08 September 2020

K Movie Review: Juror 8 (2019) 3.5

Writing this one's going to be tough. I watched this film last year when I was going crazy over Park Hyung Sik. For some reason, I forgot to review it. I can't even remember why. But Oppa's been bugging me to write this one so here I am. I will try my best to recall as much as I can. But this will probably be very short. I'm not even separating this into different sections. 
 
Juror 8 - Wikipedia
 
Juror 8 tells the story of South Korea's first jury trial in 2008. The movie is about a criminal case where a son was accused of murdering his mother for social welfare money. The accused pleaded guilty and a jury was formed to decide on his penalty. 
 
The movie walks us through the process of selecting jury members. It is a tedious process for the judge but one that is absolutely necessary if we want to have the most objective people in the jury box. 
 
Another interesting aspect of the movie was watching the dynamics among the jurors. Every person's background is highlighted to show how this affects decision-making depending on what each person values. It was nice to see how the jurors argued and debated over their verdict. 
 
Photo + Video] New Still and Trailer Added for the Upcoming Korean Movie  "Juror 8" @ HanCinema :: The Korean Movie and Drama Database 
 
It was interesting to see Park Hyung Sik in a different role. He was juror 8. His acting was okay although I still prefer the confident, cocky Park Hyung Sik in Strong Girl Bong Soon over the timid Kwon Nam Woo here. But I loved his character. I liked how his persistence led them to the truth and saved an innocent person from an erroneous verdict. 
 
Now that I think about it, I recall liking the film after watching it. But when I found out that it was very loosely based on the real story of what happened during the first jury trial, I lost interest. I am all for artistic license to change things here and there to make the story more appealing. But I would have loved it more if they at least kept the main details like on what crime was committed. I'm sure there's a way to put entertainment and history together like how it was done in The Man Standing Next. I just felt that this movie wasted an opportunity to make a historical contribution. 
 
Noona says...it's a 3.5.