Netflix’s Wall to Wall review: Kang Ha-neul is magnetic, but the plot crumbles around him

It’s something worth noting: In Squid Game Season 3, Kang Ha-neul’s Dae-ho can’t go through with the mass murder plan, hastily sketched by Lee Jung-jae’s Gi-hun. He grabs all the ammunition from the dorm, then breaks down—panic attack, paralysis, retreat. He stays behind. He’s safe.

This Dae-ho-like personality is what can be used to describe both Squid Game and Ha-neul’s latest film, Wall to Wall. Both are carrying weaponry and arsenal for a powerful, impactful storyline. They have the right material—and then, even if they don’t have a Dae-ho like panic attack, they run into old, familiar, tried-and-tested territories, dropping all their ammunition and unable to go through with the plan. (We’ll forget that the plan was something as badly sketched like Gi-hun’s in Squid Game). This battered confusion and plotlessness is what led to the steady decline of Squid Game, after its stellar, biting dark first season, and it’s what ruins Wall to Wall. 

You’re almost in the audience, shrieking, but the plot is so good? Don’t ruin it? But the truth is, you won’t ever have complaints against Ha-neul. He, unlike Dae-ho, sticks to his guns and delivers an absolutely riveting performance every time, willing himself into the role.

And, in Wall To Wall, he’s just as stellar, even though the plot, literally, collapses on him.  Directed by Kim Tae-joon, the film revolves around Woo-sung, a new homeowner. He has poured all his savings into this new home, after taking several drastic steps, including selling his mother’s farm. The fragile piece is short-lived, as the mysterious sounds in the building start creeping up on him, almost suffocating him. Thuds. Shouting. It builds up to a gradual sense of sleeplessness and paranoia. The neighbours think he’s at fault, but he has lost his grip on reality. And this first half of the film, is done brilliantly: It succeeds in being claustrophobic, too close, dark and uncomfortable. The dimly lit atmosphere just adds to this atmosphere of unease and anxiety, seeping into you slowly. You see what the film is trying to say: A quiet message about the pressures of ownership, the desperation to succeed that eats away slowly at you, and jarring psychological horror.

Then, there’s a gear shift. It’s almost as if we’re zapped into another film altogether that doesn’t make sense at all: The same Squid Game error shows up:Hugging the ammunition of good storytelling so closely—and just not utilising it. Playing it safe with strange over-the-top twists that really add nothing to the story, and excessive violence that drowns out any form of storytelling. The ending of Wall To Wall is bizarre and convoluted and involves enormous amount of mental gymnastics that make you just want to say, Why though?

Kang Ha-neul is always the star. But like Woo-sung, he’s trapped—in a film that collapses around him.