[KOREAN FILM REVIEW] Woochi the Demon Slayer (2009)

Long ago, powerful wizards were entrusted with the task to guard earth and its inhabitants from evil demons that were imprisoned many years ago. The demons can be controlled by a magic pipe that was confiscated by said wizards, so human and wizard-kind alike are able to live their peaceful lives separately. That is, until the demons manage to escape from their prison to earth. This leaves only one option – the wizards must descend to earth to protect the very vulnerable mankind…



Fast forward and the battle between wizards and demons is on-going. It is now that we are introduced to the young, arrogant womaniser of a wizard named Woochi (Kang Dong Won). Rather than learn the Taoist ways of his masters, he concerns himself will wreaking havoc on humans and getting into all sorts of fights and scrapes with his bumbling sidekick friend Chonrangyi (Yu Hae Jin).

One day, Jeon Woochi and Chonrangyi are framed for the murder of their master (Baek Yun Shik) by a powerful rival wizard named Hwadam (Kim Yun Seok). This leads a fellow trio of supposedly wise senior wizards to imprison Woochi and Chonrangyi in paintings for 500 years as punishment for their crimes.

Now, in modern day Seoul, the three senior wizards still have not managed to capture the roaming demons that even seem to be growing in strength as time passes. They set out to free Woochi and Chonrangyi from their two dimensional prisons in an aim to enlist their help. The evil Hwadam is still present and also waits from the pair to be released as Woochi holds half of the demon-controlling pipe.  Will the two mischievous individuals be able to prove their innocence, defeat Hwadam and the demons once and for all? Or will they find modern day temptations too hard to resist?

GOOD POINTS

• Kang Don Wan plays his character well. He is the classically charismatic troublemaker and quite the anti-hero. He never hides the fact that he is only ever out for himself and his own gains in any given situation. He teases the poor Chonrangyi and flirts constantly with a certain woman that he desires. Despite all this, you remain firmly on his side.
• The three hopeless senior wizards responsible for imprisoning the two provide a lot of laughs and are great purveyors of slapstick. It’s a brand of comedy that can sometimes come out slightly cheesy, but it’s not so with these actors.
• Chonrangyi is actually a dog masquerading as a human. The only thing he longs for in life is to be made into a true human, which Woochi can actually do for him. The problem lies with Woochi’s willingness to do so (he seems to want to remain as superior over Chonrangyi and keeping him as a beast maintains this dynamic). Yu Hae Jin plays this difficult role so well. He really takes on the canine characteristics and makes them his own. He is another great source of comedy, as well as being incredibly sweet and endearing.
• The concept of the wizards being imprisoned inside paintings is very unique and the way that they would often use unusual ways of travelling, such as through television screens, was very interesting. The CGI was also seamless in these parts, which is very cool.
• I was glad that the latter parts of the film took place in modern day. It makes it a little more relatable for the audience and it is always fun to see characters from the past attempt to adjust to our strange contemporary ways!

BAD POINTS

• In some parts, I felt there were far too many cuts between shots and it would just leave you a bit disorientated. It is almost like looking at something whilst blinking repeatedly, it makes you feel quite dizzy! You know shot transitions are done well when you do not notice them, so the fact that I did enough for it to annoy me a little does not bode well!
• The film started very slowly and only started to really move after the two were freed from the respective paintings. Of course, everything needs to be set and the characters need to be established, but the change from such a slow to a relatively fast pace did not sit well.
• Even though the CGI was very good for the most part during this film, the qualities of the demon characters themselves were slightly lacking. It has to be considered that this is not a Hollywood film, so the budget is probably quite limited when compared, but it was still quite disappointing.
• Some of the narrative was a bit watery. There were a few elements that were introduced, but not completely explained or finished. As said, these were only a few factors of the entire piece, but it can still leave you with a rather unsatisfied feeling by the end.

OVERALL

This film is not without its flaws. One of the main being that it had a very strong foundation for an interesting story, but this opportunity was not grasped fully by the makers and results in something that may simply leave viewers perplexed and unsure.

Despite this, the cast for this film a quite solid and each takes on their character very well. This film is one that will have you smiling and quite dazzled by the concept of wizardry. It takes a more “traditional” stance on the popular genre, so it is quite different from the Harry Potter franchise and similar works.

This film is recommended for people who would are in the mood for a laid back comedic affair with a slice of magic action. It is not one for someone who wishes for an intelligent narrative that will evoke amazement or deep thought, but it is definitely one for fans of supernatural and fantasy films in general.

For anyone who wants to watch this film, it is currently available on Netflix! :)
[Sources: Google Images].