Mr. Sunshine (2018)

Guns. Glory. Sad Ending.

I wish that I could go back in time and watch this show for the 1st time, that’s how good it is.

It’s heartbreaking. it will rip you to shreds, but you can’t help but surrender. The love portrayed here can be felt to the core, no fluff. There are no kisses, but the love is so real you can almost touch it.

This show holds a very special place in my heart, right next to CLOY. I love it so very much. I gave the show a 9.5 because I didn’t like how it ended, but after careful review and gave it a solid 10 because it deserves nothing less — this masterpiece.

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Mr. Sunshine was the first kdrama that I ever watched and oh boy, did it set a high bar. From the costumes to the music, the production quality is really high. The story is compelling and while the romance(s) are very central to the show, there's enough going on outside of them that you never feel that things are being neglected in favour of romance.

I've watched it through all of the way twice and loved it just as much the second time.

Spoilers beyond this point!
I am not, and will never be, over the ending. I just cried through the last few episodes. Full sobs as pretty much everyone died.

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A SAD PATRIOTIC DRAMA

Where is Mr. Sunshine? Because we don't see him in the drama, all men were serious deep sober men, but I love this drama so much. Background story was about invasion of Americans and Japanese into Jeseon Empire and how this Eugene Choi who born into slavery, run away to America and graduated as US Marine Corps officer, he returned to Korea as Consulate officer and investigate the murders and missing rifles. This drama has the elements of dramatic suspense, a noble lady who's expert with guns and amazing sniper without anyone knew about it, she met Eugene Choi while they're both on the mission. If you're talking about man with uniform, Eugene Choi (Lee Byung-hun) is the man, with calm steady confident demeanor he's the type of person that you won't mess around while an aristocrat's grand-daughter, Go Ae-shin (Kim Tae-ri), who is part of the Righteous Army, kept herself dignify by defending her beloved country. They both fallen in love but they both born from different class not to mention Ae-Shin has Kim Hee-sung (Byun Yo-han), a nobleman who has been Ae-shin's betrothed since childhood. 3 men loved her deeply; Eugene Choi, Kim Hee-Sung, Goo Dong-Mae and none of these guys stay alive at the end.

I love the character of Kudo Hina, she's an amazing woman - Glory Hotel owner who's using her beauty and charms to move around the elites and helping the cause, with her smile and soft spoken she killed people with her gun and sword. She's braver and more dangerous than any men because she's doing it without a flinch of eye and strong determination. Blow up her own hotel to kill Japanese that resulting her own demise, the ending was so sad, everyone died and unhappy ending. The best thing about this drama is the production did not fake of anything, the actors spoke English, France, Japanese as good as their Korean without sound like gringos. This is a great drama with beautiful background setting, top notch acting and casts, beautiful flowing story line, it's simply the best serious Korean drama so far.

From this drama, I learn something about the history of Americans in Korea and in what involvements, or whether there's truth in this story line. Become a family discussion to compare notes...meticulously Americans been in Korea way before Korean War like what's in the history book told us at school. Very interesting indeed..looking inside of Korean history as well as American history in Korea.

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It`s been a while since I`ve watch something like this, seriously. I didn`t think Korea could put anything better tan Warrior Baek Dong Soo but this definitely goes hand to hand, Korean Historical dramas have some magic to it that you don`t really get from other series and this is no exception.

Writting: I`m on episode 8 and I`m truly amazed with the writting and the plod, there seems to be no word in the dialog that is unnecessary or misplaced, they all fall in place beautifully, the romantic lines melt your hard, the dramatic parts really move you and all the tension between the characters you can really feel, i think this is where this series truly excels

Acting: acting is superb, specially since I'm not korean so I don't know if its a natura representation of how they are, but they can definitely transfer your emotions. I can relate to the characters and my favorite so far is the yakuza, something tells me he will end up sacrificing himself at the end, well executed.

Plod and storyline: I`ve seen a lot of people say is its slow and that first chapter is confusing, and well i agree that it can be, but not in a bad way as everything reveals its self as you are watching and in that sence i love it, as you are always looking for answers and thinking and then you get supprised as the story seems cleaver. I also like the character development although at episode 8 there still a lot i want to know about the main characters, but i think it contributes to the mystery.

