ALIENOID Review: A Whimsically Thrilling Sci-Fi Fantasy Pot-Pourri
Filmmaker Choi Dong-hoon‘s newest out-of-this-world hodgepodge fantasy sci-fi epic arrives this summer in the form of Alienoid, a film whose narrative, larger-than-life storyline has long since been planned as a two-part saga. It’s a particularly fitting approach in this case, especially from a director who is no stranger to storytelling at runtimes of nearly two-and-a-half hours, and with a film like Alienoid whose inaugural story involves two parallel arcs, split between time periods and a myriad of intertwining characters.
The pieces here are all subject to supernatural intrigue and mystery as Alienoid invites you into a universe where extraterrestrials see humans as “aliens” themselves. The humans, in this case, are used as prisons for elusive aliens who are then captured and escorted by intergalactic robotic prison warden Guard and Thunder, an A.I. program in a flying head (both portrayed by Kim Woo-bin w/ voice actor Kim Dae-Myung). We meet the oddball duo just as they’ve traveled back to 1380 A.D. to capture an alien that’s escaped from its human female host. Little does Guard know that upon returning to their present-day dwellings, Thunder has brought back a suprise: the baby to the woman left for dead.
Compared to Guard, who is less concerned with involving himself in the goings-on of humans, Thunder takes a liking to the child over the next ten years who grows up under the name, E-an (Choi Yoo-ri), who herself gave Thunder its name, and even calls Guard “Dad” as he has become the only father she’s ever known. E-an has grown extraordinarily smart and perceptive for her age as well, particularly due to the fact that Guard and Thunder experimented on her brain when she was a baby. Even more discerning is E-an’s precocious nature as she grows more curious about her past, just as Guard and Thunder must mitigate the transfer of over a hundred new prisoners into human hosts, including a cop (So Ji-sub) who himself unwittingly becomes the ward to a particular alien fugitive.
These events unfold in a parallel format alongside a story that introduces Muruk (Ryu Jun-yeol), a taoist wizard in 1391 who hasn’t quite tapped into the full extent of his abilities, or his childhood memories for that matter. Upon getting word of a mystical device known only as “the Divine Blade”, he sets out in search of the artifact, crossing blows with his old mentor (Kim Kang-il), another individual wearing modern clothes and who has tentacles for weapons (Ji Gun-woo), and Jajang (Kim Eui-sung) the enigmatic leader of a clandestine masked guard.
Muruk eventually crosses paths with a gun-toting woman in traditional garb (Kim Tae-ri), who is also looking for the Blade and quite possibly could know more about Muruk than he does of himself, as well as the creature-like entities plaguing the country and taking on the hosts in which they are imprisoned. The two, along with the help of his trusty humanoid feline comrades (Shin Jung-Keun and Lee Si-Hoon) and a pair of temple mystics (Yum Jung-Ah and Jo Woo-Jin), will ultimately find themselves in one of history’s greatest battles as the past and the future collide, revealing a shocking twist that almost certainly leaves the fate of mankind on the brink.
These are all pretty much the basic and general story points that I can get into about Alienoid without going into too many specifics. Indeed, the film is a great big story with a number of moving pieces and a few slight-of-hand moments that will have you guessing near the end. The brilliance here is that Choi, directing from his own script, crafts an epic adventure that only reveals the essential bits early on, leaving you comfortable to believe the rest of what you see until he decides to pull the veil off the mystery just a little more toward the end of the film, and then a little more during the credits. It all builds on the runoff of excitement throughout the film as things intensify between both arcs, and while following our characters to see where they go, what steps they take, and how each of their roles interact with one another as the story progresses.
The film is an absolute win for Kim Woo-bin, who, until Alienoid, had to sit out acting for a while due to health issues a few years earlier. His return to the big screen invites a character that takes on multiple personalities (and dimensions), performing alongside other incarnations of his character, as well as the CG-animated Thunder, and actress Choi Yoo-ri in the role of E-an. Her character is someone who is lost in time, but has gracefully found her footing in her modern-day surroundings, and has even made friends with a girl whose mother (Lee Ha-nee) has seemingly taken a liking to Guard’s handsome and poised, albeit cold appearance.
