Squid Game’ Review: Netflix’s Global Hit Wants to Condemn Violence While Reveling in It

Hwang Dong-"Squid hyuk's Game" describes a competition with 456 participants in which the winner receives unlimited money if they survive a harsh gauntlet of catastrophic occurrences. These levels are based on children's playground games, which adds a layer of irony to how cruel they become: For example, in the first stage, a variant of "Red Light, Green Light" in which those who move after "Red Light" are gunned down, more than half of the participants are killed.

More than half of the competitors — approximately 200 people — are eliminated, and "Squid Game" isn't bashful about displaying viscera. The brutality is both unnervingly personal and impersonal: