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The Review Geek
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Review Geek
Mercy for None – K-drama Episode 1 Recap & Review
Episode 1 Episode 1 of Mercy for None begins in Yeouido, Seoul, in 2010. A man named Gi-jun tells his younger brother, Gi-seok, that he's spoken to Chairman Lee Ju-woon. Gi-seok can join the company soon. Gi-jun then heads out to a fight between two gangs. We watch him easily take down a fighter from the other gang, who had previously taken down several men. We then shift to the present day. A manager from Bongsan Group finds himself kidnapped by two foreign assassins who make quick work of him. Chairman Gu Bong-san of Bongsan Group and Chairman Lee Ju-woon of Juwoon Group discuss this matter over a meal. Bong-san describes how his son, Gu Jun-mo, hired foreign assassins to kill his manager after he found some business discrepancies. Chairman Bong-san doesn't want to get involved directly since he is Jun-mo's father, so he asks Ju-woon to take care of the foreign assassins and clean up the mess. In return, he offers help with a real estate issue. Chairman Ju-woon agrees and gives this task to Gi-seok, who is now senior managing director and also set to be Ju-woon's successor. However, Gi-seok wants to quit his job. Despite this, he takes up the work and visits Jun-mo along with his junior, Cheon Hae-beom. Gi-seok tells the foreign assassins to leave within three days. Jun-mo isn't happy about this and taunts Gi-seok by bringing up Gi-jun. Apparently, Gi-jun had created a mess and both the chairmen cleaned it up. They let him live but they cut his Achilles tendon to make up for it. With a couple of strikes, Gi-seok takes Jun-mo down and walks away while Jun-mo screams death threats at him. Meanwhile, a Bongsan manager named Kim Chun-seok gets a call and is shocked to learn that Gi-seok has gone to meet Jun-mo in person. Gi-seok then heads out to meet Gi-jun, who is living at a campsite in the middle of the woods. They're meeting after six years. Gi-seok tells him that Chairman Ju-woon wants him to be the successor but that he has mixed feelings about it. Gi-jun realises something is wrong. Back home, Gi-seok gets the feeling that someone is in the house. He goes down to the parking lot and finds a cat. However, as he's feeding the cat, a masked man attacks him. More men come out of the shadows — this is an ambush. Gi-seok easily takes them all down. He lets the last man go but when his back is turned, the man attacks and stabs Gi-seok. In the woods, Gi-jun gets a phone call. The scene skips to Gi-seok's funeral, where Juwoon employees come to pay their respects. As do Chairman Gu Bong-san and Jun-mo. Outside, Ju-woon's manager, Choi Seong-cheol speaks to Kim Chun-seok, hinting that Bongsan was behind the attack. Chun-seok tells him that it was just some runaway kids, as the police have verified. Just then, prosecutor Lee Geum-son, Lee Ju-woon's oldest son, arrives to pay his respects. However, Seong-cheol asks him to leave since his father doesn't want him here. Gi-jun then shows up and Seong-cheol has everyone bow to him. He takes Gi-jun to Gi-seok's body and Gi-jun asks if it was really just kids. Elsewhere, the two chairmen discuss the matter of Ju-woon's successor. Gi-jun enters the room and brings up the pact they made 11 years ago. Gi-jun had promised not to show his face again and the chairmen had promised to keep his brother safe. When they don't offer any more information about his brother's death, Gi-jun leaves. Outside, Hae-beom introduces himself to Gi-jun. Gi-jun then goes to Gi-seok's house, where he finds books on camping. He also finds a birthday gift that Gi-seok was going to send him. Gi-jun then wraps a band around his ankle, the one with a scar. Gi-jun then goes to the police station. He wants to meet the suspect in his brother's murder case. The detectives tell him it's not allowed but Gi-jun insinuates he knows something about the detective. Gi-jun is allowed to meet him. The young man, Hui-chan, shows no remorse but he accidentally reveals he has a brother as well. Gi-jun goes after the younger brother and finds Hui-cheon's entire gang corners him. Turns out, this was his plan to find the people who killed Gi-seok. The fight begins and Gi-jun mows through them easily. After all the men are down, he goes towards the younger brother. An epilogue of Mercy for None Episode 1 shows Hui-chan stab Gi-seok. Gi-seok casually throws him off and all the gangsters run away. He then removes the knife in his side and heads back out of the parking lot. But someone's waiting for him on the other side of the door. The Episode Review Episode 1 of Mercy for None is a gripping and thrilling pilot. The episode drops us right into the heart of gangs, murders, and power dynamics. It establishes the two gangs, Bongsan and Juwoon groups, quite well and introduces us to all the important players too. We get a taste of what Gi-jun was like and what Gi-seok became, as well as their relationship as brothers. The visuals are dark and infused with plenty of neon. The action is fantastically shot here; it's sharp and uses the right amount of camera movement. It's so interesting to see that Gi-jun and Gi-seok's fighting styles are different as well, the former's a lot more violent and messy when compared to Gi-seok's cleaner moves. Along with the serious tone and gritty storyline, this one looks to be a solid, enjoyable neo noir. On to episode 2! Next Episode Expect A Full Season Write-Up When This Season Concludes!
