I was recommended to watch "Kingdom" by a friend, as he knew I love everything zombiesque, and somehow the South Korean horror drama "Kingdom" had managed to elude my radar.
With "Kingdom" readily available on Netflix, I sat down and watched all 6 episodes of the first season in rapid succession. While "Kingdom" is no "The Walking Dead" in a South Korean interpretation, it is still a rather enjoyable TV series because of equal parts zombie action and storytelling.
"Kingdom" is somewhat hindered by a rather slow pacing, that while it definitely helps the movie and story, it just made me feel that it took the series forever to get up in gear and to become good. But the slow pace was necessary, I suppose, because it helped establish the character gallery quite well, while offering bits and pieces of adrenaline-filled segments to the audience of things to come.
While "Kingdom" is not following the average (and generic) zombie formula, it is still a very enjoyable show and it is an interesting approach on a zombie outbreak. One thing that I am usually not enjoying is agile, fast and running zombies, but it actually works quite well in "Kingdom" for some reason.
This is a TV series where zombies are a part, yes, but it is not a TV series about the zombies. No, this is a drama about well-defined and nicely portrayed characters and their quests for survival, hunger for power, revenge, political plays and such.
The TV series have a very nice ensemble of casted actors and actresses to portray to the various roles and characters in the show. I was definitely more than pleasantly surprised to see Doona Bae (playing Seo-bi) in the show, and she brings with her a lot of grace.
The zombie make-up is adequate, and it serves its purpose quite well. As stated above, this is not a TV series about the zombies themselves, so it is not richly endowed with gross and ghastly special effects displaying gore and other such grim things that are often a major part in the zombie movies and TV series. Was that a good thing or a bad thing? Well, naturally as a massive zombie fanatic I would like to see as much blood, guts and mayhem as possible, but the toned down brutality and gore of "Kingdom" actually suits the theme and atmosphere of the TV series quite well.
The downside to "Kingdom" is the slow pacing of the story. While it was a mere 6 episodes running just short of an hour or so each, it felt much, much longer. But it is hardly a deterrence for me to shy away from season 2 if it should make its way to Netflix.
"Kingdom" is definitely well worth watching if you are a fan of the zombie genre, and need something to fill the time in between other zombie shows.
With "Kingdom" readily available on Netflix, I sat down and watched all 6 episodes of the first season in rapid succession. While "Kingdom" is no "The Walking Dead" in a South Korean interpretation, it is still a rather enjoyable TV series because of equal parts zombie action and storytelling.
"Kingdom" is somewhat hindered by a rather slow pacing, that while it definitely helps the movie and story, it just made me feel that it took the series forever to get up in gear and to become good. But the slow pace was necessary, I suppose, because it helped establish the character gallery quite well, while offering bits and pieces of adrenaline-filled segments to the audience of things to come.
While "Kingdom" is not following the average (and generic) zombie formula, it is still a very enjoyable show and it is an interesting approach on a zombie outbreak. One thing that I am usually not enjoying is agile, fast and running zombies, but it actually works quite well in "Kingdom" for some reason.
This is a TV series where zombies are a part, yes, but it is not a TV series about the zombies. No, this is a drama about well-defined and nicely portrayed characters and their quests for survival, hunger for power, revenge, political plays and such.
The TV series have a very nice ensemble of casted actors and actresses to portray to the various roles and characters in the show. I was definitely more than pleasantly surprised to see Doona Bae (playing Seo-bi) in the show, and she brings with her a lot of grace.
The zombie make-up is adequate, and it serves its purpose quite well. As stated above, this is not a TV series about the zombies themselves, so it is not richly endowed with gross and ghastly special effects displaying gore and other such grim things that are often a major part in the zombie movies and TV series. Was that a good thing or a bad thing? Well, naturally as a massive zombie fanatic I would like to see as much blood, guts and mayhem as possible, but the toned down brutality and gore of "Kingdom" actually suits the theme and atmosphere of the TV series quite well.
The downside to "Kingdom" is the slow pacing of the story. While it was a mere 6 episodes running just short of an hour or so each, it felt much, much longer. But it is hardly a deterrence for me to shy away from season 2 if it should make its way to Netflix.
"Kingdom" is definitely well worth watching if you are a fan of the zombie genre, and need something to fill the time in between other zombie shows.