure film revolving around a team of tomb raiders raiding and stealing ancient artifacts buried deep inside the ground. The group consists of actors Lee Je-Hoon, Jo Woo-Jin, Shin Hye-Sun, and Lim Won-Hee, and I must say, the casting was one of the best parts of the film. I’ll get into this deeper in a moment. The film also had a list of great supporting actors, including Song Young-Chang, Joo Jin-Mo, Lee Sung-Wook, Park Se-Wan, and Park Jin-Woo.
The Feel-Good Part
As mentioned in the intro, Collectors had an excellent cast lineup. The prominent cast members, Lee Je-Hoon, Jo Woo-Jin, Shin Hye-Sun, and Lim Won-hee, were beautiful choices for their roles, and I especially liked Jo Woo-Jin and Lim Won-hee in their characters. Jo Woo-Jin played a lot of serious parts, such as in The Battle: Roar to Victory, Money, and Default, to name a few, all of which are also great movies to watch. But to see him in a comical role in Collectors was a breath of fresh air, and he makes for a great comedic actor as well. From when he first appears on screen to the finishing scenes, he was able to deliver great laughter.
Also, Lim Won-hee was very humorous in his role as well. All in all, they are two great picks for silly character roles. As for Lee Je-Hoon, I’m not sure if his acting was exactly good or not, but it was different for sure. It was a new side to him, and there was a specific scene of him in a karaoke room that had the theater laughing out loud.
Furthermore, as diverse and dynamic as the actors were, so was the style of the film. Collectors had many different elements and genres. It had action, thrill, historical lesson, crime, humor, romance, and adventure, and it mostly did all of these pretty well. It was like a mix of The Thieves and The Outlaws, as it borrowed lots of similar elements from those two movies. I also liked that it extended upon the trailer and that the trailer wasn’t all of what the movie was about. There was more to the parts to the story than just tomb raiding Seolleung, Gangnam.
Moreover, I thought some parts didn’t make sense and were forced a little too much when watching, but in the end, they were able to answer most of the questionable parts that I had.
The Disappointing Part
Collector was a light, fun adventure film, but there wasn’t anything special about the story. Maybe because we’ve seen many movies of similar nature, such as <Indiana Jones> and <Tomb Raider>, that just did it way better, but the story felt underdeveloped and as if it just lacked something. And comparing Collector to those movies, it felt as if it was made in a similar time as those movies. In other words, it felt outdated.
Another negative I found about Collectors was that the movie was just as you’d expect it. There weren’t any real surprises, and this goes hand-in-hand with the first point, but it just didn’t have anything special about it that makes it stand out. The visuals were good, and the acting was on point, but it’s just the narrative and the progression that had me a little disappointed.
In-Depth Analysis
Desperate for money to pay off a debt, a man targets a wealthy family’s home and plans to break in and steal a valuable gem. He soon learns he picked the wrong night to carry out his plans, for a masked madman has gotten there first, imprisoned the family, and lined the mansion with deadly traps.
Overall Opinion
A collector is a harmlessly fun movie. It may not hit all the right notes, and some aspects may be glaringly unrefined, but as an ambitious debut for Park Jung-bae, it works on several levels. For those looking to relax and unwind, it may be worth giving this release a try.
