Connect: Movie

Here’s a long, detailed review for the 2022 Korean sci-fi thriller Connect (also known as Connect: The Secret of the Cell or simply Connect ), directed by Takashi Miike. Rating: ★★★½ (3.5/5)

But the true highlight is Go Kyung-pyo as Oh Jin-seok, the killer. Known for his lovable, goofy roles in K-dramas ( Reply 1988 , Chicago Typewriter ), Go delivers a jaw-dropping transformation. He plays Jin-seok as a smiling, soft-spoken psychopath who genuinely believes he’s an artist. He’s not a hulking brute; he’s a charming, fragile-looking man who will calmly discuss the color of your blood before painting with it. It’s a career-defining villain turn. Connect is only six episodes, but it feels both too short and too long. The middle episodes (3-4) drag significantly, focusing on repetitive cat-and-mouse chases and underwhelming subplots. The hacker character, despite the actress’s best efforts, is underwritten—her motivations are vague, and she often acts illogically to move the plot forward. connect movie

The body horror is top-tier. Miike doesn’t hold back. Eye-gouging, impalement, and the killer’s “art” are depicted with a gleefully disturbing attention to detail. It’s violent, but it’s never purely sadistic—it serves the theme of disconnection and lost humanity. Here’s a long, detailed review for the 2022

The finale is also divisive. Without spoilers, it abandons the tight thriller structure for a bombastic, almost video-game-like boss fight. It’s cool to watch, but it feels thematically disconnected from the intimate horror of the first two episodes. Connect is not a masterpiece. It’s messy, illogical, and occasionally boring. The plot holes are big enough to drive a truck through. But here’s the thing: you won’t forget it. Jung Hae-in proves he can do more than romantic leads, suffering with raw, silent intensity. Go Kyung-pyo creates one of the most unsettling villains in recent K-content history. And Takashi Miike injects every frame with a punk-rock energy that most mainstream series lack. He plays Jin-seok as a smiling, soft-spoken psychopath

There’s no director quite like Takashi Miike ( Audition, Ichi the Killer, 13 Assassins ). He can turn a simple premise into a surreal, violent fever dream. So when the legendary Japanese filmmaker takes on a Korean-produced sci-fi thriller for Disney+, expectations are unusual. Connect doesn’t disappoint in its weirdness, but it does stumble in its ambition. The result is a series that is frustratingly uneven, yet utterly unforgettable. The story follows Ha Dong-soo (Jung Hae-in), a young man who is kidnapped by a sinister organ-harvesting ring. After having his eye removed, he wakes up in a bathtub full of ice, only to discover a horrifying side effect: he can now see through the eye that was taken from him. That eye has been transplanted into a brutal serial killer named Oh Jin-seok (Go Kyung-pyo), who calls himself a “new human” and paints grotesque artworks with his victims’ blood.

Connect is a bloody, beautiful, broken mirror. Look into it—but be prepared for what stares back.