User Reviews

I read through the reviews here before I watched it and didn't know what to expect: a classic or a bummer? In my view, the truth is in the middle and the average vote of currently 5.8 seems justified. "Natural City" is by no means a movie on the "Blade Runner" level. Take away the futuristic eye-candy, and what is left? A man is in love with a cyborg lady without really telling us why, how or what for. Real character development is not happening! He gets in a conflict with his friend over the cyborgs which leads to gratuitous violence with faces covered in blood like in a million action flicks before. Meanwhile, a girl plants flowers in a roof garden to provide a contrast to the post-war destruction scenery around. "Natural City" doesn't really have any new ideas, it simply spices up the collection of familiar trade marks with "Matrix/Equilibrium Next Generation" visuals which is fine for web 2.0 designers but not for the art of film making. Everybody who truly believes this is going to be a classic should go watch "Soylent Green" where it was the actors and the story that mattered.

Still, "Natural City" is a movie that has its touching or stunning moments. Actually, I liked that explanations were not provided in many cases. One might argue whether it is a deliberate attempt to open it for interpretation or simply plot holes. But I think, if we once really caught a glimpse of the year 2080, there would be much that we won't comprehend, either. You know how silly SF movies of the 1950s seem today because they applied manners, moral standards and ways of conversation that are outdated. In this respect, I'm curious what people will think of "Natural City" in the future. Keep it in the archive.

Natural city

While Natural city gets often compared to blade runner, I think it is a comparison is not quite fair to Blade runner. Don't get me wrong I don't think NC is a bad movie, but it is not the ultra paranoid Phillip K dick style future noir. The film looks great and shows a dirty, unhappy view of korea's future like Blade runner.

I admit I got a little lost and bored at times but the film has great visuals and for the most part the story is a interesting take on cyborgs robots and the like. The gun battles and the various martial arts action scenes were well done(except for a minor overuse of Slo-Mo).

Worth a rental. If you're a Sci-FI addict it should be on your list.

I saw a screening of this film recently at the Milan Fair and I'm inclined to say that, while it was rather interesting, I would not suggest it to anyone but hardcore fans of SF. In a way the concept is reminiscent of Bladerunner: The (male) officer of law falling for the (female) cyborg/clone/android that has an 'expiration date', while on the other hand, he is fighting the rebellious cyborgs/clones/androids. There are a number of twists in the plot that add interest, the photography is very good, the acting is fine and the action scenes are typical Asian. All in all, quite interesting but not fulfilling...

..... in fact, a lot better than expected. I watched both trailers before the movie to see if it looked any good, and it did. It looked stunning, just a bit empty. On watching it, i found it to be very accomplished, it put most Hollywood films to shame. In saying that, though, there really aren't any US equivalents to this. Yeah, it borrows from plenty of other movies, but none of them would be so daring or have such a sombre tone. This is quite bleak and nasty stuff. Highly recommended, just don't expect a happy ending or any humour. If great, Blade Runner-style visuals are your thing, you'll find plenty to enjoy. Four out of five.

I rate this movie high on the visuals. Yes its Blade Runner-ish but truth be told it would be very difficult to make any "cyberpunk" or movie with cyborgs and humans without it somehow taking elements from BladeRunner.

The visuals and CG are very good. The story line is a bit confusing in the beginning. It is also a tad slow and on the longish side. The movie's plot is around a special forces cop who is trying to extend the life of his cyborg girlfriend (cyborgs have expiry dates). He does unscrupulous stuff etc and pays a rogue cyborg manufacturer to extend her life. Of course the mad scientist have an agenda of his own whose disclosure leads to the last sequence of the movie.

The action scenes are quite good although dark. The story so-so. but I give points to how good the movie looked. I would recommend this movie if you are into the whole cyberpunk genre and enjoy visuals over deep stories and acting.

