Parents' Guide to Badland Hunters

This is not a deep or complicated action movie. Paced well and to the point, there's not much dillydallying in Badland Hunters, but there is a ton of violence, blood, gore, and killing. Happily, though, this post-apocalyptic adventure doesn't take itself all that seriously, and it shows. Clearly, it revels in featuring Ma Dong-seok's famous ability to pack a punch. His ever-growing action star status is often well reinforced here, with a handful of creatively violent set pieces that only further the feeling that Ma's punches, power, and fighting ability might really propel him to legendary status.

Fresh off his 2023 Korean box office smash hit, Concrete Utopia, as well as his recent turn as Gilgamesh in Marvel Universe's Eternals, Ma doesn't have to do much acting in Badland Hunters, but the film is none the worse for it. This is a simple and straightforward action film. The characters have a clear and plain mission (go save the girl from the evil doctor) and each threat that stands in the way is playfully and inventively dealt with viciously, violently, and gruesomely. The supporting cast easily hold their own, with Ji-wan (Lee Joon-young) providing moments of comic relief and Gi-su (Lee Hee-joon) supplying deliciously unhinged displays of madness.