Robomom. Cloned robomom. And she’s not so big on the “xoxo” stuff; she’s more into the “x = target acquired, FIRE!” stuff. It’s a confusing life for junior … or it would be if junior weren’t the lead scientist in getting robomom combat ready.
Jung-yi Yun (Kyung-Soo Ryu) was a war hero back in the good ol’ days of 2159 or whenever. She led the Allied Forces to victories against the Adrian Republic in the battle for shelter space away from the Earth, now uninhabitable. Unfortunately, Jung-yi Yun was lost during her final siege, but her brain was saved for cloning purposes, yay! Decades later, prototype soldier Jung_E, an android with the brain and face of Jung-yi Yun is in the testing stages by Kronoid labs.
That’s a lot to take in. For now, just know Kronoid labs: making the world a little worse through good intentions. But hey, a lot of companies are like that … and many others just don’t care. But I digress. In 2194, Dr. Seo-hyun Yun (Soo-yeon Kang) is leader of the Jung_E project, which continues to fail. “Fail” is an incredibly negative take. In an extended solo combat exercise v. a host of evil robot creations, Jung_E kicks, shoots, stabs, punctures, trips, bludgeons and blows up bot after bot after bot only to be taken out from behind when she has the drop on this roller-skating mega wildcat destructive machine for Hell … or Bell Labs, whichever still exists. Calling that a fail is like saying the Miracle on Ice Team USA failed to win every game. Technically it is true, but it’s hard to conclude that from what we know.
The best part of this film is, unfortunately, the combat sequences many of which are either pure CGI or CGI aided. I mean –as a human- you generally don’t want to attack a combat robot with
your fists; it’s not going to go the way you hope it will. But this woman with the human face has no problem using martial arts on what should amount to heavy machinery.
There are basically two things going on here: 1) the team wants to get Jung_E combat-ready (well, it already is combat ready; they just want the version that is programmed to be undefeatable) 2) The head doctor wants closure on all her mom issues. The latter is handled clumsily cuz, let’s face it, mom is a Terminator, and before that, she was Terminator terminator.
There is a little fun in Jung_E, but it mostly comes off as a poor man’s I, Robot. Cloning has been a huge movie theme of late, so it’s nice to see a variation of sorts – mom’s clone is a loving Terminator – but in retrospect, this isn’t really a great idea. I’m certain that the script was sold on CGI and combat sequences, but somebody needed a personal appeal to grab a larger audience … they almost got one.
There once was a mom Terminator
Who dispatched foes like an angry Darth Vader
Her daughter needed closure
From emotional exposure
Now mom kills it and dries tears later
Rated TV-14, 98 Minutes
Director: Sang-ho Yeon
Writer: Sang-ho Yeon
Genre: Our screwed future
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Feminists?
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Evil scientists?