I've just watched this movie. Yes,Blade Runner looms large over it. But it's not a clone. Beyond Hollwood takes the movie to task, because the main character is basically a jerk, and the guy who would normally be the hero plays a secondary role. But that's the beauty of Asian movies, they don't conform to the norm. Anyway if this was a gangster movie, there would be nothing wrong in having a bad guy as the lead character. The other part the reviewer took the movie to task over was the relation between R and Ria. Ria showed no emotion. Well she was a cyborg R was indifferent to her. Well, yes, I'm prepared to concede that point. Why did R love Ria. Does everything have to be explained? I just accepted that he did. What I didn't like about the movie was the climatic action scene. Sure it was exciting, and well done. But for me, it was too Hollywood. I expect more from Korean movies. I thought the ending was beautiful though.

Natural City is one of several recent Korean movies (such as 2046) from a new school of film-making in Asia. And unfortunately, after watching, digesting, and allowing this film to sink in, I can only reach the inescapable conclusion that this 'new school' consists of former music video directors who have watched Blade Runner far too many times. The discerning film-goer will even notice some exact shots are actually lifted in this movie from Ridley Scott's neo-noir masterpiece. This film - perhaps even more than the source material that it clearly owes its entire existence to - relies far too much on slick, but ultimately hollow and meaningless, cinematography.

Its story slows to a crawl, and patches together pointless scenes such as R's bar fight to keep what semblance of kinetic energy it promised on the film's back cover going. Ridiculous logistical scenes are turned into ethereal mini-music videos with no point and no underlying symbolism. It's as if the director is desperately trying to emulate the emotional power of scenes in Blade Runner by using that film's same tricks - slow motion, sappy music, and rain. Unfortunately, Natural City never hits anywhere near the mark it sets for itself, and the director seems genuinely clueless as to what his movie's actual symbolic meaning is. The result is a muddled atrocity of a story that moves like frozen chocolate pudding and has to resort to a big gunfight and cliché 'self-destruct countdown' sequence as its climax to make up for its own glaring shortcomings.

The good things about this movie? The lead actor, playing the part of R, is actually quite good at attracting empathy. Visually, there are a few interesting bits. The death of one of the film's main characters is a touching but hollow scene, which perhaps unintentionally works in its favor. Some of the atmosphere is very depressive and moody and really lends to the overall feel, but I don't think any single scene really steps out and defines this film visually. There is a very generic sci-fi feel to certain things (such as the M.P.'s, and the gunfight at the beginning of the film).

I should make very clear that while this film is clearly derivative of Blade Runner, it is nowhere near the feast for the eyes that the former is, and it also fails miserably at putting its own unique visual spin on the future. And as a simple aside, to those who suggest that it is unfair to compare the two films - Natural City itself draws the comparisons, actively inciting them on its front cover. That is this movie's gimmick, and ultimately, its failing.

I've always been a fan of science fiction. The theme of cyborgs especially captures my attention, alongside the arguments for and against their incorporation into society, coupled with the philosophical discussion on whether they can potentially acquire human feelings. Natural City, with its beautiful landscape, detailed effects and impressive vision grabbed my attention, however, the aforementioned ideas above appear fleetingly in a film where they are essentially paramount.

R (Ji-tae Yu) is a member of the police force of 2080; a team of elite troopers, who keep the fragile peace in a post-apocalyptic society, where humans and cyborgs live awkwardly beside each other. Once a revered officer, R has been forced to commit illegalities in order to keep his beautiful cyborg girlfriend, Ria (Rin Seo) alive, pitifully fighting her short life span, that will inevitably consume her. His actions have turned him against his best friend, and fellow officer, Noma (Chang Yun), who tries desperately to keep R out of trouble.

When R is told by the brilliant, but deranged Cyborg specialist, Dr Zero (Jung Eun-Pyo), that Cyon (Jae-un Lee), a beautiful, young working girl, has all the ingredients he needs to keep Ria indefinitely alive, R will stop at nothing to find her. Unfortunately, rogue combat cyborg Cypher (Doo-hong Jung) also requires Cyon to increase his life expectancy, culminating in a violent battle for preservation.