The sibylline appearance of Kim Tae-ri’s character lends even more sustenance to the initial development of Ryu Jun-yeol’s character, Muruk, from the moment they meet. There’s a playful foolhardiness coupled with his charm that mingles well enough for the chemistry he shares opposite Kim’s role, which isn’t necessarily built on anything romantic. Rather, there’s a connection that runs deeper than Muruk realizes, and only she knows about, which makes it all the more important that we follow Muruk as he treks his way into the events of the film. It also helps that we meet his character at a point where he’s as skilled and agile as he needs to be when the going gets tough, but he’s also still very much going through a growth process when it comes to his wizarding abilities, including his ability to manipulate imagery from his handy fans, one of which houses two powerful swords he can’t seem to fully grasp.
Between the present day arc and that of the past, Alienoid treads cohesively into messaging that focuses inherently on Guard’s palpable growth as a fatherly figure who has spent a decade bearing witness to the complex nature of the human condition, and the wildly entertaining and pertinent inflection that directly affects Muruk and the people around him, constructing a world in which mankind must battle pugnacious alien beings bent on invading Earth and ending mankind as we know it.
It’s almost confounding to see how the story unfolds by the film’s latter segments. Simultaneously, you can’t help but wonder how Choi will manage to weave everything together in next year’s sequel. Alienoid stands as one of the boldest, most innovative moves into sci-fi that audiences will ever see after films like Cowboys VS. Aliens, or even 1993’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Turtles In Time, in that the film isn’t just one singular thing, and Choi easily could have taken that route to simplify things for his audience. He doesn’t. Rather, you get a hefty baker’s dozen of colorful characters who comprise something purely original in concept in Alienoid.
The film is a playfully comedic sci-fi adventure with sweeping, high-flying action that pits mystic sorcery with occasional gunplay, and features brutal robot fisticuffs, explosive chase sequences, and a spectacular dogfight between alien ships. It’s an interesting mix of so many elements that makes it such a fun return to form for Choi after his 2009 fantasy adventure Woochi, followed by 2012 heist thriller The Thieves and 2015 political thriller Assassination. There’s no telling if we’ll ever see a Space Sweepers sequel at this point, but the epic, extenuating first chapter of Choi’s latest endeavor should still suffice as a more-than-worthwhile holdover with more exciting, time-crossing fun and thrills to come.
Well Go USA proudly presents Alienoid, opening in theaters August 26.
Native New Yorker. Been writing for a long time now, and I enjoy what I do. Be nice to me!
ALIENOID: Win A Blu-Ray Copy Of The Hit South Korean Sci-Fi Adventure From Well Go USA | Film Combat Syndicate
December 3, 2022 @ 12:56 pm
[…] (my review here) is directed by Choi Dong-hoon (Assassination, The Thieves) and stars Ryu Jun-Yeol (Hit-and-Run […]
Streaming Sleepers: Stream ALIENOID: PART ONE Ahead Of The Upcoming Sequel! | Film Combat Syndicate
March 16, 2023 @ 3:05 pm
[…] welcome to check out my review here for a few more unspoilery details on the story and my analysis. It didn’t do well at the […]
ALIENOID: PART 2 Reveals Explosive Teaser Footage And Poster For Choi Dong-Hoon's Sci-Fi Sequel Conclusion | Film Combat Syndicate
October 25, 2023 @ 11:59 pm
[…] it all out below and then click here to read more on Alienoid: Part 1 ahead of the sequel’s release in […]
ALIENOID: RETURN TO THE FUTURE U.S. Teaser Launches Ahead Of Jamuary Release! | Film Combat Syndicate
January 11, 2024 @ 5:56 pm
[…] Alienoid had an amazing run with critics. To boot though, that a sequel now exists is also something of a remarkable feat considering the first film made way less than half its reported budget. I’m a lamen like most outsiders who don’t work in entertainment so I fail to understand how this sequel was possible, but I’m happy its here considering I was one of those critics… […]
ALIENOID: RETURN TO THE FUTURE U.S. Teaser Launches Ahead Of January Release! | Film Combat Syndicate
January 11, 2024 @ 8:57 pm
[…] Alienoid had an amazing run with critics. To boot though, that a sequel now exists is also something of a remarkable feat considering the first film made way less than half its reported budget. I’m a lamen like most outsiders who don’t work in entertainment so I fail to understand how this sequel was possible, but I’m happy its here considering I was one of those critics… […]