Badland Hunters is a dystopian action film from South Korean martial-arts director Heo Myung-haeng, is set in a post-earthquake Seoul where everything from skyscrapers to society have collapsed. In the chaos, a fearless huntsman sets out to rescue a teenager who has been abducted by a crazed doctor and held captive in a camp full of dangerous cultists.
That’s tough enough, but our hero Nam-san (played by the always-fantastic Don Lee of The Eternals and Train To Busan) may have bitten off more than even he can chew: as if roaming mobs of bad guys weren’t enough to deal with, it turns out that our hero also needs to battle a whole bunch of somethings that are just as deadly and considerably more dead. These ingredients (and the trailer below) mean it’s one of this year’s new Netflix movies that’s definitely got our interest.
Badlands Hunter looks like another South Korean smash
If the trailer is any indication we’re in for some suitably shooty, punchy and aaagh-they-want-your-brains fun.
Badland Hunters is one of the fruits of Netflix’s investment in South Korean talent, which has also brought us shows such as Black Knight. Post-apocalyptic mayhem appears to be a common theme so far, because that too is set in a grim dystopia after a massive disaster – in that case, a meteor strike. It’s had good success, and Badland Hunters may be set to do the same: after all, who doesn’t love a high-octane actioner in a deeply dystopian world where pretty much everything our heroes encounter is trying to kill them, starring one of the most charismatic actors around today?
The hope here – and it’s a comparison that some YouTube commenters have noted – is that Badland Hunters is of the same quality as Don Lee’s zombie thriller Train to Busan, which is a favorite of the TechRadar team. That’s currently sitting with 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, with one reviewer calling it “the best zombie apocalypse movie of all time”. That had a different director, and Badland Hunters looks to have a bigger and more epic scope, if it’s even half as good then it’ll be a good candidate for our list of the best Netflix movies.
Badland Hunters will stream on Netflix worldwide from 26 January.
