One thing that really irks me is being "lured" into watching a drama or movie on the basis of the cast lineup but finding out that I have wasted my time because the story turns out to be such a letdown. Unfortunately, "Wonderland" is one more title I can add to my list of works that fit this definition.
To be honest, I wasn't keen on checking this out when I first read news of its production. Out of the 5 leads, I was only interested in Jung Yu-mi and Choi Woo-shik and wanted to see how they would act together after seeing so much of their siblings' bond in the Korean variety shows they did. It was only when Netflix started pushing this in their recommendations and the plot seemed interesting and novel enough so I decided to give it a shot. I didn't start off with having sky-high expectations in the first place and yet still felt quite disappointed.
The concept itself could be said to be quite in tune with the current enthusiasm over AI and how it has an impact on our lives in various aspects. Using generative AI to produce images and videos of the people who had passed away or actually still alive but in an unconscious state so that the living could still engage with the supposed dead - there is actually a lot of room for discussion as to whether it is ethical and good for those who are still living. The story simply dishes out this cutting edge technology but how it was used by the characters in this movie without explaining properly who created this for what reason and to be used for what purpose as well as what is the ultimate outcome that this choice leads to. And to make things worse, it seems like the fundamental rules and operating logic of this technology aren't clear-cut and standardised. While I can imagine that the dead can choose to use this so that their living family members can still engage with them if they miss the departed, what then is the goal for this arrangement? And how do they end things - is it decided by the living unilaterally or the departed whose "consciousness" exists in Wonderland? And what happens when the arrangement ends? The data is deleted or still stored somewhere? And why would the consciousness of a dead person involve yet another dead person? And can the Wonderland staff decide on their own what is good or bad for the client and put an end to the arrangement without their consent?
Likewise, this technology is restricted to family or people are related by marriage, it would look logical from a legal aspect but how about an unmarried couple like who Suzy and Park Bo-gum played? It was never explained properly how Tae-joo got injured and why Jeong-in was so bent on keeping him "alive" in a fictitious world other than the flashback scenes which suggested that they were very much in love. However, what are the safeguards and controls to stop someone from abusing the system? Could someone just go to the company and ask for this service without making sure that it's not some jilted lover or stalker wanting to live out their fantasies through Wonderland?
I can do with a bit of guesswork through clues or indirect revelations in stories instead of having everything spelled out. However, I wonder how many people actually realised who Gong Yoo's character was until they did a search online. I for one couldn't find anything in the movie which indicated who he was (other than he seemed like a stranger with a romantic vibe) so I was flabbergasted to find out - how did the director expect the viewers to know for sure? And why was the Wonderland staff able to contact him to go and save another dead person in her fictional world? I would expect to find out and know everything about the story through the movie itself but if I have to fill in the blanks through Wikipedia or Google after watching, it totally defeats the purpose of watching the movie in the first place. This is somewhat similar to watching a drama and they tell you that you have to watch the spin-off for the ending. Equally, if not even more annoying, I would say.
I don't have an issue with using the cast lineup as "bait" because interest needs to be generated for people to have the urge to check out the work. While the synopsis can be a clue into telling whether the work will be your cup of tea, the façade still has to be attractive enough since first impressions do matter. The worst thing that can happen is, the story is beyond salvage that not even a star-studded or capable cast can uplift it.
In view of this reason, it is hard to critique the cast's performance because I felt that the lacklustre acting wasn't entirely their fault. The story itself did not make much sense in the first place with so many loopholes and lacked logic despite being a sci-fi fantasy. With a crippling script like this, I wonder if the cast did understand what the director or scriptwriter was trying to convey in the first place because the characters lacked much depth and emotions portrayed were superficial at best. This could jolly well turned out to be something which was more emotionally moving but alas, it was not meant to be.
Open-ended stories without everything laid bare are fine. Implied developments and settings are still acceptable. What feels like a journey to nowhere is something like this movie when you end up wondering - "and then, so what?". Perhaps it is more important to work on crafting the story to make some sense rather than banking on big names to save a sinking ship.
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