The Sympathizer

People expect serious tv series like Band of Brothers, Chernobyl, Shogun or The Last of Us. But this is Edgar Wright's style comedy but tv show. Funny, Engaging, Interesting and Good Acting. This is better Comedy than F. R. I. EN. D. S or Oscar bait serious WAR movies like Saving Private Ryan, Hacksaw Ridge and 1917 which are overrated. People's imagination go War movies or series not serious low rating. If you like What We do in the Shows, Tropic Thunder, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, or any Edgar Wright's Movies like I did You will have a Wonderful time and have a Fun watching the show unless if you are expecting serious war TV show.

I was really looking forward to watching this, especially after reading the source material and its sequel. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't as great as it could have been. I thought the creative liberties taken were welcome, but what I thought was missing through the series was The Captain's thoughts on capitalism, imperialism, and what it is like being Asian in the U. S. A. His thoughts were touched upon, but never examined with the level of depth the book did.

The story is ultimately about how The Captain lost sight of which side he was fighting for, and that he couldn't be a part of what he hoped to. That wasn't conveyed as clearly as it could have been.

The show felt more interested in showing the General as paranoid, yet intimidating and RDJ as the deceiptfulness of white America / imperialism.

Excellent casting and all brilliant actors. Fun, intense and with some slightly surreal twists and a nice touch of dark comedy in addition. A nice and fresh take to the usually fairly cliche spy genre. I couldn't take my eyes off the screen for a second in fear of missing a point or quirky twist of events. Robert Downey Jr is brilliant in 4 (or is it 5?) slimy roles, and he does each one brilliantly. But every single actor, main and others, are so well cast and brilliantly portraying their characters. I haven't read the book and don't intend to, so I've had the pleasure of being entirely unprepared, hence free/unbiased and able to just lean back and enjoy the ride. This is the best I've seen in a long time.

Didn't quite live up to the massive expectations I had from an HBO and A24 co-production, but it's still better than a lot of miniseries you'll watch.

The Sympathizer is all about perspective. A Vietnamese perspective of the events. A Communist perspective of the events. Something that is absent from the Hollywood productions about the war.

The complex politics of Vietnam War told by our lead, two-faced spy, and unreliable narrator, the Captain. Hoa Xuande gives an absolutely great performance in this role, supported by Oscar winner, Robert Downey Jr in multiple roles.

As I haven't read the original novel, I cannot judge this show as an adaptation. But, the writing and story deserves a lot of praise. Doesn't take sides and criticises both parties of the war along with the American influence. According to writer's own words, he understood "how the revolution had gone from being the vanguard of political change to the rearguard hoarding power".

PCW's direction in the first 3 episodes is great, as expected. His style, especially in the editing choices, is absent from the rest of the episodes. It also has a bit of pacing issue for which I couldn't engage with the plot as I would have loved to. That's why I am not rating it any higher. But I loved the ending, and the finale was my favourite episode.

I didn't know what to make of this mini-series from the previews. It seemed underwhelming. And Robert Downey Jr. Looked all the bit of a caricature.

However, realizing Park Chan-wook was involved, heavily gave me all the faith needed to fully invest. His work on the original Old Boy, Sympathy for Mr Vengence and Thirst brought Korean Cinema into its golden age, two decades ago.

The Sympathizer itself has the hallmarks of a Chan-wook film. The absurd, yet believable and charming characters. The constant sense of dread and a plot that feels like it can punish someone you are starting to care for, very quickly.

Excited to see where the series goes and feeling confident it's going to be good with its source material being a Pulitzer Prize winner.