Do you like military-themed Korean dramas? Do you also like student dramas? Or do you like stories about the struggle against deadly monsters? What if all three were combined in one movie? Then Duty After School is the answer.
The Korean drama series Duty After School, which aired in its entirety on Viu, tells the story of 12th graders who are forced to join the military to fight the terrible monsters that descend on the earth. From the premise given, it was interesting, wasn’t it?
Total of 10 episodes, this series is divided into two parts. In the first season, Duty After School was broadcast from episodes 1-6 on March 31. Then episode 7-10 just aired yesterday 22/4. Therefore, the review below will combine these two parts. Come on, read more below!
Duty After School movie summary (2023)
Duty After School will depict the story of students from all over the country who must join the military and struggle to earn extra points by fighting strange creatures before the college entrance exam.
The story will follow a group of students in grades 12-2 who must fight against alien creatures appearing in the sky. This was due to an order from the government announcing that all high school students would be formed in the reserve force.
Platoon captain Lee Choon-ho (Shin Hyun-soo) and Sergeant Kim Won-bin (Lee Soon-won) go to the high school to train students. Lee Choon-ho is very strict with his students but cares for them very much.
Then there is Park Eun-young (Im Se-Mi), a homeroom teacher of grades 12-2 who really prioritizes the safety of her students.
So, what happens to students who are forced to join the reserve force? Will they succeed in saving the world from the alien invasion that has caused many victims?
Duty After School movie review (2023)
Full of intense tension
This film succeeded in showing stress for the sake of the stress experienced by the students to the point where the audience felt what they were feeling too. Fear, threatening situations and terrible monsters could kill them at any moment.
The choice of students’ personalities is also an interesting point, because they are often afraid, panic and act rashly. The tension is put on not only about the presence of monsters, but when the students are being trained and one of them is unable to do the training properly.
Lieutenant Lee’s insistence on training them was no joke. Of course all of that has its own reasons and purposes, not just being able to kill monsters. But understand what it means to be together and protect each other.
The origin of the monsters appearing in this movie is not explained, the time setting is told one year after purple balls filled the Korean sky.
The tense game was set up again when the ball fell right on the school field. All the students who were protesting to go home immediately dispersed to seek cover. Their screams of fear didn’t stop ringing, not to mention seeing their dead friends right in front of their eyes.
Good character development
Aside from the interesting premise, the character development in this movie is pretty good. Everything appeared as it should, such as refusal to serve in the military, anxiety, fear, panic, recklessness, carelessness, and the ambition to earn more points. Everything is present as a child in school age is not yet stable and immature.
There is no scene that suddenly makes them gracefully or slyly accept in training. Everyone unites to show solidarity against the denial of enlistment and the request to be sent home.
Until the second part, each character starts to develop properly. They are forced to understand through unsafe conditions. Forced to think critically and choose to protect and survive for each other so that neither of them has to die. Obviously, though some are still upset with others. However, their army had the largest number of members of any other class.
The relationship between the players was said to show the audience how happy they were after facing many monsters. The jokes and romance shown are also quite interesting. The togetherness that until the end of the story is described as always together. Yes, they died together, except for the four students who survived.
The first part is better than the second
By comparison, season 1 of episodes 1-6 is much better in terms of execution and plot presentation. The character development, visuals, conflicts, and struggle for survival are all dominant in the second half. The tension that was present in part 1 is not repeated in part 2. It is in part 2 that it only reveals another contradiction that makes it difficult for the audience to accept.
It felt like the loss caused by monsters was better than being killed by one’s own friends. However, in this second part, the message of human ambition is stronger and more frightening. Thirst for achievement to forget the meaning of friendship. Honesty feels terrifying, until it finally chooses a path of horribly brutality.
The attachment they live and experience feels futile in the face of selfish emotions. Everything just faded away, leaving a feeling of sadness and chest tightness.
Conclusion of the movie Duty After School
Overall, Duty After School gives a fresh and new feel to the story when it comes to presenting its plot. The character development shown is pretty good. Those who were initially frightened were successful in coming up with clear thoughts in response to the situation, although some remained resistant. However, the class 12-2 is still more compact and solid when performing assigned tasks.
It’s true that season 1 episode 1-6 is better than season 2 episode 7-10. However, the message that we can draw from the last 4 episodes is that human nature is evil, ambition and desire for achievement makes him think evil things to save himself. Forget the meaning of solidarity lived and overcome the hard way.
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