A Dystopia That Captivated 3.8 Million Viewers, The Overwhelming Worldview of 'Concrete Utopia' Concrete Market is a spinoff that continues the worldview of Director Um Tae-hwa's masterpiece Concrete Utopia, which was released in 2023 and received acclaim from both critics and audiences. The original film depicted the psychology of a group of humans facing extreme situations, set in the limited space of the "Hwang-gung Apartments," the only building left standing in Seoul after a devastating earthquake. Beyond the simple fear of disaster, it chillingly and realistically portrayed human selfishness and collective madness revealed under the pretext of survival, succeeding in capturing both box office success (attracting 3.8 million viewers) and critical acclaim. Therefore, public expectations for how this fascinating dystopian worldview would expand were naturally sky-high.
Between Survival Instinct and Morality, The Heavy Philosophical Questions Posed by the Original The reason the original could rise to the rank of a masterpiece was that it was not just a simple disaster blockbuster. The process of residents, who initially tried to help each other and establish rules to maintain human dignity, gradually turning barbaric as food and resources were depleted, provided a terrifying sense of immersion. In particular, through the character Young-tak played by Lee Byung-hun, the film touched upon the collective unconscious that a chaotic world needs a dictator with strong charisma rather than democratic procedures, constantly throwing ethical dilemmas at the audience. The irony that good intentions do not necessarily lead to good results, and the narrative that unfolded like a psychology textbook showing how ordinary neighbors turn into monsters in extreme situations, elevated Concrete Utopia beyond a mere entertainment film.
The Misstep of 'Badland Hunters', and the Uneasy Start of 'Concrete Market' However, the expansion of this massive universe was not smooth. Although the Netflix movie Badland Hunters starring Ma Dong-seok was heavily promoted as sharing the same worldview, the result was disappointing. The detailed psychological descriptions and social messages of the original were nowhere to be found, and it degenerated into a "killing time" movie with only Ma Dong-seok's fist action remaining. The "dystopian reality," the most important core of the worldview, was deleted. Under these circumstances, Concrete Market raised another concern. It was originally planned as a drama (series) but drifted without finding a suitable platform, eventually undergoing twists and turns to be released as a theatrical movie after editing. It was a project that was unstable from its inception.
Forcing a Drama into a Movie? The Predicted Box Office Disaster When the poster for Concrete Market was first released, my heart raced once again at the familiar setting of "Hwang-gung Apartments." It was due to the expectation that it might be a true sequel continuing the legacy of Concrete Utopia. However, when I tried to visit the theater, I could hardly find any screens showing it. Perhaps the distributor was not confident in its success, so they were passive in securing screens, and audiences also tended to give up on watching it upon hearing that a drama was forcibly compressed into a movie. The result was disastrous. A cumulative audience of about 30,000. For a work that started with a huge worldview on its back, it received a truly shabby report card and suffered the disgrace of a box office failure.
Return as a Wavve Original Drama, Is the 7-Episode Pace Different? After the failure of the theatrical release, this work met the public again as a 7-episode drama through the OTT platform Wavve, as originally intended. With a mid-form format of about 30 minutes per episode, expectations arose that the narratives cut from the movie version would be restored. However, was it because I had already heard the news of the theatrical version's failure, or was it because of the disappointment felt in Badland Hunters? Even though it was on the main screen of Wavve, my hand did not readily go to the play button. Even as I started binge-watching belatedly, the doubt "Can it really restore the reputation of the original?" did not leave my mind. And now that I have watched all 7 episodes, that doubt has unfortunately turned into certainty.
Hwang-gung Apartments Turned into a Barter Marketplace, Interesting Subject and Setting The core setting of the drama is the "Hwang-gung Market." In a world where currency has become scraps of paper after the great earthquake, daily necessities become life and power. Survivors flock to the Hwang-gung Apartments to obtain necessary items, and this place becomes a huge venue for barter, a market. Since it is a place that solves "appetite" and "survival," the most primal instincts of humans, the setting that the person who controls the market becomes the ruler of the new world is quite plausible. The fact that the closed apartment of the original transformed into a market where outsiders come and go is certainly an interesting device showing the change in society over time.
Canned Food as Currency? Fatal Flaw in Setting and Lack of Plausibility However, this interesting setting runs into a fatal logical error. It is "canned food." In the drama, processed canned food that does not rot appears as the most important currency and weapon. The problem is that this world is an apocalyptic situation where all production facilities have been destroyed. Factories producing canned food have stopped, and the remaining stock is bound to be limited. However, in the market in the drama, canned food is traded and consumed as if it were a resource with an infinite supply. In the original Concrete Utopia, there was a desperation to go out to explore risking lives to find a single piece of food, but such desperation is not felt here. Since the fundamental question "Where on earth do all those cans keep coming from?" is not resolved, immersion is bound to break.
Disappeared Tension, A Narrative Like Playing House, Not a Struggle for Survival With the absence of contemplation on the finiteness of resources, the struggle for survival loses its power. Humans must eat every day to survive, but the focus on the struggle for interests in the market rather than the fear of food depletion approaches somewhat unrealistically. The desperate horror of humanity being annihilated in the face of starvation, which the original showed, is absent in this work. Characters who are only absorbed in buying and selling things like NPCs in a game become a factor that lowers the tension of the dystopian genre. Instead of elaborate psychological warfare over limited resources, simple action and conflicts like gang fights became the main focus, halving the genre appeal of "post-apocalypse."
Actors' Struggles, But Faded Passionate Acting The only consolation is the acting of the actors. Actors with solid acting skills such as Lee Jae-in, Hong Kyung, and Jung Man-sik struggle to digest their respective characters. In particular, the fresh masks of the rookie actors and the weight of the veteran actors play a role in holding the atmosphere of the play, which could easily become light. However, even the actors' good performances were not enough to cover the weak narrative and implausible settings. The motivations for the characters' actions are not clear, and due to editing (or direction) where emotional lines are cut off abruptly, it is difficult for viewers to empathize with their actions. It leaves a deep regret as it is a case of failing to create a proper dish even with good ingredients.
An Unfortunate Work That Should Be Satisfied with Finding a Platform In conclusion, Concrete Market started by relying on the halo of the original but remained a mediocre work that could not bear the weight. The philosophical questions about good and evil and the sharp satire on the social system that Concrete Utopia threw cannot be found, and it remains just a crime drama with a dystopian background. From the drama's perspective, it might be a situation where it should be grateful just to meet the platform called Wavve after drifting and seeing the light of the world. The charming space of Hwang-gung Apartments remains, but it is a hollow universe where the substance (message and reality) that filled it has fallen out. It was a viewing experience that left a bitterness as it seemed to show a bad example of expanding a worldview.
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