Yesterday (2002) User Reviews

Enjoyable but flawed

[Sr_Moreno · 6/10 · 25 August 2003]

If you go to see Yesterday expecting a Hollywood style science-fiction blockbuster you're bound to be disappointed. This film has a slow and morbid pace and tension and comparisons to Minority Report are misguided. A better comparison is Se7en, although it's considerably less gory.

The version I saw was sub-titled and was clearly translated by someone for whom English wasn't their first language. There are a number of lines in the film that simply don't make sense. At one point the detective asks for a "posterior analysis" to be made, which brought a smile to my face. During the credits sequence at the beginning the dialogue translations are mixed with the credits causing considerable confusion. These faults don't generally impede enjoyment of the film but they don't help.

It's certainly worth watching this film if you enjoy more intelligent science-fiction, but I can't see it making a wider impact.

Failed to excite me

[Antagonisten · 4/10 · 27 March 2005]

Asian cinema has progressed in many ways. Nowadays the production values of for instance South Korean films are almost as high as for standard Hollywood-fare. But still there is some way to go before the quality in all aspects rise up to what we've become accustomed to.

"Yesterday" is basically your standard Asian techno-thriller. Flashy visuals, nice special effects and flawless technical quality throughout. But like many other Asian movies i feel the script would have needed another run-through. The story of missing children being used for experimental research, and the connections to modern-day homicides, is just too messy. I never got a feel for the characters, never got a feel for the story. Also the actors feel a bit low on expressions, which doesn't really contribute when i already had trouble feeling anything at all about the movie. Simply put, this is not engaging enough.

And another problem that is also tied to the script is the fact that the movie is overly long. At just over two hours it stretches the script very thin. Since there are a few really nice action scenes, and a lot of promise in the visuals and general stylish look of the movie, i would like to see a more compressed story. Maybe twenty minutes shorter and some of the slower less meaningful scenes could have been cut out. In general i think both pace and story would have benefited from that.

In the end this movie failed to excite me. While it looked nice (and sounded nice) it didn't have much to offer in the way of plot or character development. And in the end nice visuals and a hefty budget is not enough to keep me entertained for over two hours. With a better script and less drawn-out filling scenes this could have been good. Now it's hardly mediocre. I rate it 4/10.

Too fast and too slow

[niklas-ringdahl · 4/10 · 31 October 2005]

It begins with a action-filled sequence that really wakes your interest and curiosity, but the questions that arise in the beginning doesn't get answered, only more and more questions and that is very annoying. The first hour is spent not knowing a lot at a very high speed, and the rest of the film has too many slow spots where the background and the plot is revealed only by dialog, breaking the tempo and flow down to a very low pace.

At several times I wondered whether I really began watching at the beginning, or if this was a sequel to a film where all the characters were introduced... Although, refreshing to see a Korean film, not a complete waste.

Lost me quickly, and I could never really get back into it

[CharteredStreets · 23 August 2003]

If you fully understand the complexities of the plot of `Yesterday,' a new Korean sci-fi action movie, you deserve some sort of medal.

I'll try my best, though. There is a serial killer on the loose killing scientists. This leads to an investigation led by Seok (Seung-woo Kim), who accidentally shoots his kidnapped son, who was trying to escape the clutches of the killer. Later, the chief of police is kidnapped, and her daughter joins in the investigation. She is well trained and ambitious, like Clarice Starling without the emotion.

That is only the film's set up. Later (or earlier. or somewhere along the line) we are introduced to the concept of cloning, and the rights of the clones. This concept, as well as the visual appearance of the futuristic city that the film takes place in, is inspired, to say the least, by `Blade Runner,' which had androids instead of clones.

The film is directed by Yun-Su Jeon, a man with a good eye for visuals; the film looks fine. The problem with the film, it seems, is it tries to do to much; there is a lot of action, shooting and explosions, sometimes during battles where I was not even entirely sure who was fighting whom, and why they were bothering, and there is also a look at cloning in the future, as well as a sort of study into the personalities of the main characters. While I admire films that mix intelligence and ideas with action (`Minority Report,' the best film of last year, is a fine example), I think I need to have some time to breathe, and I also need to be able to know exactly what is going on. Keeping up with the plot is even more exhausting than keeping up with the action.

`Yesterday' is set mainly in 2020, in a unified Korea. It begins though, in 1990, where the scientists who are later to be killed off are picked for a special project, and some children disappear. The film starts off with a fight scene that made me think of the madness of `Black Hawk Down.' The confusion was part of the point of `Black Hawk Down,' here it is a distraction that takes much of the thrill (and all of the suspense) from the action scenes.

`Yesterday' requires a lot of attention and thought to follow the story, but it isn't really worth it. Yun Su-Jeon, I'm sure, has good films in him; what he needs to do now is find a story that he can explore more fully, without losing the audience. The film has split audiences in Korea. I do not hate it, but I did not particularly enjoy the experience of watching it; I ended up admiring aspects of it rather than enjoying it. I was looking at it rather than watching it.

