Tuesday 18 July 2017

Aaron's Spoiler-Free Review of Okja

That’s right, it’s that time again where everyone in their homes yell “everyone shut the fuck up, Aaron has a new review out!” So, with that being said, let’s tuck into some of that yummy, yummy fun time and get a load of these tasty word nuggets of splendour!

Okja is the one of the latest handouts from those fantastic, relevant, family fun-loving people over at Netflix (we’ll take our cheque now, thank you), and heading in, I have to say that I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, and here’s why.

From the trailer, we see fun bubbly music, comedic scenes, and just enough action to drag you in to what looked like a family film with a moral to it. Not that there is anything wrong with that. I mean, hell, I love family films as much as the next guy! In fact, Starship Troopers is among my top ten movies! With all that said, I thought I’d go in with a totally unenveloped mind and get ready to embrace the magical journey!

Now, for those of you that don’t know, Okja is a Science Fiction/Drama about a young girl and her best friend, a specially bred Super Pig, one of twenty-six handed out all over the world to see who can raise the best super pig. However, evil, nasty corporations want to nick our lovely Okja, sending our protagonist Mija around the world to save her (this is why we don’t name them, Coral!).

So what started out at first sight as a heart-warming family fun romp actually turned out to be a blood-chilling social commentary flick about the conditions of mass-produced livestock that you want to keep the fuck away from your kids! Seriously!

Now, onto the other stuff.

There is a pretty nice line-up of actors in this movie, with one of my modern favourites, Miss Tilda Swinton, who seems to be somewhat of a shapeshifter when it comes to her unique, albeit varied, style of character acting, and still fails to disappoint here!

Jake Gyllenhaal, of whom I’m also a fan, makes his character instantly unlikable as soon as he steps on screen, but is still a great performance all the same. However, the one that really stole the show for me was Seo-Hyun Ahn, who seems to carry the audience all the way through the movie with every emotion that is humanly possible, and manages to courageously warm our hearts whilst simultaneously breaking them.

Unfortunately, I have to say, that this movie still isn’t without its hiccups. The CGI, in particular, feels quite poor considering the production’s budget. This wouldn’t normally bother me, seeing as I prefer story over effects, but when your titular character just looks like a heap of computer graphic mess, it instantly put me off and sucked some of the humanity from the film which, when it comes to the bare bones, is supposed to be this film’s message.

Alongside this, I also felt that the dialogue was weak in places, and they committed the one crime that I personally think should be punishable by crushing, which is two characters alone in a room explaining stuff they already know to one another in great depth, as though they know there is an audience watching. I fucking hate that! It’s shit and I hate it!

But if we’re going to sum up this big old beaut, I’d have to say that Okja, despite its few (not insignificant) faults, is still an all-round solid film that grabs your attention from start to finish, and is one I believe people (especially the artsy-fartsy super-liberal types, those fucking folks eh?) will be talking about for years to come.

Aaron's Spoiler-Free Rating: All round - Why is Tilda so sexy? I can’t put my finger on it, but my word I wish I could. Phwoooaaaaarrrrrr! - 7/10


Aaron James Waters is a best-selling Pulp Fiction writer who has written more books than he's actually read.

He's also the rotten apple of the group who thinks this whole Star Wars thing needs to hurry up and die already.

You can find Aaron's debut novel, Carbon Based Lifeforms on Amazon!




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