Haunters (Korea 2010)

Oh man. You know those times when you read about a movie and start developing expectations for it and then the cold, hard hand of reality smacks those expectations to the dirt? Well I really set myself up for disappointment with Haunters (초능력자) aka Psychic (which is ridiculous because his abilities aren't even psychic abilities). However, if I were psychic, I could've seen beforehand what a pile of garbage I'd soon be watching. Sorry, I couldn't help myself.

1991. Cho-in (Yang Kyeong-mo), a boy with a wooden leg and gauze over his eyes, is being dragged through the rain by his mother. His mother explains that he isn't to take the gauze off of his eyes and that he should just trust her. The boy's insanely abusive father comes home swearing and starts beating the boys mother. Fed up, the boy removes his gauze and suddenly we see the man under the boy's control and he deals with his father accordingly. This kid is anything but normal. 2010. Im Gyoo-nam (Ko Soo), is working at a junkyard with his best friends Ali (Enes Kaya) and Boba (Abu Dod), but soon finds himself out of work after he's involved in an accident which lays him up at the hospital. Looking for a new job, Gyoo-nam answers a help-wanted ad at Utopia, a pawn shop run by Jeong-sik (Byeon Hee-bong). Happy in his new position at Utopia, Gyoo-nam seems to be without a care in the world until Cho-in (Kang Dong-won), walks through the door and puts everyone in freeze-mode with his magic eyes...everyone but Gyoo-nam that is. Cho-in can't believe that he's finally run into someone invulnerable to his abilities after all these years. Seems our super-powered figure has been using his ability to rob various shops of their money. He's abnormal and not a good guy. Double whammy. Gyoo-nam tries to fight off Cho-in but during the melee, Gyoo-nam's boss Jeong-sik is killed. Gyoo-nam feels like he's let his boss down and is having a hard time forgiving himself, so with the help of his two goofy, foreign friends, he aims to hunt down Cho-in and bring him to justice.

Well, that was certainly one of the shorter synopsis' that I've written up for a movie. That's probably because almost nothing happens in Haunters. I could tell you that this movie is chock-full of spoiled potential but that would probably just depress you even more. The opening of the film, showing a bit of Cho-in's back-story, looks really good and you think you're in for a really cool, sci-fi/fantasy film with a sharp, glossy look to it. However, after the movie places us in 2010 that all goes out the window. Suddenly the movie looks incredibly low-budget, as if it were made in the 1990's. Not only does it all look different, but everything feels different as if you're watching a completely different movie. The acting is very comedic, which I'm sure was unintentional, but Haunters feels like something you'd catch on a cable network at 2:30 in the morning. We all know that Kang Dong-won is better than this (see: Secret Reunion, Jeon Woo Chi), but here it seems that he's simply dialing it in and collecting that paycheck. His character has zero depth and we really don't ever get to find out what his motivation is for being "evil". Ko Soo and his cohorts are fine enough characters...in a different movie, but here they just feel out of place and Ko Soo's heroics seem to come out of nowhere because he's never perceived as anything but bumbling beforehand. I place a lot of the blame on writer/director Kim Min-suk for Haunters being as big of a mess as it is. Everything feels so unbalanced, from the acting, to the score, down to the abysmal dialogue and inconsistent look. I have to also point out that either Cho-in is terrible at being a villain and using his abilities, or Gyoo-nam is just this insanely lucky guy that can't be brought down. The latter being a bit of a spoiler, but it never gets explained. I always keep my reviews spoiler-free but I have to go on record as saying the ending to Haunters makes zero-sense. Just another hash-mark in the tally of missteps this film goes through.

If the previous paragraph didn't give away my thoughts on Haunters, well then let me make myself even more clear; this is a terrible movie. It can be viewed as amateur at best, but even that would be generous as there are no redeeming qualities to be found here. I never bash movies just for the sake of bashing, but goodness me, I can assure you these harsh comments are not without warrant. (Lee)

Grade: F

71 Into The Fire (Korea 2009)

I've said it time and time again (but who's listening), war is hell, and 71 Into The Fire (포화 속으로) is yet another film that drives that point home. What's different this time around is the perspective in which we view the atrocities of war; through the eyes of teenagers. That can't be right...can it?

