Seobok: Project Clone Review
A concerted effort between an ailing rich man and a private interest group results in the creation of a special cloned specimen. A specimen who is unable to “die” and has the ability to provide essential immortality. In Seobok:Project Clone, we see exactly how well this plays out among the powerful. Spoiler, it sort of doesn’t end well.
Ki Heon (played by Gong Yoo) is former company man suffering from a debilitating untreatable ailment. He spends his days suffering from knee shattering headaches and loss of consciousness. At his most vulnerable state, he is visited by his past boss, Chief Ahn (played by Woo-jin Jo). Chief Ahn “offers” Ki Heon a job: protect a cloned specimen. In return, Ki Heon will be healed for his ailment. Not just treated, but healed. How could he refuse? The specimen he is to protect is a cloned human who can produce cells that can heal everything and has supernatural powers. The clone is an extremely valuable asset as a weapon and as a medical breakthrough.
After the death of key researcher, everyone involved in the project becomes violently paranoid about the integrity of it all. Ki Heon is tasked with protecting the specimen until cell extraction. A job made increasingly difficult as his symptoms are triggered by high stress where is ends up cramping in pain and then passing out. As each encounter becomes increasingly harrowing with explosions and car chases, Ki Heon is having a heck of a time holding it all together.
Somewhere among the flying bullets and shrapnel, Ki Heon begins to see the specimen for what it is: a young boy named Seobok (played by Park Bo Gum). For his whole ten year life, Seobok grew up within the walls of the laboratory subjected to daily testing and minimal human interaction. His “room” is an artificial natural landscape with a digital ocean. He waits for each test staring at the screen of ocean waves, barely paying attention to the cameras and staff monitoring him. Ki Heon jostles between annoyance and disbelief that Seobak is not the most cooperative human. Since Seoback was raised in a laboratory, he lacks almost every common knowledge to survive life independently. A realization that sinks when Ke Heon has to explain what instant ramen is and how to use chopsticks.
This leads to the sinking realization that everything they’ve been experiencing the past two days together is a completely new and alien experience for Seobok. He has never felt the actual sun on his body, never stepped foot among a night market, or even owning and wearing a jacket. Seobok has no idea how to perceive the world around him.
Stories that center around a cloned human is an immediate exploration into ethics and morality. Seobok: Project Clone plays out like an ongoing list of pros and cons of cloning and the value of human lives. There is no clear answer, only a mixture of ideas.
There is a constant pattern of duality that has viewers ping-ponging on who to root for. Ki Heon and Seobok are a great pair to headline the duality theme. Ki Heon has experienced life and knows the value of it. He wants to keep living despite the terrible choices he has made. Seobok was forced upon this existence, has never known what it is to live a human life, and can only equate value to superficial worth. Even as they are being pursued, they each begin to question themselves and life in general.
Gong Yoo proves once again that no matter the genre, he will deliver that mega power of a leading role. One moment he is a fierce fighter and the next clutching at our heartstrings as he writhes in agony. Park Go Bum is just as powerful in charisma level as he switches between cold apathy and child-like awe.
Seobok: Project Clone is a whole balanced package: a science fiction story with ideas to prompt further conversation, speckled with action, and sweetened with heartfelt moments. It is so balanced that it’s hard to hard to designate who is the villain and who is the hero. Every party in the movie has a solid motive that audiences can support. It all hinges upon a pinprick of a decision of one person. Leaving you to wonder, if it was not really about who wins at the end, was it all about what is right?
There is also heavy theme of water throughout the movie. Water is one of the essential thing need to sustain life. On the flip side, drowning is one of the most painful ways to die. Water has been seen as a representative of sub-conscious thoughts, often permeating this representation in dreams. Without giving the story away, there are a few key and meaningful scenes in front of the digital and real ocean. All of the scenes yield interesting and though provoking moments.
The lab where Seobok lives is on a boat and one of the doctors even goes so far as to equate to a Noah’s Ark. In Noah’s Ark, Noah is tasked with a mission from God to create a Ark filled with two of every being as a devastating flood is about to occur. If the lab is Noah’s Ark, then what as the flood? Would the flood have been an increased population from Seobok’s cells granting immortality?
It is a movie that will linger in your mind after the end-credits. The DVD also features actor perspective and interviews that will continue the conversation. Seobok: Project Clone was a beautiful and enthralling movie every second of the way.
Rating: Four out of Five Bowls of Instant Ramen
Digital and Blu-Ray will be released on February 15, 2022
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Well Go USA Entertainment (www.wellgousa.com) is a theatrical and home entertainment distribution label that specializes in bringing the best in action, genre and independent films from the U.S. and around the world to North America. Well Go titles can be seen across a variety of platforms, including in theaters, on-demand, via DVD and Blu-ray and on television, as well as on mobile and connected devices through martial arts movie app Hi-YAH! (www.hiyahtv.com). Well Go USA Entertainment’s corporate headquarters is in Plano, Texas, with an additional office in Taiwan. Well Go is an Oscar®-nominated distribution company.
