Netflix’s Carter puts action above all else

All of Us Are Dead and Money Heist: Korea are two of the action-packed series that have been released this year. The next big action piece is Carter, starring Joo Won. Carter is the name of the film and it transforms the normally clean-cut image of Joo Won into a rugged, ruffian-like character. Carter is directed by Jung Byung-gil, who has made his career out of his stylized, high-octane action direction.

Carter is an action film that will appeal to viewers who are looking for a good action film with lots of action. With the backdrop of tension between North and South Korea thrown in, there are stunning aerial views of rooftop fights and waterfall escapes, along with spine-tingling chases through dimly lit cavernous rooms. Carter's set design, choreography, and action pull off with great skill.

Carter's 132-minute run time might be too much for those looking for a more character-driven story or who have a lower tolerance for long, elaborate action sequences.

Carter says that the Korean peninsula is grappling with a dire infectious outbreak of theDMZ virus. There are animal-like behaviors created by the viral infections. The blood of Doctor Jung's daughter, named Ha-na, who was cured of the DMZ virus through her father's research, is being used by leaders from the two Koreas. Doctor Jung and Ha-na went missing during a transfer arrangement to North Korea, where the doctor was supposed to further his research and mass-produced a cure for the virus. Crowds of North Korean patients are held in the same place as the others. Carter woke up and found a voice telling him how to use an earpiece. He has no choice but to go through with the mission because he has a bomb in his mouth.

Ten months after a cease-fire between North and South Korea, there is an outbreak of the DMZ virus, with both sides distrusting each other over the bungled transfer of Doctor Jung and Ha-na. The narrative stakes are provided by the health crisis and the geopolitics of the film. Foreign liaisons, military leaders, intelligence agents, infectious disease doctors, and children are just some of the fascinating characters. Unfortunately, each of them is only lightly used, leaving viewers to rue missed opportunities to deepen the film's narrative and character arcs.

Carter feels that the action will always take precedence over character development. The film has a lot of gore and it feels like it's been there for a long time. At several points in Carter, viewers may struggle to find answers to some fundamental questions in the sacred art of crafting a story: what is currently driving the story's main character, Carter, to take on so much risk? What are the reasons for the antagonist's decisions? What motivates the actions of each character?

The single take style is one of the main talking points of Carter. The effect works despite the film being made up of many shots. As the film breathlessly moves from a public bathhouse to a bus, warehouse, medical facility, clothes shop, and airplane, just to name a few, the'single take' style gives Carter a feeling of vastness in space that few action films have been able to achieve. Carter and the camera are trapped in the chaos and uncertainty. The enemy can emerge from any direction, and there is no reprieve offered by an alternative angle.

Image: Netflix

A motorbike chase scene through labyrinthian streets and alleyways, an airplane standoff that turns into a skydiving fight scene, and a fight sequence involving trucks are some of the films that are a triumph of filmmakers. The work that went into creating Carter was unimaginably labor intensive, but the sequence work is almost effortless. The film is like an escape room game. There is a question as to whether Carter's cinematic accomplishments are wasted on the small screens that the audience will encounter the film on, as all the effort might not translate to home viewing.

Carter really digs into the meatier issues in the last 25 minutes of the film. There is a question of kinship between the family we are born into and the family we find. Through Carter's loss of memory, the film raises questions about identity and the information war. Through the embedded electronics in Carter's body, the film takes the pervasiveness of technology to a whole new level. Technology has become a major force in determining knowledge about ourselves and the world, just as Carter grapples with trying to figure out his identity through the ceaseless influx of text messages.

Carter raised a lot of intriguing questions. It is possible that viewers will have to dig well beneath the film's explosions and chase scenes to locate them.

Carter is on the internet.