As a lead character, R is difficult to sympathize with. Often aggressive and bitter, the only times he is shown to be compassionate, is in the company of Ria, whose screen time is minimal in contrast with the other characters, despite the pivotal part she plays. Characterization in general is sparse across the narrative, with little back-story, most characters having a very narrow agenda. Ria on the other hand, says several key phrases over the course of the feature that have considerable impact, however, their importance is undermined by the focus on the action-oriented story-line.

Moments of beautiful tenderness, accentuated by the touching musical score, are equally short-lived, though are more memorable than the fight scenes. These are considerably violent, containing a combination of gun battles and martial arts, and though occasionally impressive, these are also handled by using slow motion and quick shots, that do not always result in appealingly fluid moments.

Though Natural City is a film thematically focused around relationships, I couldn't help but notice the distance between the characters, even in scenes when they were barely an inch from each other. Feelings of hopelessness, and the debate on mortality gnaw at you from every angle, until even the sweetest parts of the film seem so utterly depressing. Perhaps I'm a romantic, however, I would have liked a deeper, more passionate focus on R and Ria, which offered a unique perspective to the audience, rather than the clichéd plot concerning killer cyborgs.

Natural City is about some guy who likes to hump a robot. Meanwhile, some militant group is trying to stop cyborg terrorists from doing naughty things. The story was alright but the pacing was like hippopotamus butt loving. The cinematography is somewhat simular to movies like Blade Runner but less colorful. This has more so a sombre look. Also I wish the cyborgs were more cyborgy. The action was probably the best thing about the movie. Full of Matrix like bull$#!+. Not a bad movie but it's only worth watching one or two times.

Now I liked a lot of the film it except for one major thing...the story. I felt at times that the photography, special effects, and even the acting were too good for this absolutely pathetic story. It seemed to drag and drag, and the big plot twists were too little too late and at that point of the story it is truly hard to care. I felt that this could have been an excellent film, because everything else in the film was excellent. It just goes to show that if you don't have a good story and screenplay, nothing can save it. It seemed to just be missing a few major plot points, and even the ones they had were poorly written, and poorly executed. I would really only recommend this to the hardcore sci-fi films, and even then this will be quickly forgotten.

I would put this as one of the most beautiful science fiction films ever made ...

As much as this is an homage to Blade Runner it also draws heavily from the Matrix and HK Cop films. Like a great hip hop record or a Tarantino film, it weaves familiar elements together in a way that not only seems fresh but gives you a new appreciation for the original sources.

One of the things I loved most about this movie was its look and in particular the way the CGI was integrated almost seamlessly with 'real' live action cinematography. As opposed to many western sci-fi movies, for example the new Star Wars movies or I, Robot where the actors are shot on a green screen and then composted over a completely synthetic background.

Natural City might use a shot of a cityscape and then drop in CGI elements like a craft flying over. They employ another technique which was used a lot in 70's scifi films like Logan's Run - inter cutting SFX scenes with live action that was just shot on real, futuristic-looking locations. This really balances out the artificiality of the effects and shows that a little can go a long way ...

The result is an extremely realistic look and feel to the movie. I believe that this is what the world could look like in 2080.

Natural City's only real flaw, in my eyes, is that it does tend to get slow in a few key spots. But every shot in this film is so gorgeous it's hard to know where they would cut.

All in all I really enjoyed this film and would highly recommend it.

I'm not going to say this movie makes the least sense of every movie I've ever seen, because I've seen an awful lot of movies, but it's got to at least be one of the most senseless.

This movie starts quite well with a puzzling but intriguing intro that sets up the film's excellent visual style. In fact, there are a number of really cool moments scattered through the movie.

Unfortunately, Natural City turns out to be a remarkable example of what happens with a writer who can't put together a coherent story proves to also be a director who is unable to tell a story clearly.

Nothing in this movie makes much sense. I don't just mean the story. Once it's all over I can say I at least understand what happened and for the most part why. But character motivations and reactions are inexplicable, the science is ludicrous and the futuristic vision is muddled. This is a movie where a kidnapping is treated like a case of bad manners and the protagonists outrageous behavior causes barely a ripple.