It's 1950 and the Korean war is in full effect with the North making it's advances. A unit of South Korean soldiers, led by Kang Seok-dae (Kim Seung-woo), are feeling the pressure and are in constant retreat. With limited resources at their disposal, Seok-dae recruits as many fresh bodies as he can which is where our 71 teenage students come into picture. The 71 students are thrown right into the mess of things (hence the title of the film), with Oh Jang-beom (Big Bang's Choi Seong-hyeon), put in place as the acting commander of his fellow students, because he's the only one with actual battle experience. Reluctantly left in charge of a varied group of misfits and troubled, inexperienced youth, with Koo Kap-jo (Kwon Sang-woo) being the biggest pain in the butt and murderer no less, Jang-beom must muster up the courage to hold down the fort at an abandoned middle school with his comrades to keep the North from advancing. Sounds like a pretty tall order for any of us, let alone being a teenager and having never really handled a rifle before. The group of North Koreans pushing forward are led by General Park Moo-rang (Cha Seung-won), who is as cool as can be and seems completely battle-hardened. Jang-beom tries against all odds to keep his troop together, but Seok-dae and his two goofball buddies have their own agenda and refuse to take orders from our young commander. So with limited weaponry and unruly subordinates, will Jang-beom be able to rally the troops in time to effectively stop the advancing North Korea troops? Or will General Park's men be far too much for these kids to take on? And where the hell is Seok-dae with the backup!?

Premise alone, 71 Into the Fire might sound like a campy, almost comedic take on the war-film genre. However, don't be fooled dear reader as this is indeed a serious film with plenty of blood sprayed across your screen. I suppose it just seems unheard of to most of us to picture teenagers having to lock and load and go to battle with basically no battle experience. However, desperate times call for desperate measures and the Korean war was certainly such a time for many. That being said, let's get down to business. The first half of the film left me mostly unimpressed for a number of reasons. The story is super basic stuff. Northern troops on the move, but Southern troops, teenagers mind you, block their path. However, director Lee Jae-han said, "hey, let's stretch this premise out to two hours shall we?", unnecessarily. Let's shorten some of these scenes...tighten it up people! The action really looks amazing though, I will say that much. If you love explosions, gunfire, slow-motion and people catching rounds with their bodies, then 71 Into the Fire delivers the goods.

Try as I might, I couldn't get past the fact that our young commander was played by a singing and dancing pretty boy, Big Bang's T.O.P., as he's known. Smudging a little mud on the cheeks doesn't exactly make him look like a tough guy. I didn't want to just write him off and as the film went along I did enjoy the journey his character took, from quiet and intimidated to a guy that could lead his fellow men into battle. I warmed up to him but ultimately Choi Seung-hyeon lacked the charisma that takes a lead to another level which made him feel one-note. Oh, what's this!? Another pretty boy, Kwon Sang-woo, playing the bad-boy role yet again? Alas, I really had issues with his character. He's introduced to us as a murderer on his way to juvenile detention but they keep him around because hey, he has a bone to pick with the North Koreans that killed his parents and the South needs soldiers. Sounds like a deal! Add the fact that he's as difficult as can be and altogether obnoxious and you have a character that you roll your eyes at everytime he's on screen because you know what to expect from him. There was some retribution for him later on in the film but it felt like a case of too-little, too-late. The real stand-out performance for me was the North Korean General, Park Moo-rang. This guy was hardcore the minute you saw him and remained that way throughout. Nothing ruffles his feathers and he just made being a bad guy look cool. Job well done I say. The cast of young soldiers were very affecting and there were times where I was genuinely moved by the madness they were all experiencing and the sadness they were conveying. This supporting cast, far too numerous to credit here, were effective and helped in creating a realistic atmosphere.

