Save the Green Planet (2004)
91%RT Audience Score: 88%
Awards & Nominations: 20 wins & 2 nominations
Save the Green Planet is a visually stunning and genre-bending film that will leave you on the edge of your seat. With its mix of horror, comedy, and science fiction, it’s a roller-coaster ride of emotions that will have you laughing one minute and gasping the next. The film’s punk graphics and snaking camera add a unique zest to the story, while its heartbreaking and suspenseful moments are balanced with dark humor. Director Joon-hwan Jang’s free-ranging mood and astringent finale make this film a masterpiece curio that is truly out-there. It’s a demented yet humane call for saving the Earth that will entertain and surprise you until the very end.
Save The Green Planet is a wild ride that will have you laughing, crying, and questioning your sanity all at once. With its mix of horror, comedy, and sci-fi, this film is a true masterpiece curio that will leave you entertained and visually satisfied. Plus, who doesn’t love a film that calls for saving the Earth? It’s like a roller-coaster ride for your emotions, and you won’t regret taking the plunge. So buckle up and get ready for a demented yet humane adventure that will have you cheering for the green planet!
Production Company(ies)
Mappa Genco
Distributor
NA
Release Type
Filming Location(s)
MPAA / Certificate
Not Rated
Year of Release
2003
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby Digital
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Aspect ratio:1.78 : 1
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Runtime:NA
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Language(s):Korean
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Apr 4, 2003 Original
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 20, 2005
Genre(s)
Comedy/Drama
Keyword(s)
Save the Green Planet!, Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi, Korean, directed by Jang Joon-hwan, written by Jang Joon-hwan, starring Shin Ha-kyun, Baek Yun-shik, Hwang Jeong-min, Lee Jae-yong, Lee Joo-hyun, Ki Joo-bong, reviewed by Andrea Gronvall, Derek Adams, Noel Murray, Jeff Shannon, Murray Whyte, Jennie Punter, Panos Kotzathanasis, Ian Berriman, Ethan Alter, Bob Westal, Walter Chaw, Jeffrey M Anderson, $14.6K box office, 90% Tomatometer, 88% audience score, aliens, chemical production company, kidnapping, torture, hybrid genres, punk graphics, snaking camera, suspense, horror, pathos, roller-coaster ride, inventive, unpredictable, cohesive, cult following, dark comedy, revenge thriller, science fiction, tragedy, punk graphics, snaking camera, reviewed by Chicago Reader, Time Out, AV Club, Seattle Times, Toronto Star, Globe and Mail, HanCinema, SFX Magazine, Film Journal International, Film Threat, Combustible Celluloid
Worldwide gross: $15,516
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $25,149
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 3,118
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 2,743
US/Canada gross: $15,516
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $25,149
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,793
US/Canada opening weekend: $3,040
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $4,927
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,801
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Baek Yun-shik – Kang Man-shik
Hwang Jeong-min – Sun-i
Lee Jae-yong – Detective Choo
Lee Joo-hyun – Detective Kim
Ki Joo-bong – Squad Leader Lee
Director(s)
Jang Joon-hwan
Writer(s)
Jang Joon-hwan
Producer(s)
NA
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
20 wins & 2 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (41) | Top Critics (18) | Fresh (37) | Rotten (4)
Punk graphics and a snaking camera add zest to the story, which is alternately heartbreaking, suspenseful, and darkly funny.
June 6, 2007
Andrea Gronvall
Chicago Reader
TOP CRITIC
The film oscillates between wild humour, suspense, horror and pathos, sometimes all in one shot. It’s quite something.
February 9, 2006
Derek Adams
Time Out
TOP CRITIC
Save The Green Planet has a free-ranging mood, mixing tragedy and comedy irregularly, but Jeong’s film is equally free with genre, and entertains its audience openly before pouring on the astringent.
September 26, 2005
Noel Murray
AV Club
TOP CRITIC
Like any roller-coaster ride, it may make you queasy, but you’ll never be bored.
August 5, 2005 | Rating: 2.5/4
Jeff Shannon
Seattle Times
TOP CRITIC
Demented yet somehow humane, Save The Green Planet is a visually ingenious hybrid melding horror, black comedy, revenge thriller and science fiction into an unpredictable, cohesive whole.
July 22, 2005 | Rating: 3.5/4
Murray Whyte
Toronto Star
TOP CRITIC
Entertaining, visually inventive and truly out-there.
July 22, 2005 | Rating: 3/4
Jennie Punter
Globe and Mail
TOP CRITIC
Additionally featuring a great finale, and a number of twists better left unsaid in this review, “Save the Green Planet” is a masterpiece curio, and at the same time, so much more.
April 7, 2019
Panos Kotzathanasis
HanCinema
Clearly designed to win a cult following, its “chuck everything, including the kitchen sink in” approach to weirdery treads a fine line between “endearingly bat’s-arse” and “trying a bit too hard”.
April 19, 2011
Ian Berriman
SFX Magazine
Part thriller, part dark comedy, part sci-fi epic, Save the Green Planet is both insanely addictive and completely insane.
March 1, 2007
Ethan Alter
Film Journal International
Save the Green Planet may look like an ironic, jet black comedy — and it succeeds brilliantly on that level — but in it’s sad and wistful heart, it’s a completely sincere call for saving the Earth.
December 6, 2005 | Rating: 4.5/5
Bob Westal
Film Threat
Wrapped up in all this madness is an affecting human core.
November 2, 2005 | Rating: 3.5/4
Walter Chaw
Film Freak Central
Save the Green Planet just can’t shake its repellent, stagnant mood.
October 9, 2005 | Rating: 2/4
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid…
Plot
A traumatized young man abducts Korean leaders, believing they’re toxic reptilian aliens – a fifth column launching a takeover of beloved Earth. Stumped law enforcement geniuses half-seriously hire a disgraced, disheveled private detective with a long-ago history of super-crime solving. The alienated South Korean youngster Lee Byeong-gu builds an isolated basement command post/torture chamber/film studio to force the awful truth out of the slimy, uncooperative politicians and businesspeople, then alert the public. Byeong-gu is helped by his devoted girlfriend, who buys his theories, but wonders if his horrible childhood has colored his thinking.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Shin Ha-kyun’s performance as Lee Byeong-gu is praised by critics as “strong” and “great.”
Jang-Joon-hwan.jpg