The lead character is unlikeable and outside of Cyon (played very nicely by Jae-un Lee) and some old lady named Bonggong or some such thing, the rest of the cast is underwhelming. The cyborg love interest seems to have the personality of a cocker spaniel, making it difficult to have much feeling for her, and in fact all attempts to wring an emotional reaction from the material fail abysmally.

The movie makes more sense in the last third, becoming a relatively straightforward action picture, but by then you're trapped in a movie with characters you don't care about making everything that happens feel trivial.

The movie is slick and glossy with some nice special effects, which is what kept me from turning it off (that and the hope that somehow it would all come together eventually), but it's just dreadful film making that gets more and more painful as it goes along.

Did you know that George Lucas was inspired to make "Star Wars" from a Japanese film called "Hidden Fortress"? Bet some of the reviewers here didn't. Why get all bent out of shape when the person who made "Blade Runner" did the same thing. Every film maker is inspired by someone else's work.

OK, the action and visuals are nice. The characters are very mechanical and they don't go deep into them so the movie seemed more focused on action and CGI. There were some slow spots between the action and the characters really didn't pull me in much. Yes, there is plenty of borrowing from Blade Runner but it didn't bother me much. Hollywood borrows plenty as well. I don't get upset about it. Without sampling there would be no Hip-Hop or Star Wars.

If you like action, sci-fi, and CGI and don't need a lot of character development, give it a go.

First off this is an excellent movie - way ahead of American Sci-Fi for heart and brain. It is a bit tedious to watch with subtitles but this is probably an advantage over a poor dub. Visually this movie is extremely derivative of Blade Runner but that doesn't detract from it's own brilliance. I love the fact that the line between good and evil is blurred and in that sense it is more true to life than most soulless western sci-fi pics. Be prepared for the love story - an element that many action viewers won't have patience for but this is a hallmark of the Asian film engine. Biggest drawback of the movie is the music score; which may be a factor of the culture of origin. It could have used a little techno to spice up the action (which is filmed beautifully by the way). If you are a REAL sci-fi fan, appreciate art in your cinematography, and consider watching a foreign language film you won't regret seeing this. We could use directors like this in the west.

A movie with cyborgs, artificial intelligence, flying cars, and virtual reality simulations, sounds like it should turn out great doesn't it? Unfortunately the movie is marred by a weak main character and storyline.

It seems to me that the director went through great lengths to make the main character as unlikeable as possible, and he succeeded. I tried to find good qualities about the main character, a military policeman named R, I tried to find a reason to care about this character but couldn't find any.

The fight scenes are decent but unfortunately they are rare in this movie. The scenery and artwork is breathtaking, unfortunately they are the only good qualities about this movie.

Natural City is plain awful. Possibly one of the worst cinema experiences I've had so far. Not only are many story ideas badly stolen from scifi-classics such as Blade Runner or 5th Element, but the whole scenario is so pathetic and kitschy that the viewer is constantly fighting slumbering away. Mr Min Byung-chun, if you don't have any good ideas for a movie then leave it be but don't torture audiences with a horrible rip-off of good movies!

The CGI sucks, the dialogue is repetitive and boring, the actors are terrible throughout and the action finale is an endless joke. Stay away from this garbage!

1/10 points.

I don't suggest this film. I wasn't able to watch more than 20' of this film... I wonder how did this movie have above 1 ratting... :( very bad film... There is almost NO connection between the scenes... I'm afraid that this movie has nothing to provide... Only laugh but sometimes even laugh gets boring... The hypothesis is lost... The whole setting is u-n-r-e-a-l-i-s-t-i-c... This is my 1rst comment on a movie here and I'm so sad that it is for a "bad" comment..

PS. there are thousand film to watch except the Natural City.. trust me....

I 'll vote: 1

When the movie was over, I did end of liking it. But before that, it was really hard to get into. The story jumps around a lot and is missing many pieces. But by the end, it does come all together. The film is Sci-Fi, but really just ends up being a love story in a way. All about a man and what he will do to keep his love for a cyborg. Ji-tae Yu is the main character and he is in love with a robot played by Rin Seo. Rin Seo was a little off on her acting skills, but I did enjoy Ji-tae Yu's performance. Jae-un Lee plays the other big part and she is decent. Now the movie has a couple fight scenes and they were pretty intense. They were all in bullet time slow motion and it really gave a stronger feel to them. The only problem was that you wanted more, and there just wasn't enough. There is a great fight scene between Ji-tae Yu and Doo-hong Jung though. It was not that long and I really wanted to be. But it was still great to watch. So very interesting story, just not all there.