Let's be honest, the really touching thing about 71 Into the Fire is that it's based on a true story and the actions of these 71 kids that slowed down the North for eleven hours, thus giving the US and South Korean troops an advantage with a counterattack. With that in mind, I believe the filmmakers succeeded in making the importance of that fact clear and while I question some of the casting choices and felt they could've snipped a few minutes here and there, the end result is a mostly successful and ultimately touching look at the unlikeliest of heroes. (Lee)

Grade: B -

Hansel & Gretel (Korea 2007)

One of the best examples of wasted opportunity, Hansel & Gretel (헨젤과 그레텔) is by and large one of the biggest cinematic disappointments for me in recent memory. What could have been, never was and the end result is a flat-out boring film. Shame really.

Eun-soo (Cheon Jeong-myeong) is on his way to visit his mother when he takes his eyes off the road and ends up wrecking his car into a ditch. When he awakes, he finds himself wandering lost into a forest where no one is around and the sun is starting to go down. Out of nowhere a young girl, Yeong-hee (Sim Eun-keyong), comes out of the darkness and greets him warmly, inviting the injured Eun-soo to her home. Once at the home, Eun-soo meets the Yeong-hee's parents and two siblings, Man-bok (Eun Won-jae) and Jeong-soon (Jin Ji-hee). The family lives in an incredibly charming home that appears to be straight out of a fairy tale. However, Eun-soo starts to become skeptical about his new hosts after the parents nervously comment about how they have no phone service for him a call. Eun-soo stays the night and takes notice of other strange things around the house, such as the fact that they only eat sweets and that the television seems to be working without even being plugged in. He tries to leave the home but the family keeps making excuses as to why he shouldn't, all the while the parents act as if they're afraid of their children and what they may do. The children begin to take a liking to Eun-soo after their parents go missing and ask for him to stay and take care of them. Eun-soo resists and continues his snoop around the premises and struggles to escape. He eventually discovers that every adult that has ever come into this home has met a terrible fate and he's afraid that he'll be next. These innocent-looking children aren't what they appear to be and Eun-soo fights to keep them happy while working to discover the secret to this home and these children.

So what you can gather from my quick synopsis is that the house and the children are big red flags in Eun-soo's life, however, unlike every other site, I refuse to tell you exactly what is going on with these kids in this house. That's the big secret of the movie and I refuse to ruin that for you. Suffice to say, it's a pretty cool premise once you find out what it is. Let me get this out of the way, Hansel & Gretel is one of the most visually-stunning Korean movies I've seen in a long time. Director/actor Park Hee-soon (who also plays the horrible Deacon in the film) does a great job in creating this fantastical looking environment within the home, it's grounds and the style of the children. It truly does look like something out of a children's book. I do enjoy the fact that they take a bright and colorful world and spin it in a very dark direction as it makes for an engaging contrast. However, the problem is with the pacing of the story. This is a big problem because the movie is around the 2 hour mark and to be honest, not a lot happens and when it does it's too few and far between. The film follow Eun-soo on a daily basis, keeping the viewer informed with on-screen text (day 1, day 2, etc.), and at times it feels like you've been watching the movie for days. I guess the biggest problem for me was that I was under the impression this was an actual horror/dark remake of the traditional Hansel & Gretel story, so if you thought that, get the idea out of your head because it simply borrows ideas here and there. The story they come up with is alright and the villains (Park Lydia and Park Hee-soon) are truly evil and are also the most engaging characters in the movie. On another note, I typically hate child actors in television, movies, etc., but the three siblings in this film are actually quite good and were very convincing in their roles. However, Eun-soo's character annoyed the crap out of me. There was nothing remotely endearing about his character and I didn't find myself rooting for him to get out of that house. Not a good thing if you're the protagonist of the film. I know a lot of people enjoyed this movie, got high marks and was generally highly-regarded in Korea, but my God I simply don't see it.

Maybe my expectations were shot because they were so unrealistic, but expectations aside, Hansel & Gretel was still a bore. Two thumbs up for the look of the film, which I guess is only worth something if you watch it on mute. (Lee)

Grade: D-