Music and visual: stunning, its like you are watching a realistic paint from Miguel angelo, and Korea (if everthing was filmed there) its beautifully it really make you go there in this part i think is superior to Baek Dong Soo. and music is spot on, it complements the beautiful scenery without been overwhelming

overall I'll give a 9.5 up to episode 8. fully recommended if you are looking to see thru cinematography which require you to do some thinking and be patient as things start to unravel, not your american show where they pack a livetime in 40 minutes, Koreans seem to like to take their time to explain things and to create an ambient, that why they are so worth watching

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Mr. Sunshine clearly takes itself VERY seriously. It tries to be a grand, sweeping drama dealing with Life and Death, Revenge, and Loyalty to the Cause. I use capitals because I feel like the Drama uses capitals to pound those issues into one’s head, having no subtlety and nuance. The cinematography employs every overplayed melodramatic stereotype in the book, including slow motion Epic Battle Scenes and dramatically backlit heroes staring far far away into the distance. The distant stare is an attempt to inject profound meaning and gravitas into the scene but it comes across as affected and pretentious. To make sure that we know there is a Very Important Moment to be had the music swells portentously to end in a dramatic crash or, during scenes filled with bathos, wails mournfully in the background. To make matters worse, the writing is simply horrible. The characters are your by-the-dozen stock, sterotyped figures. Beautiful heroine who is a kind, much loved and sheltered aristocrat by day and a crackshot rebel warrior by night? Check. Her loyal jolly sidekick servant? Check. Steely but sensitive hero with a tragic past? Check. Seemingly cold-blooded, but really just hurting inside, leader of a ruthless group? Check. Sharp and hardened woman who cooly plays both sides but falls in love with the hero? Check. One-dimensional and physically unattractive villains? Check. And on and on. The dialogue plods along leadenly and predictably, the plot does likewise. Finally, the acting, or, rather, lack thereof is cringe worthy. Please, someone, hire a bunch of competent English-speaking actors to move to Korea for a year and act in all movies and dramas requiring their presence. I don’t know whether Koreans simply hire English-speaking people off the streets because they look the part but I am tired of watching these “actors” woodenly standing while woodenly delivering their wooden lines. And the writer makes matters worse (if possible) by making them stock, stereotyped characters. That not only makes the foreign actors look stupid but it also unfortunately makes Koreans look stupid by implying that Koreans are not smart enough to see beyond stereotypes. I know that that's not true. I’m not as sure about this writer.

One example (of many) of Mr. Sunshine’s writer's cringe-worthy attempts to be clever is the plot point around the meaning of the word “love." I mean, come on, the heroine is soooo interested in the word that she brings it up with Mr. Lead Guy yet when she starts to learn English she somehow fails to find out first thing what it means? As a device to score cute couples points it was hilariously bad. Nope. I watched four episodes (which were three too many) then skipped around trying to figure out why people raved about this drama. It's a mystery to me.

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Ho il magone.

Ho aspettato a lungo prima di vedere questo drama perchè avevo paura di imbattermi in qualcosa che mi avrebbe sconvolto e che si sarebbe portato via qualcosa di me una volta finita la visione. Non avevo torto.
Sto scrivendo questa recensione dopo aver appena finito l'ultimo episodio per cui perdonatemi se sarò particolarmente sentimentale.
Il titolo di questa recensione non è dato a caso, ho davvero il magone. Le lacrime mi si sono bloccate in gola da quanto avrei voglia di urlare e piangere. Il periodo storico che fa da sfondo all'intera vicenda è come un "filo rosso" del destino che intreccia diversi personaggi che per altrimenti non avrebbero avuto molto di incontrarsi e di stringere strane quanto mai alleanze. La storia d'amore che fa da cardine a tutto quello che succede è veramente bella e soprattutto sentita. Il sentirci impotenti come furono all'epoca i coreani di fronte all'esercito giapponese ci rende schiavi di questa serie, poichè ci fa sentire e patire almeno in piccolissima parte quello che accadde ormai un secolo fa. In un'altra parte del mondo, una parte di cui ahimè sappiamo davvero ben poco. Lo so, so che questa serie è in gran parte romanzata, ma secondo me riesce benissimo nel suo intento. Non avevo nemmeno finito i titoli di coda infatti, che sono subito corsa su internet a fare ricerche su quel periodo storico di cui noi non sappiamo pressochè nulla.
Le musiche sono fantastiche, la regia, la fotografia, i dialoghi, tutto. I rapporti umani.
In questo drama c'è praticamente tutto: amore, amicizia, mafia, violenza, sangue, combattimenti, intrighi di potere, vendetta, libertà. Voglia di vivere e di farsi valere da parte di chiunque, donna, bambino, uomo, vecchio.
Consiglio davvero la visione a chiunque, ma preparatevi psicologicamente ad essere abbattuti,