Just watched NATURAL CITY, which I wasn't expecting to enjoy too much after most of the other Korean sci-fi "blockbuster" films of the past few years, but I do think this one is the pick of the litter.

It's an interesting and perhaps slightly muddled film, that mixes sci-fi spectacle and fantastic action scenes with a much more subtle and introspective side that's really the core of the film and probably befuddled the audience a lot. The cyborgs and mad scientists aren't really what the film is about, it's about the loneliness and detachment of the characters in a world where personal relationships have deteriorated even further than in our own. The fact that the acting is "wooden" is arguably deliberate, as the characters have no real emotional lives. It's a bit like Stephen Spielberg directing a Wong Kar Wai script... or vice versa... or something :p There's some Mamoru Oshii in there too.

8/10

This is an interesting movie and will appeal to Philip K Dick and Blade Runner fans. Possibly. Out of curiosity, if nothing more.

It's sort of based more on Blade Runner than the book on which that was based - Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep - and it's more a follow-on than a retelling. Cyborgs (Replicants), Blade Runners (MPs), limited life spans and attempts to counteract it. You get the idea.

Fans will be thinking Great! But it's nowhere near the same calibre as Blade Runner. It's confusing, poorly-paced and substitutes action sequences for moments of tension.

One highlight - which is probably not much of a highlight, really but which I enjoyed - is the music at 1:30 which just shouts Ennio Morricone. It fits the scene beautifully.

The movie has much to recommend it it but ultimately falls short as a "Blade Runner" or "Sheep" adaptation or follow-on. However, fans of either owe it to themselves to watch it and make up their own minds.

Just beware of the OTT reviews written by viewers who have little or no knowledge of its sources, or who still (can you believe it?) think gloss, sparks and action is all you need.

I don't understand the low rating of this picture.

THIS is what science fiction SHOULD be!!! Too much sci-fi has become pretty people in black PVC or leather bondage gear blowing things up in 360 slow-mo. Natural City actually sits back and tells a tells a story without bludgeoning us with Matrix-lite effects.

This is as much a sad tale of love denied as it is a renegade cop, a cyborg, a "hooker with(out) a heart of gold" and the military-industrial complex of a the future.

YES, the story is derivative of Blade Runner. Most, if not all, sci-fi of today is derivative of either Blade Runner, Mad Max or 1984. Move on. Enjoy the good stuff when it happens.

LOVED the fact that they did not stomp all over the subtleties of this movie with the standard industrial metal soundtrack that is de riguer in much sci-fi. The piano score was haunting and kept us grounded in R's sorrow for his pending loss.

Come into Natural City with an open mind and no Blade Runner hang-ups and you will be rewarded with a very good film. Not since Minority Report have we seen sci-fi done with this much respect paid to thinking grown ups.

Think "Bladerunner" set in a Korean setting, then you fairly much have the essence of "Natural City". However, "Natural City" doesn't just quite reach up to the same level of entertainment.

The story in "Natural City" turned out to be a bit jumpy and skittish, forcing you to pay close attention to the storyline at all times. And even then, it just didn't do much justice to the movie that the story trotted along at a fairly slow pace, making it lose its power of impact along the way - sort of think a balloon that is losing its air. The movie started out great, but quickly turned into a mish-mash storyline that just spiraled downward story-wise.

As for the scenery, CGI and action, well it was all top notch, and it is almost just worth sitting through the movie to watch this, because they really went all out here, putting together a very believable universe that is vibrant, detailed and very realistic. However, it was weighed down by a less than interesting storyline.

For a Korean action Sci-Fi movie, then "Natural City" turned out to be somewhat of a disappointment in my opinion, and there are far better and more enjoyable Korean movies out there.