NETFLIX KINGDOM JU JI-HOON

Kingdom 2 - The second season of the Korean hit series on Netflix!

A zombie outbreak in South Korea for 16 centuries

When I wrote after the first season that Game of Thrones fans should look at the Korean zombie series, the comments were mostly negative. There was more reason to write it. One is a lavish production. Every single episode of The Kingdom series didn't cost less than $ 1.8 million. The story does not bear much resemblance, but if you count the court intrigues, swords, and evil rulers - clans? But now let's leave GoT aside, so let's just focus on The Kingdom series.

 

Due to the financial needs of filming a Kingdom, the production of Sigenueol, a mega-popular Korean series, was discontinued. This all because of the needs of a series that has not yet come out to TV viewers. That they were not mistaken is witnessed by positive reactions from critics and audiences around the world. After all, Netflix has ordered the second season of a Kingdom, while the first has not aired yet. When you look at it, you won't consider it a bold move. The series is a bomb. Just when you think that in the many-times-seen horror sub-genre, zombie outbreak, there's nothing more to say. There are certainly is. Admittedly, the first season was a surprise to many, so it may be a little more exciting than the second season. The surprise factor, though, is everything not shared by the first and second seasons of The Kingdom series. Everything else is there. From a casting led by the awesome Ju Ji-hoon in the role of Crown Prince Lee Chang. To the excellent villain Ryu Seung-ryong in the role of Cho Hak-ju, the leader of the Haewon Cho clan. To recall the first season in a few sentences.

 

At the end of the 16th century, after the Japanese invasion of Korea, Minister Cho Hak-ju tried to bring his Cho clan to power through intrigues. This goes to the expense of Crown Prince Lee Chang, whose father the Emperor is terminally ill. Cho Hak-ju tries to keep Tsar alive until his daughter Queen Consort Cho - starring Hye Jun-kim, gives birth to a son. The future Emperor of the Cho clan. Prince Lee Chang escapes to the south of the country, but things don't go right there. The south is under a zombie outbreak. The prince fights for himself and his people against two terrible enemies. Imperial armies, and armies of zombies. Everything seems to be against him.

 

13 March 2020 Netflix has aired the second season of Korea's mega-hit Kingdom. The series has six episodes, just like the first season. Kim Seon-hun is the director of the first and second seasons. The team is exactly the same. The result is the same. The excellent second season. Indeed, there are no surprise factors. But there is more action than in the first season. The second season begins as a direct sequel to the first season. The big battle with zombies in which humans are forced to retreat is almost the entire first episode.

 

Prince Lee Chang is facing a terrible attack by a large zombie army. Zombies have been active throughout the day since it got cold. Clearly, the heat disturbed them, not daylight. People are getting less, and zombies are getting more. Every fallen man crosses the side of the living dead. Seo-bi - starring Doona Bae, who knows the secret origin of zombies, finds himself in the capital city of the Hangyang empire. Lee Chang must head to the capital to take command of the Imperial army. The shattered remains of his supporters are not enough to keep the huge army of the non-dead.

 

Minister Cho Hak is bitten by a zombie in one of the many battles with the tide of the undead. Fortunately for him, Seo-bi finds a way to heal the bitten person. She ends up in a dungeon, and Lee Chang has to fight battles with him again instead of with zombies. Soon a zombie invasion brings the battle to Hangyang Imperial City.

 

Season two brings us battle after battle. There is no time for cliffhangers, no intrigues, stories, and court feasts. Each episode is an adrenaline rush to the senses. The extras have hundreds and hundreds, so the CGI effects are almost invisible. This is why Korean historical costume drama is such a spectacle. There are no digital tricks, no blue screens. Beautiful landscapes, scenes full of people who are really fighting. The main actors run more than they walk. Everything is so fast-paced that you don't get to grasp everything that's going on in the frame. It's not one-on-one, like in Western cinemas. Each fight scene has at least 50 people in the frame. Those few scenes where there is no action are at the service of the story. No idle. If you've watched the Korean blockbuster Train to Busan- another zombie movie, you know what I'm talking about.

 

The series is based on the comic strip Kingdom of The Gods. It has these comic book velocities in the series itself, as well as stylized violence. But in a Korean way. Quite different from Hollywood-like movies and series. Different from The Walking Dead. Slow creatures that you tear apart like cones into bowling, with a simple blow to the head. These Korean zombies are a roaring crowd of fast-paced, frightening creatures that surge in waves. In each fight scene, there are at least 50 zombies at the full speed.

 

The second season has no surprise factors, but it's exciting and visually perfect. It's hard to list everything that's going on. You might remember the battle with the White Walkers. So multiply by six. But that is not the end. Season three is almost certainly ahead. If the first season ended with zombies running on a human shield, the second season in the last scene reveals what to expect in season three. They say the movie is as good as the villain is. The third season of the Kingdom series has something to say if it's an unwritten rule. We can not wait.

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