(Movie Review) ‘Alienoid 2′ lost in genre cracks

“Alienoid: The Return to the Future,” the second installment of director Choi Dong-hoon’s ambitious two-part sci-fi extravaganza series “Alienoid,” is an ambitious work that tries to serve the best of everything.

The genre-defying flick, however, struggles to squeeze in action, comedy, drama, sci-fi, supernatural powers, aliens, fantasy, adventure and even time travel. Production-wise, it took him five years and almost 70 billion won (US$ 53.3 million) to complete the series.

For all his utmost efforts and best intention to bring a never-seen-before type of sci-fi action in the Korean film industry, the wobbly movie crumbles down under the heavy weight of Choi’s ambition that is not fully supported by compelling storytelling, despite its stellar cast.

The movie starts where the part 1, released in July 2022, left off. Seemingly conscious of the criticism for its confusing plot and cliffhanger ending, the part 2 kindly begins with the summary of the part 1, narrated by the main protagonist Ean, played by Kim Tae-ri.

In the sequel, pieces are coming together as the mystery revolving around the main characters chasing after “the Divine Sword” for different reasons is finally resolved. And with a ticking clock of just 48 minutes, humans from the present day Seoul and the 13th century Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392) join forces to save the Earth from an alien invasion.

Unbeknownst to human beings, aliens have long exploited human bodies to secretly lock their criminals up, and alien criminals, imprisoned inside the bodies of humans, perish when their hosts die. Guard, played by Kim Woo-bin, accompanied by the flying, shape-changing robot Thunder (voiced by Kim Dae-myung), is assigned to monitoring those criminals and stopping them from breaking out.

Guard’s adopted daughter Ean, who is accidentally stuck in the past, tries to get her hands on the magical sword to travel back to the present. She is somehow helped by Mureuk (Ryu Jun-yeol), a widely awkward wizard from the Goryeo era, whose body, without his knowledge, is occupied by an extraterrestrial creature. Two sorcerers from the same era (Yum Jung-ah and Jo Woo-jin) run after Mureuk believing he is occupied by a ghost-like being. Meanwhile, Min Gae-in (Lee Ha-nee), a civil servant, joins the chaotic race to get to the bottom of the mysterious happenings surrounding her.

The film, unfortunately, slips through the genre cracks. There seems to be no use trying to make up for an ungainly tale with epic computer graphics and spectacular visual effects. Venom-like tentacled aliens lack creativity, given an abundance of television series featuring alien creatures in recent years in the South Korean entertainment industry. Slapstick comedy and one-liners, which are meant to lighten up the mood, are distracting at best, let alone failing, mostly, to prompt a burst of laughter from the audience.

A respected director acclaimed for hit films, like “Tazza: The High Rollers” (2006) “The Thieves” (2012) and “Assassination” (2015), Choi seemed to try too hard to put “everything, everywhere all at once.”

The 2 1/3 hour movie is set to hit local cinema next Wednesday.