First there's the science fiction aspect, which sets the movie in 2020 A.D. We get a futuristic city in Korea called Inner City. In terms of the future, it's a bit realistic, as we don't have flying cars, talking robots, weird shaped furniture, or a society filled with bliss and harmony. Rather, it's a society that is more or less a rougher version of now. The technology is pretty much the same, we're still using lead bullets in our guns, cars pretty much look the same, society has its ups and downs, etc. Despite that the futuristic setting seems realistic and fits, there's absolutely no reason for it. It really doesn't bring much to the feature, except for one thing. In the future, there've been advancement and acceptance in genetics research. Human cloning, while not entirely mainstream, has been more or less perfected. Finally, it is accepted that genetics dictates human behavior. A concept which I found hard to believe, I tend to consider that environment holds a bigger role in a person's decision-making ability. Anyways, this idea plays a large role in the film, as you'll see there are some folks who aren't one-hundred percent natural human beings.

The action aspect of this film revolves around a few fight scenes. Throughout the movie, we travel along with the police department's Special Investigations Unit, which is the equivalent to our modern homicide unit. They are tracking a ruthless serial killer named Goliath (Choi Min-su). He's more than willing to butt heads with our main hero Seok (Kim Seung-woo) and his number one sidekick May (Kim Seon-ah). Resulting, we get to see a few fight scenes and a few gun fights. Some of these high-paced action scenes are entertaining, but there's also a few that there's a little too much action going on and it's really hard to tell what just transpired.

Finally, the last major aspect of this movie is suspense. The story is written to provide a lot of mystery. The basic outline, as mentioned earlier, is that the Special Investigations Unit must track a serial killer. However, there are plenty of twists and turns in their travels, because what they think is a simple killer turns out to be much more complicated. There's a huge story that wraps around Goliath and in turns, encapsulates our main hero Seok and another character, Hui-su (Kim Yoon-jin). She's a forensic profiler who gets brought in the story when her father is killed. Also, as the story develops, a couple of characters are revealed to have many faces. This adds to the suspense, because who can you trust?

Overall, the various aspects of this movie did not seem to be developed that well. The science fiction aspect was pretty light and far from original. The underlying story that touches upon the science fiction aspect has been done previously, while not in the exact context, the underlying idea isn't very original. The action aspect was touch and go. There were some really cool and attention-grabbing fight scenes, but there were also some that really didn't stimulate me as a viewer, rather made it more difficult to follow the movie. The suspense/thriller aspect was done fairly well. All things considered, the movie did not turn out as I would have guessed. However, the story used to make the movie twist and turn just wasn't that exciting. When the movie ended, I knew the full story and I had an "oh that's it?" moment. The bottom line is that Yesterday isn't a touch notch movie, but it is interesting enough to make for a good single viewing.

The DVD

Video:
The video of Yesterday is in a beautiful anamorphic 1.78:1 ratio widescreen color format. The picture looks nearly flawless, with only slight traces of grain. However, the majority of the feature is dark, which highlights the grain fairly well. Besides the light grain in the picture, there were no other noticeable defects. I was quite happy with the quality, but disappointed that the audio values did not match up.

Audio:
The audio in this DVD release comes in two flavors. You have the option of watching the feature dubbed in English 5.1 Dolby digital surround sound or Korean 2.0 Dolby digital stereo sound, its original language. At a first glance you may consider picking the 5.1 track, because ultimately it promises greater variety to the listening experience. Unfortunately, the 5.1 track isn't much better than the 2.0 track. The dialogue is relatively flat, which is expected. However, sound effects give absolutely nothing and remain as rich as the dialogue. On the other hand, music tends to get a little more power, hitting the bass very slightly. Overall, the audio in the 5.1 track could have sounded a lot better. On a positive note, the 5.1 track seemed to take advantage of the multi-channel setup, providing a clear distinction between channels. A similar comment can be made for the 2.0 track. There are subtitles in the English language.

Extras:
The special features for this release aren't all that exciting. The first is the original Korean trailer for the film, which is entertaining for a single watch. There are also trailers for Conduct Zero, Dark Water, 2009: Lost Memories, Gamera Box Set, Shinobi, and The Princess Blade. The next extra is "Yesterday Movie Highlights", which is essentially fifteen minutes of various scenes from the movie. There's also a "Making Of" documentary. It really isn't much of a documentary, as there is very little interaction with the cast and crew. It's twenty-five minutes of watching the cast and crew do various scenes take after take. Some of the more interesting scenes we get to see include a fight scene and a gun fight. The final special feature is a set of interviews with Kim Seung-woo, Kim Yun-jin, and Kim Seo-nah. If you enjoy the movie, then the extras should appeal to you. However, if you're like me and really weren't blown away, the extras probably won't provide a lot of entertainment.

Final Thoughts:
Yesterday is a movie filled with some poorly developed science fiction aspects, a few good fight scenes that makes for some decent action, and a fairly good approach to suspense, which unfortunately uncovers a rather bland storyline. If you're looking for a sub-par movie with traces of the aforementioned, Yesterday might be for you. I thought the film was a decent watch, but it's nothing I would expect to want to see over and over again. There are just not enough good things about it. The movie's appeal is very limited and unless you really love gunfights and boring stories filled with twists and turns, rent it.