Korean Movie Reivew: Fabricated City

Posted By: Ajummah Posted On: January 1, 2018

Stats

Year Released: 2017

Genre: Action/Crime
Main Cast: Ji Chang Wook, Shim Eun Kyung, Oh Jung Se, Ahn Jae Hong, Kim Sang Ho

Holy smokes I liked this movie! I’ve been watching a lot of serial killer thriller mysteries that have been making me sad/confused so I wanted to watch something that had action and well easy to follow. Enter Fabricated City. Ji Chang Wook has been on my radar since the days of Healer so I was interested in seeing what he could do in a movie. Here’s what Asian Wiki has to say about the movie:

In real life, Kwon Yoo is unemployed, but in the virtual game world he is the best leader. Kwon Yoo is then framed for a murder. With the help of hacker Yeo-Wool, he tries to uncover the truth behind the murder case.

Review

Now I’m not a gamer but the rest of my family is, so I felt like I could see them in this movie. They talk to the people they play online with and can lose hours gaming. So let’s get into this, shall we?

#FabricatedCity is on #gooddrama. Another hard watch but I’m trying my best.

— Sara 사라 (@Young_Ajummah) December 31, 2017

Yes, this was a hard watch in the beginning. Ji Chang Wook character’s, Kwon Yoo, is basically a loser who has no intention of getting a job. His mother is a nurse who sees no wrong in him. He’s a freeloader off of her but he loves her and tries to be helpful (I guess). Someone loses their phone and calls it. He answers and says he’d deliver it. He drops off the phone, collects his payment and tells the woman that she should lock her door because she had left it unlocked while showering.
Now that’s a problem for me. As a woman, I NEVER leave my door unlocked. Not even by accident. So the warning bells went off, but I played it cool because we were just 15 minutes into the movie. The next day, he wakes up to police breaking in and the whole movie goes downhill from there. Not saying its a bad movie, but the sadness.

photo credit: asianwiki

All the evidence in the world is stacked against Kwon Yoo. He is sentenced to a maximum-security prison where they did TERRIBLE things to the inmates. As bad as an innocent man in jail is, it’s nothing to watching how his mother is handling things during all of this. She is trying so hard to get to the truth and no one seems to be interested in it. She goes to a public defender and ole boy wouldn’t even let her finish explaining what is going on, he just picks up a phone and starts a conversation while his secretary escorts the weeping mother out. OUCH.

Meanwhile, Kwon Yoo has made enemies with a gangster that hated him for some reason. He would have his goons beat him, rape him, anything to break his spirit. I’ve known the actor since he was the Ajussi from City Hunter and I really liked all the roles I’ve seen him in since then. It took a while but I got into him playing a bad guy.

I’ve never seen Ajussi in a role as a bad guy. I didn’t like it at first but he’s doing well! #FabricatedCity

— Sara 사라 (@Young_Ajummah) December 31, 2017

While Kwon Yoo was in jail, his mother dies and he loses his mind. Breaks out of prison and goes about finding out who

photo credit: koreanfilm.or.kr

framed him and why. Here’s where it gets interesting. His online crew comes to help him, led by a hacker girl who can only talk to people via phone.

The rest of the movie is full of twists and turns and while I won’t reveal the actual culprit (I was truly shocked) the way that he framed Kwon Yoo was unbelievably smart and twisted. His online gaming family really came through for him and it made me want to start playing Overwatch or World of Warcraft or something.