Associated Press
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
Movie Review: Ana de Armas is better at killing than ballet in ‘Ballerina,' a John Wick spinoff
Watch a bunch of John Wick movies all in a row, and you can get pretty paranoid. You start to think everyone's an assassin. The guy at the newsstand, the street musician, the subway rider, that nice neighbor in the elevator — ruthless contract killers, all. So perhaps it shouldn't be too surprising that in 'From the World of John Wick: Ballerina,' the latest installment in the Wickian world, we reach the logical endpoint: a town where every single inhabitant's a killer. Yes, it's a picture-perfect, snowy winterscape in Austria, where everyone wears wool beanies and very nice sweaters. But they also wield a mean flamethrower, and schoolkids have mandatory shooting practice. The early scenes in this wacky place high in the mountains are the best part of 'Ballerina' — they actually contain deft surprises and even a glimmer of humor, which is hardly something we expect in a John Wick film. (Have you ever see the guy smile?) Watching our energetic star, Ana de Armas, engage in a plate-smashing contest with a sweet waitress-turned-vicious-killer reminds us that action can be clever, even if most scenes in this series inevitably become numbing, as the body count rises stratospherically. Before we go further, some clarification on where this film fits into the timeline. Let's forget (for now) that there was a John Wick 4, because the events of 'Ballerina' take place during the third movie. So, erase from your mind whatever huge, life-altering thing may or may not have happened in the last film. OK? Eagle-eyed viewers may, in fact, remember a brief scene in the third movie where a ballerina is trying to do a series of fouettés, those whiplash turns on one leg that are a big attraction in 'Swan Lake.' The same scene returns in 'Ballerina,' where we see de Armas' character, Eve, doggedly trying to master them in training. Why she keeps falling — every time, after years and years of class — is a mystery. We don't aim for full realism in action films, guys, but may we suggest that falling flat on the floor in your pointe shoes every time you do a turn feels like much more difficult stunt work than anything else in 'Ballerina' — including obliterating a horde of townspeople. It also speaks to a troubling lack of coordination, a definite problem for an assassin. Anyway! We actually first meet Eve as a child, living alone with her cherished father in some wind-swept coastal abode. Suddenly, a crew of black-clad assassins arrives by sea, targeting the father. He manages to protect Eve, but dies from his wounds. Soon, now-orphaned Eve is approached by Winston (Ian McShane, returning) owner of the Continental Hotel. Winston says he can bring her to her father's family. He takes her to The Director (a haughty Anjelica Huston), who welcomes the budding dancer to what seems an elite ballet academy but is also the training ground of the Ruska Roma, the crime organization where Wick himself learned his trade. The years go by. Eve is now a young woman determined to strike out on her own, though she still has problems completing a fouetté turn. ('Tend to your wounds before you get sepsis and we have to cut off your feet,' the Director suggests helpfully.) Luckily she shows more aptitude with firearms. And that's important, because her overriding goal is to avenge the death of her father. So when Wick himself (Keanu Reeves, of course, appearing in a few key scenes) makes a crucial stop at the academy, Eve looks at him and asks, 'How do I get out of here?' 'The front door is unlocked,' Wick replies – a line that got applause at the screening I was at, but so did virtually everything Wick said or did. 'No, how do I start doing what YOU do?' Eve asks. Wick tells her she can still leave — she has the choice to reject a killer's life. The sad subtext: He does not. But while Wick wants out — always — Eve wants IN. Otherwise we wouldn't have a movie. And so, her quest for vengeance takes her, clue by dangerous clue (and against the Director's strict orders) to the snowy hamlet of Hallstatt. There, the fearsome Chancellor (Gabriel Byrne, duly chilly) leads a band of assassins — all of whom want to kill her. Oh, also: the Chancellor killed her dad. And so Eve has to fight, using all the training and ingenuity she has amassed. One lesson she must draw on, from a trusted teacher: 'Fight like a girl.' In this case, as you can imagine, that's not a derogatory phrase. What it means is to lean into your strengths — you won't beat a man by brute force, the teacher has told her, but with smarts and inventiveness. That means using ever more interesting weapons to kill an endless supply of people (it must be said, the cheers from moviegoers are, as ever, disconcerting.) And, by the end, getting pretty comfortable with a flamethrower. 'From the World of John Wick: Ballerina,' a Lionsgate release, has been rated R by the Motion Picture Association 'for strong/bloody violence throughout, and language. ' Running time: 125 minutes. Two stars out of four.
