Wall to Wall (2025) seemed built on a solid foundation. However, the deeper you delve into its conspiratorial walls, the more fragile they are revealed. This is a shame, because with all its varied themes, it could have been much more impactful. Instead, in his latest foray into the thriller genre, writer-director Kim Tae-joon throws too many ideas to the wind, turning what could have been clever twists into distractions.
Woo-sung (Kang Ha-neul) emerges as a very relatable protagonist. In 2021, he does everything he can to secure his dream home, an 84-square-meter (approximately 904 square feet) property. A diffused-filter montage reveals his efforts, which range from selling land to applying for a loan, and Woo-sung succeeds. At first, it's a joyful moment, but three years later, his life has become a nightmare, and sadly, he doesn't receive much sympathy.
Directors: Kim Tae-joon, Sharon S. Park
Writer: Kim Tae-joon
Stars: Kang Ha-neul, Yeom Hye-ran, Seo Hyun-woo
Formerly engaged, he is now single (a crucial plot point that is never mentioned). After taking out loans, Woo-sung is mired in debt. To save money, he rarely uses electricity, even limiting his air conditioning. His debts weigh him down, as does the stale air and stifling heat of his apartment. The icing on the cake for his stress and misery is the constant banging on the walls when he comes home, with more and more sticky notes stuck to the door, blaming him for the noise. This noise turns him into a target that grows larger the more intense it becomes.
The first half of Wall to Wall (2025) is a tense, ever-escalating thriller. The setting, played by Kang Ha-neul, shows Woo-sung as a legitimately exasperated character, with a touch of naiveté that makes him the perfect protagonist to experience these things. There is just enough humor in his physical performance to bring some levity, even as he suffers. Kim Tae-joon creates a literal nightmare in the first half, grounded in a reality anyone could imagine. Who among us wouldn't go crazy with the constant noise while trying to sleep?
With everyone focused on Woo-sung, one of the two owners of the complex, no one misses him. The debate between landlords and tenants is one of the varied themes present, as a rapidly falling real estate market portends trouble. In his first meeting with the residents' representative, Eun-hwa (Yeom Hye-ran) tells Woo-sung to be patient and wait after a frightening confrontation leads him to file a complaint. Scaring away the undesirables—in other words, the weirdos he doesn't want in the complex—immediately reveals Eun-hwa's nature.
Even so, the people surrounding Woo-sung in the apartment complex are shrouded in mystery. This lack of knowledge highlights the growing sense of isolation he feels. A horrifying nightmare sequence (though it uses sleep within a dreamlike trope that should be retired) exemplifies the building anxiety. And when things finally reach a fever pitch midway through the film, with an intense, yet strangely funny, race-against-time moment in a police station, it almost feels like we should be nearing the end.
After all that surge of energy, the narrative decisions made in the second half of Wall to Wall (2025) fail to sustain the excitement. Part of this is due to the natural euphoria Tae-joon has already achieved. After all, what goes up must come down. In an attempt to keep the adrenaline flowing and Woo-sun and the audience guessing, new twists emerge. However, some twists feel tacked on, likely due to the execution and a fall into overly well-trodden terrain.
This doesn't stop Tae-joon from trying to escalate the situation. Conspiracies are revealed, and technology proves, once again, to be used for evil rather than good. The use of technology as a weapon remains fertile ground for the director, but its inclusion and how it is revealed fail to gel. Instead, with each new revelation, it almost feels like an attempt to outdo itself, even with crumbs to guide the way.
With little room to breathe and let these ideas percolate and settle, Wall to Wall (2025) ultimately falls apart, dragging its pacing and story with it. Sometimes, there is too much of a good thing. In the case of Wall to Wall (2025), there are too many ideas vying for supremacy. It almost feels like two films are trying to fit into one, with a natural cutoff point somewhere in between.
Unfortunately, like the building Woo-sung occupies, Wall to Wall (2025) has its problems with no easy solutions. And despite this thriller's incredible performances, its foundation begins to crumble as it loses steam.
Wall to Wall (2025) premieres exclusively on Netflix July 18.
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