It is not a hyperbole to say that “Kpop Demon Hunters” stormed the world. Almost two months after the animated film was released on Netflix in June, it’s still the number one film on the Streamer in the United States and the number two film in the world. An elegant animation, a clear writing, catchy songs and an authentic connection with one of the greatest world musical movements all play in this success. But a lot of credit is also due to the stellar vocation, led by Arden Cho, Ahn Hyo-Seop, May Hong and Ji-Young Yoo.
More deeply on the call sheet, there is another name that you can recognize from another global Netflix phenomenon based in Korea – the series of dystopian thriller by Hwang Dong -Hyuk “Squid Game”. The Korean star Lee Byung-Hun plays bad guys in the two projects, depicting the famous Front Man in “Squid Game” and expressing Gwi-Ma, king of demons, in “Kpop Demon Hunters”.
It is a testimony to the ancestry of Korea in global pop culture that Lee has been an important part of the two of Netflix’s greatest successes in recent years. However, while the Western public may not know his work before, he was incredibly prolific long before these massive eruptions.
You have probably seen Lee Byung-Hun in other films
Lee Byung-Hun is especially famous for his work in Korea, which includes the historic television drama “Mr. Sunshine” and films like “Ashfall”, “Joint Security Area” and “I Saw the Devil”. But he also did Hollywood job – in particular, playing the wicked Storm Shadow in “Gi Joe: The Rise of Cobra” and his 2013 suite, “GI Joe: Retaliation”. The same year, he also played a small role in the adaptation of the comic strip “Red 2” and in 2015, he played a T-1000 Terminator in “Terminator Genisys”. In 2016, Lee made another appearance in Hollywood as one of the seven holders, Billy Rocks, in “The Magnifiment Seven” by Antoine Fuqua.
So, if you saw one of these at the time, you caught a little talent from Lee for years before his world escape in “Squid Game”. Although his most recent roles on Netflix have been bad guys, Lee has had a varied career in Korea, playing all kinds of characters and playing in genres, action films and dramas, vintage films and even westerns.
With Korean shows and films that no longer become popular in the United States and on the world scene, it is possible that certain past work of Lee can be removed from the past for a resurgence among the new fans. The fandom “Kpop Demon Hunters” is certainly sufficiently dedicated to do it alone, although I suspect that they can be slightly more interested in the work of Ahn Hyo-Seop. Sorry Lee, but these boys of singers with a dreamy half-syndrome have just struck different. The giant package of magic flames receives no respect these days.
“Kpop Demon Hunters” is currently broadcast on Netflix.
