Director(s): Dong-Hoon Choi
Writer(s): Dong-Hoon Choi
MPAA rating: Unrated (estimated PG-13)
Runtime: 2h 16m
Watched in Korean with English subtitles.
STARRING
Dong-won Kang, Hae-jin Yoo, Yun-seok Kim, and Su-jeong Lim
PREMISE
A magical flute originally made to seal away monsters holds the power to subdue one's enemies. This, of course, means war. On one side is an arrogant Taoist wizard and three moronic but immortal angelic beings. On the other side is a monster disguised as a human. There's also a pretty woman and an often butt-smelling dog in the form of a man. The war begins 500 years ago and, thanks to the powers of magic and immortality, ends with the same characters in the present day.
THEMES
While a theme was there, it came across very weak to me. The movie didn't seem to really be about it at all. (Someone's been taking notes on typical Hollywood screenwriting techniques.)
But here's the theme just so you know it: true power doesn't come through what's on the outside, but rather what's on the inside. In order to defeat his enemy our hero has to turn aside from his arrogant and selfish ways, and his reliance on magical paper charms, to win. He must become a new man and call forth the magic from within. Only in this way can he become a true master of Tao. This all sounds good in words, but in the movie I felt that it was weakly applied.
LIKES
Some of magic stuff was kinda cool.
DISLIKES
I had a very hard time following the plot. I'm sure that was partly because my narrative mind hasn't been trained by Korean mythology and cinema, and partly because the subtitles were going pretty fast. But still, it was hard to follow. I think it was mainly a two-punch combo-hit of writing and editing that did it. Even by the end I wasn't quite sure why or how certain things occurred. I even went back and rewatched some of the film but still wasn't much wiser for it. I'm left with questions, but not the fun/good kind.
The story almost felt like it was "all over the place;" unfocused, confusing. Bah, anyway, see the last paragraph. This issue is probably mostly (if not entirely) because of that issue.
The movie just felt long to me, really long. I was wishing it was over about half to three-quarters of the way through. I'm sure having a hard time keeping up didn't help. It may, in fact, have been the cause.
(This is only the second Korean film I've seen, the first being the animated movie Yobi, the Five-Tailed Fox. I ended up liking that movie, but it was also written in a way that was similar to Woochi. Maybe it's a Korean thing? Have I discovered a form of storytelling that is truly foreign to the way I think?)
I didn't dig the strange way one of the characters mixed Christianity and Eastern religion. It wasn't a big deal the way it was handled, but it just didn't work for me. It was meant as humor but I don't much laugh at stuff like that. An example: in one scene some characters were performing a ritual and it wasn't working. One character asked the Christian guy if he had his Bible, intending to imply that the presence of a Bible would mess things up. The Christian denied having a Bible on him in a manner that implied agreement with this assessment. Hmm.
All the humor fell completely flat for me. It wasn't even amusing.
There were some scenes where I couldn't help but wonder where the cops and witnesses were. The lack of them seemed awfully strange.
S-L-V CONTENT
The film would easily earn a PG-13 rating in profanity and, to some extent, violence (and blood). But there's only very minor sexual content.
ROB'S FINAL OPINION
1 out of 4 stars - I didn't like it.
It was hard to follow and felt way too long, and I was left in some degree of confusion. Nothing about this film really "worked" for me.
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