Once I first was launched to the South Korean sci-fi motion flick Alienoid, I anticipated a narrative set sooner or later, one filled with robots, aliens, neon-colored cities, and glossy futuristic hovercraft. In fact, it does not take lengthy so that you can notice that this isn’t what Alienoid is. In reality, it is quite tough to place collectively what style the film actually suits into, what sort of tone it is going for, and even what the plot is at occasions. Directed by Choi Dong-hoon, who noticed industrial success with the caper The Thieves and interval movie Assassination, Alienoid boasts stunning costumes, expertise the likes of Kim Woo-bin and Kim Tae-ri, and splashy particular results.
However what Alienoid is defies categorization. Is it a comedy? Is it drama? Is it motion? Is it science-fiction? Is it fantasy? It’s all of these items and extra and that is the inherent drawback. Immensely uneven in tone, severe scenes are intercut with slapstick humor to the purpose the place it is tough to discern generally if what you are watching is supposed to make you snigger or not. On high of that, this can be a story that’s crammed filled with plot traces. Not solely is there a narrative set within the 14th century through the Goryeo Dynasty, however with the added confusion of time journey we additionally get a narrative in current day. Every of those settings has its personal host of characters that originally haven’t any tie to one another. For about half of the film it feels such as you’re concurrently watching two movies.
Alienoid follows Guard (Kim Woo-bin) and his robotic sidekick Thunder (Kim Dae-myung, who generally can shapeshift himself to appear to be Guard) as they handle alien prisoners on Earth. The prisoners on their planet don’t get positioned in bodily jails however are imprisoned within the our bodies of people. With the flexibility to leap by way of time, the 2 place prisoners within the our bodies of unwitting people throughout time. The start of the movie places us within the 14th century chasing down an escapee. Caring for the prisoner, Guard and Thunder return to the Twenty first-century return with a child woman. This woman, named Lee Ahn (Choi Yu-ri/Kim Tae-ri), finally grows up underneath the care of Guard and Thunder.
On the coronary heart of this story is Ahn and Guard. The scenes that includes Guard and the younger Ahn are literally among the most entertaining moments of the film. The plot is completely digestible, and it performs on the tried-and-true formulation of the reluctant dad and adopted little one trope that proves to at all times achieve success. Although Guard is distant with Ahn and reiterates that he does not care about people, the 2 kind a bond. Thunder, who is much extra sympathetic to Ahn, acts extra like her companion, although he can even shapeshift into the physique of Guard. Imagine it or not, that is essentially the most coherent a part of the movie.
The place it flies off the rails is after we bounce again to the 14th century, and now we comply with Mureuk (Ryu Jun-yeol) who’s a type of wandering adventurer and wizard. He has a magical fan that enables him to drag issues out in battle like a sword and a pair of kittens that may remodel into human sidekicks. Mureuk is trying to find a legendary dagger mentioned to be extremely precious. On this search, he comes throughout a mysterious one that is understood solely as the girl who shoots thunder. The 2 have a comical romance with one another based mostly partly on deception and their pursuit of the dagger. Once more, this is part of the film that really works fairly effectively. The chemistry and humorous situation proves to be entertaining when it isn’t getting misplaced within the vastness of the panorama of the movie.
This is not to say that I do not get pleasure from sci-fi or fantasy, and even tales that efficiently meld the 2 genres into one thing extra thrilling, the truth is, there are glimmers of hope for Alienoid. The way in which it weaves timelines collectively is just not precisely fully new territory, however it’s nonetheless efficient. The concept of aliens storing their prisoners in people additionally works, particularly as Guard reveals extra about his residence planet and why his individuals determined to undertake this technique. The younger and precocious Ahn is the proper viewers stand-in to query him. And it isn’t that the comedy of the plot set within the 14th century does not work, at factors the humor is harking back to one thing from the portfolio of Stephen Chow.
However Alienoid is a film that does not know what it desires to be. When it really nestles itself right into a style it is a enjoyable romp, however earlier than you will get your bearings you are thrown into one other story. It really helps you could see the twist coming miles away as a result of it helps you place the items of disparate components collectively. It is rather clear that Choi was swinging for the fences with this one, and the ending of the movie leaves ample room for future installments (the truth is the Korean title has a subtitle saying it’s Half 1). You may distinctly see within the motion sequences that he’s making an attempt to mimic Hollywood blockbusters like The Avengers – one thing that Choi admitted to press throughout a screening that he wished to emulate. However generally you swing, and also you knock the ball out of the park, and generally the opposite staff catches the ball, and also you’re out. With a price range of about 33 billion received, equal to about 25.3 million {dollars}, the visible high quality of the film is there, however that does not imply it is a residence run.
Time will inform if Half 2 is a extra satisfying conclusion and ties collectively most of the free threads within the story, however for now, Alienoid is a film that desires to be every part and fulfill everybody, and if you attempt to fulfill everybody, you invariably find yourself satisfying nobody.
Grade: D
Alienoid involves theaters on August 26.
