Netflix's Carter Is The Dad Game In Movie Form
In Carter, the Korean action film recently released by Netflix, there are no brakes. From the moment it opens with a God's eye view of a bus moving along a city street, to the moment the titular amnesiac character, played by Joo Won, is woken up by CIA agents pointing pistols at his face, to Carter killing everyone in his path with unflagging energy and creativity, the movie consistently maintains a speed that few films would even attempt. It runs in place, at times — like when characters need to enter, deliver exposition, and exit — but it never rests.
I was first alerted to director Jung Byung-gil's fourth full-length feature through a tweet featuring one of Carter's early action scenes, in which our hero is riding a moped through the narrow streets of Seoul as unseen baddiesattempt to run him down. This scene was striking, highlighting the film's unique aesthetic, which borrows from one-take movies like Rope, Birdman, and 1917, but removes any sense of smoothness. As Carter rides past a window, the camera flies through it to follow, constantly zooming in and out at a rapid pace. Byung-gil keeps this up for the movie's entire 132 minute run-time. All of the film is shot in oners and pseudo-oners, stitched together like an adrenaline junkie Frankenstein's monster.
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As I watched, I couldn't get over how similar Carter's story felt to the ones I've played through dozens of times in games. As soon as Carter wakes up, he's already engulfed in action, and spends the rest of the movie fleeing from bad guys and/or running toward a concrete goal. As he runs, a voice in his ear instructs him on where he should go. There's no end to how many henchmen his opponents have
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