One of my favorite actors.

Ma Dong-seok is one of those actors who is an instant in in my book, as in if I see he’s in a film it’s instantly going on my watchlist. I may not get around to it immediately, but I will probably get around to it eventually. From his roles in films like The Good, the Bad, the Weird, to the obvious like Train to Busan and films like The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil. And yeah he was also in Eternals, but he was one of the better parts of Eternals and they can’t all be winners can they?

Badland Hunters was directed by Heo Myung-haeng in his directorial debut. Heo also did stunts in The Good, the Bad, the Weird. Again, a fantastic movie if you haven’t seen it yet. Heo Myung-haeng is directing the upcoming Roundup movie, the fifth in the series and also starring Ma Dong-seok. The two guys really like each other, it’s clear to see.

The film takes place in a post apocalyptic Seoul after a massive earthquake turns the country and probably the entire world into a desolate wasteland with little in the way of food and water. The cities are destroyed, the landscape is dead, and the world is inhabited by bandits and cannibals. Did I mention the cannibals? Ma Dong-seok plays Nam-san, a badass hunter who is feared by the many bad guys of the wasteland and also prefers to lead a quiet life. That whole thing. He’s also constantly getting bedroom eyes from this lady because he’s kind of a hunk.

Anyway, the big baddie of the film is Dr. Yang Gi-su played by Lee Hee-joon. Yang Gi-su has been experimenting on humans up to and post apocalypse, trying to figure out a way to extend human life in order to make it easier for future generations to live in a world that is short on water and food. Is it possible to change human anatomy to the point where they only need to drink once every few months? He sure thinks so, and he’s got plenty of experiment subjects to work on.

Unfortunately for Gi-su, he screwed up. When Gi-su takes a young girl Han Su-na (Roh Jeong-eui) hostage and kills her grandma, Nam-san and Cho Ji-wan (Lee Jun-young) team up with Lee Eun-ho (Ahn Ji-hye) in order to hand out an apocalyptic ass whooping and rescue her from the clutches of The Apartment, possibly the only remaining apartment building left in Seoul, if not Korea, if not the world. Don’t even ask about rent prices.

Badland Hunters is a couple of concepts melded into one. Foremost it’s not a zombie movie, but a mutant film. Gi-su has an army of lizard-human mutant hybrid things at his command, and he’s ready to sacrifice whatever it takes to see his crazy experiments to fruition. Second this is an action film where Ma Dong-seok is given free reign to kick some ass. The choreography with the action scenes is top of the line, with characters knocking each other around and destroying the scenery as they do their hardest to beat the marbles out of each other.

Where Badland Hunters gets frustrating is in the sheer number of times the movie expects the audience to just accept things and not question any further. How much of the world was destroyed by the earthquake? I have a feeling that’s not meant to be important. Why are the soldiers eating mice? What exactly is the serum transforming them into? What is the shot that the soldiers have to be given? Why does Nam-san seem to care so much about Su-na? Nam-san has a reputation in the apocalypse but for what exactly? Outside of being scary.

It’s a film that gets worse the more you peel away the details, so I’ll just leave it here. Badland Hunters is a completely ridiculous action shlock film and you should watch it if you’re into senseless violence.

Rating: B-