Squid Game

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In case you haven’t seen the intro from my entry dated 1/26/19 (it’s in my archives whenever you want to read it), I’m no longer going to review every single movie I see.  I’m going to review one, with the occasional bonus, and just give ratings for the rest from now on (unless I decide to pick it up again in the future).  You can always ask me why I gave the ratings for the films without reviews though (via comments or the e-mail addresses under the ‘About Me’ section).

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Squid Game (Season One)                                          OK/G

I finally got a chance to watch this much-discussed Netflix series and can now understand all the memes it produced.  When I first read about it before it premiered, it sounded very much like another Battle Royale or Hunger Games.  Whereas those two films involved people thrust into a scenario in which they needed to kill the other players in order to win (and ultimately survive), the contestants here aren’t forced to be there and have the option to exit several times.  The series consists of 9 episodes, each roughly around the hour-mark, save for one being a half-hour (?), involving people with massive amounts of debt competing against each other in children’s games to win money at the end.  They don’t have to kill each other, although some do, but many do die while competing in these games.  Basically, the less survivors at the end, the more money those left receive.  Oh, you probably heard amongst all the talk that this is a Korean series, so, yes, that means subtitles (a few parts are in English, but only like 10% of the entire time).  So, did I like this series that was allegedly the #1 show in 90 countries, including the U.S. and U.K. (I guess there’s enough people that don’t mind reading subtitles)?  Sure, I enjoyed a decent amount of it.  There’s suspense at times, violence at times, and a good deal of the characters make it worth watching.  It did drag at times, but not often from what I recall, and my biggest complaint would probably be the last episode, the beginning of which was rather weak, making me think the build-up in the preceding episodes lead to nothing.  Plus, something revealed at the end rendered a scene in a previous episode much less poignant; some may like how it’s all tied up though.  If you’re looking for something new to binge, even just to see what the hell all the buzz is about, give it a whirl.  As of now, a second season isn’t confirmed, but it’s up in the air, and I don’t think they should continue as popular as this season was; the novelty has already worn itself thin.  10/30/2021

Other movies I've seen and their ratings (see above):

Grave Intentions  >>>EH/OK

The Legend of Fall Creek  >>>B

Nobody Sleeps in the Woods Tonight II  >>>EH

   (Netflix; In Polish with subtitles)

---Sean O.

11/3/2021