Director: Kim Yong-hwa
Year: 2018
Country: South Korea
Alternate Titles: Singwa hamkke: Ingwa yeon
Genre: Action/Fantasy
Plot:
Attempting to settle the turmoil, Gang-lim decides to put the other guardians Hae Won-maek and I Dong-chun on trial in order to achieve full reincarnation. While he becomes tasked with preparing a trial for the rogue spirit, they arrive in the real world to deal with an insolent human protected by the special spirit Seong-ju who's looking after the man and his grandson. As the two sides carry out a plan in both worlds in order to return to the Afterlife realm together, a series of secrets about their pasts before they died stalls their plans and forces them to utilize their skills in order to save everybody when a rogue god of the underworld tries to ensure that it doesn't proceed.
Review:
While this doesn't match the first entry as a singular whole, there are aspects to this that do top part 1. One of those is that this one decidedly favors the spectacle sequences in the Afterlife realm, going for much bigger and more grandiose sequences than what came before and really add some fine action for the film. The opening, picking up where the last one left off with the Guardians facing the spirits in the desert afterlife, opens this one rather nicely while later sequences offer even more spectacle. Able to add in dinosaurs to the mix with two spectacular scenes, first in a fishing boat against a massive creature swimming alongside it and then later when a pack of creatures chase them across the swirling desert formations.
That spectacle is carried over into the trial sequences. Much like the original, these are vibrant, exciting and visually stimulating which is great with the repeat settings once again. Visiting the ice cavern, the hellish tea house and the lava pit here, the film provides a great overall look that tops the scenes from the original. The CGI utilized here provides a truly special and standout series of visually-impressive settings that allow for a cohesive connection between the two films while also giving the space a rather impressive location for the action or just the more dialog-charged trials that take place here.
However, it's in the trial here where the film somewhat stumbles slightly. The entire purpose of the film is a complete bait-and-switch with the reveal found at the very end of the film. Rather than attempt to have the Guardians complete a new task even more perilous than last time, instead the story turns that around into a discovery of their origins as humans. This revelation that the trial will really be for the guardians' leader who has a special connection to the other two members pretty much undoes the point of the film by forcing us through the journey all to suddenly turn it around in the final minutes of the film.
The other problem with the revelation is the preponderance of cliches it brings about in the rest of the film. Learning about the history of their connection in the past through the flashbacks to their days back in the wilderness is a picture-perfect example of the Korean mentality to cliche. Splintering the main story into two separate plot-threads which pile twists, contrivance and coincidence into the storyline results in minute-long flashbacks before jumping to one of the other storylines creates the opportunity to see where everything else is going. The outcome of these scenarios becomes obvious rather easily once we start getting further into the storylines rather than just simply going straightforward. On top of that, these are so packed with emotional high-points that it becomes tedious after awhile and many lose their impact because everything has one and it's not that surprising anymore. However, none of these issues severely distracts from the film as a whole.
Overview: ****/5
While this one does fall a little short of the original, there's still more than enough on display here that it still is a massively entertaining and enjoyable entry if looked at in the right mindframe. Give this sequel a chance if you're a fan of the original or looking for something else beyond the normal spectacle-styled action films, while those not won over by the original won't find much new to enjoy here.
This review was originally published on Asian Movie Pulse and is gratefully reprinted with their cooperation.
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