Time to Hunt – Netflix Review (3/5)

TIME TO HUNT is a new Netflix movie from South Korea (org. title Sanyangeui sigan). We’re in the near future during a financial crisis, which is a plot that feels very relevant right now. Also, it’s all about survival. Read our full Time to Hunt review here and watch it on Netflix!

Time to Hunt is a new Netflix movie from South Korea with a plot that feels strangely current. Only in some ways, fortunately. While this movie is in the sci-fi and crime genres according to IMDb, it wouldn’t be wrong to call it a “heist horror” movie either. The main characters of this movie are fighting to survive and it’s no easy feat.

The hitman chasing our group of friends is relentless. He’s the type of person who has the cut-off ears of his previous victims hanging on his wall.

Sounds intriguing, right?! Good, because it is!

Time to Hunt had its world premiere at Berlin International Film Festival in February 2020. Basically, it just managed to get out before the Coronavirus swept all over the world. Now, you can watch the movie on Netflix and we highly recommend that you do.

Continue reading our Time to Hunt review below to find out why.

Great production quality from South Korea – as always!

We’ve grown accustomed to seeing some great movies come out of South Korea. The production quality is always extremely impressive and the stories tend to be very character-centered. That’s something I’ve always loved because it tends to create plots that evolve in organic ways.

And yes, that does also mean that movies from South Korea are often “slow-burners”. Another thing it can mean is a long runtime. Sometimes a runtime that is too long. For Time to Hunt, we’re dealing with a runtime of 2 hours and 14 minutes, which is a bit too long. Again, I understand why it’s this long since the time is used for character development, but still…

In case you’re new to Heaven of Horror and just found this review because you wanted to know about this new movie on Netflix, you should know that we’re always happy to review any South Korean movie on Netflix. They never really disappoint and, fortunately, Time to Hunt is no exception.

If you’re a fan of Korean movies and series in general, then be sure to check out our “Korean”-tag for those productions here >

The cast of Time to Hunt

If you’ve watched some of the most popular South Korean movies, then you will recognize many of the actors in this movie. One of the main protagonists is portrayed by Lee Je-hoon who is also in the TV series Signal (org. title Sigeuneol) which is also on Netflix and a fascinating crime-thriller series with sci-fi elements in the form of time-travel… well, sort of.

You might like: Our season 1 review of Signal on Netflix here >

Also, if you’ve watched Parasite (and you really should – it’s on our “Best of 2019”-list), then you’ll be familiar with Choi Woo-sik. He played the son of the main family in Parasite and he was also in two other hugely popular movies. First, I have to mention the South Korean zombie smash hit Train to Busan (which has a sequel coming out soon), and also, he’s in the Netflix movie Okja.

Do check out: What we know about the Train to Busan sequel titled Peninsula here >

Overall, every single actor in Time to Hunt does an excellent job. This movie might start out being about friends going through with a robbery, but that’s only the first third or so of the movie. The rest is a fight to survive, and it’s extremely brutal.

Watch Time to Hunt on Netflix now!

As mentioned several times already, this is a movie from South Korea (org. title Sanyangeui sign) and hopefully, this is enough for you to give it a chance. If you’ve watched South Korean movies, then you’ll know that the production quality is always very impressive. Time to Hunt is no exception!

Yoon Sung-hyun is the writer and director of Time to Hunt and this is only his second feature film. Most of his past writing-directing experience comes from short films. His previous feature film came out ten years ago (in 2010) and was actually his graduation project. He even won several Best New Director awards for it.

It was titled Bleak Night and it’s actually out on Netflix in South Korea, but (as of writing this review) nowhere else. Maybe that will change after the release of this new movie. Hopefully, we’ll also be seeing a lot more from Yoon Sung-hyun in the future because Time to Hunt is a very accomplished movie. I just really hope we won’t have to wait another ten years.

Then again, with the Coronavirus stopping everything in its tracks, we might have to be patient in ways we still can’t even imagine. Also, Yoon Sung-hyun is still very young (born in 1982), so he should have many decades to produce lots of great movies for all the world to enjoy. Until then, be sure to check out Time to Hunt on Netflix now.

For the record, we would give this 3½ out of 5 stars and it could easily land on 4 stars if the pace was a bit tighter!

Time to Hunt is out on Netflix from April 23, 2020.

Details

Director: Yoon Sung-hyun
Cast: Lee Je-hoon, An Jae-hong, Choi Woo-shik, Park Jeong-min, Park Haesu