Daily Mail
17-05-2025
- Daily Mail
Beauty influencer admitted she was scared she was going to be killed minutes before she was gunned down
A beauty influencer who was gunned down on a TikTok livestream admitted she feared for her life just minutes before she was killed, confessing to her followers, 'I'm worried.' Valeria Marquez, 23, was shot on Tuesday in her beauty salon in Jalisco, Mexico, while her phone recorded a livestream. The cold-blooded killer hasn't yet been identified, but Denis Rodríguez, a spokesperson for the Jalisco State Prosecutor's Office, said that a masked man pretending to be a delivery driver arrived at the salon hours before the attack. The man was accompanied by a second individual and told a woman at the salon they had to see Marquez to give her an 'expensive gift,' according to CBS News. When the beauty influencer arrived at the salon and was informed two men were looking for her, she told her followers, 'Maybe they were going to kill me.' 'Were they going to come and take me away, or what? I'm worried,' Marquez then said on the stream. Shortly after this admission, the two men returned to the salon and asked for the influencer. 'They're coming,' she told her followers before a voice off-screen can be heard asking, 'Hey Vale?' She replied and was given a stuffed animal and a Starbucks coffee before the masked man opened fire and shot her in the head and chest. Marquez collapsed live on camera. Rodríguez revealed that prosecutors believe the men were hired assassins. 'The aggressor arrived asking if the victim (Márquez) was there. So it appears he didn't know her,' Rodríguez said. 'With that, you can deduce — without jumping to conclusions — that this was a person who was paid. It was obviously someone who came with a purpose.' In a separate video, Marquez admitted that she used to date 'thugs,' telling her followers, 'I've changed. I don't go out anymore, I don't drink anymore, I've stopped being around thugs, I'm a good girl.' Paramedics pronounced Marquez dead at the scene, and investigators are working to find the suspect, who remains on the streets. Although a suspect hasn't been named by authorities, Mexican newspaper El Heraldo reported that a feared cartel leader named Doble R is at the center of the investigation. Marquez had reportedly been in a relationship with the man and was envious when her followers started sending her expensive gifts. Doble R is associated with the violent faction of the Jalisco Nueva Generacion cartel, which has seized control of the region. He has an extensive criminal history and was previously connected to the murders of Venezuelan model Daisy Ferrer Arenas and influencer Juan Luis Lagunas, who reportedly insulted cartel boss Nemesio Oseguera. Marquez's murder has shocked the world and shed light on the femicide crisis in Mexico, where women are frequently killed and assaulted. Violence against women has soared in Latin American countries as cartel members perpetrate shocking levels of gender-based violence. Mexican mayoral candidate Yesenia Lara Gutierrez was gunned down just days before Marquez while greeting residents on the street. The shocking slaying was also captured on camera, as the footage revealed people running for their lives as gunshots rang out. A Mexican newspaper noted that Gutierrez was greeting 'women with children in their arms' when the shooting began. She lost her life in the shooting, and her daughter was also named as a victim. Incidents of femicide often target women in politics or the public eye. Mexico is tied with Paraguay, Uruguay, and Bolivia for the fourth-highest recorded instances of femicide, according to data from the United Nations. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said in a statement on Thursday that authorities were working to identify Marquez's killer and expressed solidarity with the influencer's family. Marquez was popular on social media for her beauty and lifestyle videos, amassing over 110,000 followers.