While I think there could be a perfectly good character study about clones set in the future, or a perfectly good action films set in a world with clones and complex characters, the film tries to be both, never quite choosing what its main ambition is. Is it just trying to tell a story in its own way? Maybe, and maybe you'll enjoy its story, if you can keep up. I tried my best to, but didn't find the experience particularly rewarding.

** (out of 5)

So bland as to be utterly forgettable

[Vartiainen · 3/10 · 24 March 2018]

Set in the not so distant future on the Korean Peninsula, Yesterday tells a crime thriller story. The chief of the police gets kidnapped right in front of his daughter. A special investigations unit is put on the case and slowly an old mystery starts to emerge, as well as a mysterious link between the daughter and the leader of the SI unit.

The biggest problem this film has is its utter incapability to engage its viewers. Things happen on the screen, but you're constantly lost in time and space. Scenes don't flow smoothly from one to another, you're never quite sure where anything is happening. The dialogues are also more than a bit stunted and none of the characters are given any meaningful backstory. Most of them are there to look cool and pull off stunts. The two main leads (played by Seung-woo Kim and Yunjin Kim) have to be given something, but even that is so cardboard textbook that you instantly file it away and forget about it.

And actually, that's another huge problem. It's been a few days after I saw the film and I literally had to go and read the plot summary to even remember what this movie was about. I can remember four characters (the film had dozens all told), perhaps a scene or two, and after reading the summary, I'm sort of clear on what happened. Can't remember the ending at all, though.

If I had to find one thing to praise... The special effects were okay, as were some of the stunts, the first scene had some promise and it honestly looked like some of the actors were honestly trying. The script just wouldn't let them.

So yeah, hard skip for this one.

Interesting But Uninteresting

[NIXFLIX-DOT-COM · 5/10 · 28 August 2003]

YESTERDAY is one of the many South Korean movies that have stepped up to the plate visually speaking, but its biggest obstacle is that it's still a South Korean movie. The result is extremely well done special effects coupled with low-energy acting more suitable for dramas, not a sci-fi movie about exploding buildings and wild gunfights.

The movie works on an action level, because the actors are not required to "act". When the drama kicks in, the movie is so low-energy that it's hard to sit through the scenes without falling asleep.

A good idea ruined by some unsuitable acting style. Some more urgency would have helped tremendously. In the end, the blame goes to the director, who failed to inform his actors that they were in a sci-fi film, not an arthouse drama.

5 out of 10

(go to www.nixflix.com for a more detailed review of this movie or reviews of other foreign films)

An incomprehensible science fiction movie about serial killers and cloning

[miikkamiikka · 1/10 · 19 October 2009]

I might be exceptionally stupid, but I didn't understand this movie at all! The plot had something to do with serial killers, cloning and genetic engineering, but the main thing might have been something else. I don't know, since I couldn't follow for longer than the first couple of minutes.

The characters weren't properly introduced and there were too many of them (plus their clothes and hairs looked ridiculous). Most of the characters seemed out of place. They were quirky, but no reason was given for their quirkiness. Sooner or later they died, so one didn't have to wonder about them anymore. The main characters were the dullest characters in the movie, which was very annoying. They too were apparently genetically modified, but that seemed to be a completely irrelevant subplot (though I probably missed something important concerning that...)

My advice, don't watch the movie!

good, fun futuristic action

[yoav-1 · 7/10 · 25 March 2003]

it seems south korea has become the major market for good, fun action movies. we've seen a couple of good ones since "shiri" came along. "yesterday" is no exception. tight, powerful action sequences bound together by a futuristic plot, with art direction a la "blade runner" make this movie a contender for one of the best action films of the past years. "yesterday" has the sense to be contemporary, thrilling and without resolving to unnecessary subplots - it is clean, pure fun. lovers of asian action cinema- you will not be disappointed!!!

Confusing

[Enchorde · 4/10 · 24 January 2009]

Recap: 30 years after a top secret research project was shut down, a team of the Special Investigation tries to deal with the aftermath. Someone with intimate knowledge about it kidnaps and murders anyone who was involved (and the lead SI agent's son - well, almost anyway). The SI unit has little leads until the Chief of Police is kidnapped and his daughter, a police and scientist herself, seem to set them in the right direction.

As the investigation continues the team discovers how complicated investigations and life can be were cloning, cryo-treatment and genetic design is possible.

Comments: Does the recap sound confusing? It did to me, but with a lot of potential. But in the end the movie did not help to resolve anything, instead leaving me more confused than ever. Or, quite frankly, I lost interest somewhere along the movie and don't really care that I didn't catch anything.

One problem, the main problem in my opinion is that a lot, seems to be most of it actually, of the dialog is carried out by radio or phone. It is also disconnected from what is shown, so it's very hard to know who says what, and who belongs to which group. To meddle with matters even more the dialog changes between using names and numbers without really saying who is who. And as a last addition there appears to be some cuts in time as the dialog runs along, giving the appearance of some people being able to be everywhere at once.

