View source for Descendants of the Sun/Reviews

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==Review by [[User:Nova984]]==
This Korean drama was a huge rating crusher for SBS at the moment it came out. After all, it had Song Joong Ki and Song Hye Kyo as the double protagonist; the drama boasted an enormous budget to have gorgeous and lush cinematography, a  large cast of actors in top form, and even special effects that would make the VFX artists over at Hollywood blush. 

I confess it's not the best drama I've ever seen, but it's not at all the worst drama I've ever seen. It's an amazing drama, and I think it really has more than deserved much of its worldwide recognition and popularity. The drama has its weaknesses as well as its strengths and it is up to me to make them stand out for you to judge for yourselves whether the drama is worth it or not. 

Song Joong Ki has a character who lives up to his acting skills; his charisma is completely overwhelming. She has a youthful charm but also a mature vitality and strength that would make any woman fall head over heels in love with him. (There are several scenes of him being completely shirtless, OMG!)

Song Hye Kyo, on the other hand, has a very adequate performance, nothing noteworthy, although the dialogue its certainly very cringeworthy, (more on that later) but still for me her performance didn't feel to me at least vibrant or full at life at the very least, quite a shame if I'm being honest. While Song Joong Ki is overflowing with charisma she's a bit bland, but she is still adequate in her role, while she managed to actually be engaging by asserting her characters intelligence, beauty, independence and resourcefulness in several dramatic scenes and in other scenes alongside Song Joong Ki. 

One thing I really like about the Song Joong Ki and Song Hye Kyo character's is how much straightforward they are in communicating their feelings and how direct their actions are. Kudos for that! That was refreshing for once to see that in a drama!

Jin Goo's character over the course of the drama managed to change from being a stiff and stubborn character into a full-fledged character capable of showing a softer side, as for Kim Ji Woon's character she started as brash and abrasive with her interactions with Jin Goo's character, but over time quite like  Jin Goo's character she gradually revealed a softer and endearing side of herself, apart from being a woman who fights for what she wants, what a good role model! The rest of the cast is also quite good and excellent in some cases for managing to bring their characters to life, Kim Min Suk giving a very particularly moving performance in a supporting turn is one clear standout and I must not leave out David McInnis in his role as the intense (and rather hammy) central villain of the drama.

Descendants of the Sun clearly knew how to keep things interesting and also letting the audience guessing where would the plot go next and to keep them at the edge of their seats. Those first few episodes, oh my, are quite the treat, overblown action set pieces everywhere, sadly that also means that the drama at its final episodes does, in fact, lose quite a bit of steam. 

As for the storytelling... erm, not something to brag about, so much CHEESINESS and dialogue that truly was CRINGEWORTHY, I didn't know how to feel at any given scene if bad or to crack out loud. This drama has a very interesting take on is tone, is funny sometimes and others just plain ol' serious action with a keen flair for the melodramatic. Fortunately, the drama's tone is not uneven, but a little bit of restrained from [[Kim Eun Sook]] and [[Kim Won Suk (1977)|Kim Won Suk]] parts during the development of the script would have worked wonders in some key scenes.

The soundtrack was not in fact very well choose for this drama, some of them are in fact good, but not fitting for this drama at all, and as for the musical cues, just like I wrote before something restrained would have worked wonders or just letting moments of silence. Subtlety sometimes is fitting. 

At the end of the day, it's a drama, and it's a perfect case of a drama that entertains and more than one will be able to find something they like and make them want to talk about it with others. It has everything, drama, action, comedy, breathtaking and exotic locations, and sexy Oppas! What more could you ask for?! My rating is 7.0/10!

[[Category:Reviews]]