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UNA OBRA DE ARTE HECHA KDRAMA

Solo un drama como ''Mr. Sunshine'' podría reunir una producción tan increíble desde el primer momento. Comenzando con la talentosísima escritora Kim Eun Sook trabajando nuevamente con el increíble director Lee Eung Bok siendo esta su tercer producción en conjunto (Descendants of the Sun y Goblin), hasta las actuaciones porque me atrevo a decir que tiene un elenco de lujo y sigue siendo uno de los MEJORES cast en la historia de los kdramas. Por supuesto las expectativas estaban en Lee Byung Hyun y Kim Tae Ri y lograron cumplirlas y superarlas pero Byun Yo Han y Kim Min Jung se robaron el drama, pero quien logró impactarme aún mas fue Yoo Yeon Seok, fue su momento de lucirse y lo hizo mas que bien.

Pero las actuaciones van de la mano con los personajes tan bien construidos y desarrollados. Cada uno tiene su lado y están luchando por su propio beneficio pero el verdadero enemigo no está entre ellos y lo saben, por eso conocemos diferentes facetas de cada uno. Go Ae Shin y Kudo Hina son mujeres fuertes y que inspiran ese espíritu de lucha que no siempre se tiene o se siente forzado, eso no ocurre en lo absoluto con ellas.

Es uno de los pocos dramas bélicos que he visto y al ser además histórico tiene la desventaja de no ser precisamente la preferencia para el público general, pero yo que sin estar acostumbrada al género pude conectar tanto con la historia es porque vale completamente ver cada uno de los 24 capítulos, que no incluyen relleno ni subtramas innecesarias.

Guerra, amistad, valor familiar, discriminación social y racial, multilingüe, un cast diverso, romance, comedia, tragedia y mucho más presentado con una cinematografía y dirección simplemente HERMOSAS, cada escena y cada toma era un nuevo escenario y paisaje precioso.

No suelo recomendarlo tanto como debería, pero desde el momento en que lo ví, sabía que se convertiría en uno de los mejores dramas coreanos alguna vez producidos.

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UM PRIMOR

sou novato no mundinho dos doramas, mas esse já considero simplesmente um dos melhores já feitos (junto com a outra preciosidade crash landing on you).
o quinteto protagonista é tudo que qualquer drama precisa, incrívelmente bonito e cheiroso, com ótimas atuações e muita química/sinergia entre si. (eugene's smile ♡)
a história possuí um ritmo lento que conciliavam, drama, romance e uma boa dosagem de humor de maneira linda e poética (apesar da trama).
a ambientação, cenário e vestuário também estavam incríveis, com lindos takes e uma ost perfeita (days without tears e see you again não saem do play).
eu amei o fator de todas às mulheres da história serem decididas, fortes, destemidas, inteligentes, bastante humanas e com personalidades únicas.
ps: apesar de já esperar aquele destino final não deixou de ser menos doloroso. (deprimido e com saudades dos meus nenês)

GUN, GLORY, SAD ENDING.

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Wonderful production with one major problem with the ending.

II have been watching TV series for some months now, and Mr. Sunshine is one of the best. Great acting, cinematography, and a compelling story. I just have one thing about the ending I don't understand.

I admit that I am partial to happy endings, but realize the value of the sad ones. A bit of overkill - practically every major character is killed ( Think Hamlet). Perhaps this was done to emphasize the terrible cost of war. But it does leave some viewers depressed. This, however, is not my complaint.

In the final scene, Eugene forces the Japanese soldiers into the last car of the train along with the hostage he keeps in front of him. Then he steps into to last car, fires his last bullet to unlink the last car from the train, dooming himelf. Why did he not do the same thing by forcing the soldiers and the hostage into the car and then unlink the car while still remaining on the next-to-last car so he could get back inside the train before the soldiers could get around the hostage to shoot him? He has always been so resourceful, and this final act does not ring true.

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