Big Bang's follow up repackage of Alive, "Still Alive" drops with Monster as the title track. HERE WE GO AGAIN, LAWL (Inb4 Big Bang jacked 2NE1's Ugly)
This MV is a pseudo-storyline MV. It doesn't really have a consistent exposition of a real storyline, unless you count brooding and pacing around as legit rising action (If you do, you probably thought Twilight was a riveting adventure novel too huh?). The video opens up with what seems to be a bombardment of some kind of prison camp. The whole thing is shot in shaky first-person handheld camera format, a setup that seems very familiar doesn't it?
As nausea-inducing as it may be, I was actually quite stoked to see this intro. Explosions, gritty dystopian feel? It felt like the more mature, cohesive version of Fantastic Baby's "plotline" dressed up in a summer blockbuster Michael Bay would be proud to call his own. But alas, as soon as our first-person perspective makes it to a door and inside the facility, the music starts and all we get is Big Bang running around and/or brooding.
They also smash shit too, showcasing their martial ability in an orgy of slow mo and flying plaster(?) chunks.
Why they go out of their way to beat the shit out of some mannequins, I have no idea. Based on the explosions still going on around/inside the building, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the storyline is some kind of escape from a prison facility. Going off the "Monster" theme, it might even be an secret laboratory where BIG BANG ARE FREAKS ESCAPING FROM THE DUNGEONS OF YG ENTERTAINMENT (despite trying to get inside it in the first place). Truth in fiction, some might say.
While this is a more... cohesive set of ideas than Fantastic Baby's schizophrenic clusterfuck of an MV was, ultimately it still falls flat to me. Not only is Monster a waste of a perfectly great story line set up by the intro to the MV, ultimately this MV is just a bunch of oddly dressed/styled guys dancing/brooding around an exploding set. If any other group did this, we'd all join hands in laughing at how stupid they looked and all the random "What the fuck were they thinking?" moments in this MV.
But since it's Big Bang and YG we're talking about, a lot of the mediocrity is covered up with the Bay-sian explosions and what is quickly becoming YG's trademark "Throw a fuckton of cash at something and call it a day" production style. As such, VIPs are feeding in on this shit by digging for faux-intellectual "interpretations" of how deep and symbolic and philosophical this MV really is.
"OPPAS ARE TRYING TO SAY THAT EVEN THOUGH WE MIGHT BE UGLY AND FAT AND JEALOUS AND INSIGNIFICANTFANGIRLS LITTLEMONSTERS MONSTERS, WE'RE STILL PEOPLE TOO SARANG US FOREVER"
Oh please. If anything, Big Bang is saying "EVEN THOUGH WE'RE DRESSED LIKE COKED UP TRANSEXUALS, YOU'LL STILL BUY OUR MERCHANDISE CAUSE WE'RE STILL BIG BANG UNDERNEATH ALL THIS SHIT." And it is A LOT of shit that stacked on top of them.
The song itself is pretty good. After the autotuned electrodance beats that Fantastic Baby punched you in the face with, Big Bang scales it back with a softer more melodic track. The dueling raptalking bits at the beginning may throw you off, but the rest of the song flows well. No glaring Engrish problems, but my biggest gripe is the brief lull in the song where one would normally expect a climatic vocal explosion. It's really disconcerting for me, but that's just my opinion. The song also fizzles out a bit without really ending on any solid note. "I think I'm sick, I think I'm sick" is weird as fuck.
TL;DR:
More WTFuckery theatrics from Big Bang for a solid follow up track that you might enjoy more than Fantastic Baby.
I give this MV a 3.5 out of 5. (It was originally a 2 out of 5, but since the song is far better than the MV and TOP's badass hat and cape was quite badass, it got an extra 1.5 outta me.)
This MV is a pseudo-storyline MV. It doesn't really have a consistent exposition of a real storyline, unless you count brooding and pacing around as legit rising action (If you do, you probably thought Twilight was a riveting adventure novel too huh?). The video opens up with what seems to be a bombardment of some kind of prison camp. The whole thing is shot in shaky first-person handheld camera format, a setup that seems very familiar doesn't it?
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| OMG IT'S... STILL ALIVE!! (AWWWWWWWWWW YEAAAAAAAAAAAH) |
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| Can't take TOP's running seriously ever since the Big Bang special episode for Running Man... LOL |
Why they go out of their way to beat the shit out of some mannequins, I have no idea. Based on the explosions still going on around/inside the building, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the storyline is some kind of escape from a prison facility. Going off the "Monster" theme, it might even be an secret laboratory where BIG BANG ARE FREAKS ESCAPING FROM THE DUNGEONS OF YG ENTERTAINMENT (despite trying to get inside it in the first place). Truth in fiction, some might say.
While this is a more... cohesive set of ideas than Fantastic Baby's schizophrenic clusterfuck of an MV was, ultimately it still falls flat to me. Not only is Monster a waste of a perfectly great story line set up by the intro to the MV, ultimately this MV is just a bunch of oddly dressed/styled guys dancing/brooding around an exploding set. If any other group did this, we'd all join hands in laughing at how stupid they looked and all the random "What the fuck were they thinking?" moments in this MV.
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| Wat |
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| What were they even trying to go for with this?? (And the movie is "In Time" starring Justin Timberlake if you were curious.) |
"OPPAS ARE TRYING TO SAY THAT EVEN THOUGH WE MIGHT BE UGLY AND FAT AND JEALOUS AND INSIGNIFICANT
Oh please. If anything, Big Bang is saying "EVEN THOUGH WE'RE DRESSED LIKE COKED UP TRANSEXUALS, YOU'LL STILL BUY OUR MERCHANDISE CAUSE WE'RE STILL BIG BANG UNDERNEATH ALL THIS SHIT." And it is A LOT of shit that stacked on top of them.
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| Look at that magnificent shroom of hair billow around his head. |
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| Taeyang's down for that bull/cow bestiality roleplay. |
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| In a band of crazy fucked up guys, TOP remains the pillar of consistent good looks. Fuck yeah, you'd hit that. |
TL;DR:
More WTFuckery theatrics from Big Bang for a solid follow up track that you might enjoy more than Fantastic Baby.
I give this MV a 3.5 out of 5. (It was originally a 2 out of 5, but since the song is far better than the MV and TOP's badass hat and cape was quite badass, it got an extra 1.5 outta me.)
Thank you for reading article [MV Review] Big Bang - Monster