In effect, I wasn't sure who was firing at who and why, in the movies shoot-outs. There are a few of them, but not sure why really. Quite nicely done though.

Visually, it is very beautiful. Mostly set in very dark and damp places there are some few bright futuristic specks of light and neon, and advanced buildings. Also we have some ghostly images of memories intertwine with the present. Very nicely done, purely visually, too. But it did not help explain or straighten anything. Only confused me more as you had to keep track of what did happen in the present and what did happen in the past.

Not really bad, but can't really recommend it anyway.

4/10

Good, but could have been better

[yojimbo999 · 6/10 · 1 May 2003]

YESTERDAY is a South Korean movie, so right away you know that despite the flashy visuals and the high production values that most of the characters, especially the lead villain and the lead female, will walk around and talk like they just came from a funeral. I mean, this IS South Korea cinema, folks. If the entire industry is known for one thing, it's their drama, which because of its inherently understate and amazingly low-energy, most WEsterners mistake for subtlety. It's NOT subtlety, it's just WHO THEY ARE.

Which is why YESTERDAY isn't any better than just good. Despite the BLADE RUNNER-esque background and high octane action, the movie is so lacking in energy, that you wonder why they bother with these type of "HOllywood blockbuster" movies in the first place. I mean, can't these actors muster up SOME energy for the role? If you compare YESTERDAY to, say, MINORITY REPORT, it's like comparing a funeral (YESTERDAY) to MINORITY REPORT (roller coaster ride). Do you see the difference? And both movies are pretty much great to look at!

So there you go. If you want a thrill ride actioner, go with Hollywood. If you want a slow, "it's real because everyone looks like they're about to commit suicide" drama, then watch a South Korean movie. But a South Korean sci-fi Actioner? Forget about it!

Quite good action and nice tension throughout

[madzab · 8/10 · 14 August 2004]

I just rented the movie and I hadn't heard about it before. It's nice to see some quite realistic yet action-packed shootout. Notice that you can actually see the bullets making holes in walls (you don't even see that in most Hollywood movies since they seem to think bullets will just bounce off brick-walls...). Some quite good acting and a complex yet sense-making plot (if you can't understand it, watch it again or wait until you've finished high-school..).

You see a quite capable SWAT-team slowly getting decimated all the while hunting a psychotic killer who seems to be constantly hiring new thugs for support too. Most of the background story unfolds only in the end but it makes sense and the tension generated stays fresh throughout. Good work.

Enjoyable and tense, but quite slow, and somewhat flawed.

[Zombified_660 · 7/10 · 11 September 2007]

Yesterday is an entertaining sci-fi movie. It's very near to being an excellent film, and in fact is a vast improvement on many recent Hollywood sci-fi flicks. It works really well because the science-fiction takes a back seat to realism and characters.

Yesterday is well acted by the entire cast. It's slow moving, and has a lot more in common with say Heat or Pulp Fiction than your I-Robots or your Serenity's, which may put people off a little. Characters reveal themselves in totality gradually, avoiding you from being able to figure out the entire plot machinations like you could in a more obvious movie.

Action in the movie though sparse is terrific, handled brilliantly from a point of direction and filled with power and excitement. Very few outlandish special effects are used outside of explosions, all of which serves to ground it further in reality.

It's unfortunate then that the film is written in such a way that whenever something big needs to happen, reality gets thrown out of the window. The last twenty minutes turn the film into some over-the-top slasher type premise as serial-killer Goliath systematically demolishes the entire cast other than the two key leads. This is honestly intensely frustrating, as the movie bears the unfortunate hallmark of some Asian cinema that the leads are a little difficult to relate to. It's nowhere near as bad as the earlier Natural City, where I seriously didn't care about anybody in the entire cast, but the main female lead is really bland, and consistently out-shined by the other key female character May, who is preposterously killed off in a frustratingly stupid fashion in the final sequences, almost like Wash in Serenity. You'll watch this and think 'God, you could've sent her off a bit better than that, she would've easily dodged that'. I can't help but feel she got written out so the audience would concentrate on the central lead instead.

This is a good movie, and outside of the way it happens, the end is satisfying. If it wasn't for the slightly desperate final 20 minutes then this could've been a contender for one of the best films I've watched this year. Unfortunately this movie spends 100 minutes as a police thriller then turns into a cheesy slasher movie in the last 20. The ending is great from a story point of view, but the actual events feel more Freddy vs Jason than the Seven meets Heat thriller the rest of the film serves up. It's definitely worth a watch, but be warned it is long, slow and the ending is like suddenly skipping channels mid-film.

First generation X-men

[TonyTaral · 8/10 · 1 July 2004]

Yesterday, an thrilling, exiting, sinister science fiction movie fresh out of Korea.

I do agree that i`ts kind of hard to keep track with the plot, but once you do get its a genius idea that confronts the ethics concerning cloning and gene manipulation.

The action scenes are a mere feast with fast moving handheld camera. It has its slow moments at the end of the movie, but cleverly used to reveal the "truth".

Well Recommended!