Trying to see new movies in the UK and Ireland is proving an increasingly
frustrating experience. For a while we were getting movies at roughly the
same time as the US but in the past few years we've begun to see the
unwelcome return of significant gaps between releases, if they even get
released on this of the pond at all.
Take Concrete Utopia for example. The Korean blockbuster
(read our review
here), which was submitted as that nation's official Oscars entry but failed to
make the shortlist, was released at the end of 2023 in the US but still has
no UK/ROI release date. This has lead to the rather odd scenario of its
sequel being available to UK/ROI viewers before they can see
Concrete Utopia.
Concrete Utopia saw Korea devastated by a series of
earthquakes and confined its drama to the only apartment block left standing
in Seoul. The sequel, Badland Hunters, opens up the action to explore the wider world of post-apocalyptic Korea.
Directed by Heo Myeong-haeng and written by Kim Bo-tong and Kwak Jae-min, the film stars
Don Lee as "Nam San," a hunter who battles everything from
alligators to zombies as he roams the wastelands. Lee Hee Jun, Lee Jun-young, Roh Jeong Eui and An Ji-hye also
star.
Who knows when you can see Concrete Utopia in the UK or Ireland but you can catch
Badland Hunters on Netflix from January 26th. Whether the
sequel will make sense if you haven't seen the first movie is anyone's
guess, and the streaming service has declined to mention the film's sequel
status in any of its marketing.
Check out the trailer and poster below.
