by jon bosworth jaxvillain@yahoo.com
Forget everything you thought you knew about monster flicks. Even though this film is Asian, South Korean director Joon-ho Bong managed to stay away from the camp science fantasy of Godzilla by telling a very human tale through a very inhuman monster. We aren’t talking about a “human tale” in the way that Peter Jackson’s King Kong gave human sympathies and emotions to a giant gorilla. On the contrary, the monster that is menacing Seoul’s Han River is a bloodthirsty beast that that has suddenly emerged from his watery depths to devour and entrap as many humans as it can.
The beast, Gwoemul (which is the romanized version of the actual Korean title of the film), is a meticulously constructed and flawlessly executed terrifying amphibious creature. Right at the beginning of the film this creature leaps from the water and begins its killing spree. We become acquainted with the Park family early in the film. Hie-bong is the father of three children, Gang-Du, the slacker of the family, has a young daughter Hyun-seo, that he can barely care for. In the first scenes of the movie Gang-Du throws a beer can at the creature in the river and thus begins the violence when the beast leaps from its watery home and begins killing. As Gang-Du runs from the creature, his daughter meanders outside. In a touching, slow-motion scene, Gang-Du grabs his daughter’s hand and pulls her to run with him to save her from the creature. They stumble and he reaches back, regrasps her hand and continues to run with the hordes of other panicked civilians. When Gang-Du looks back, he sees that it is not his daughter’s hand he has grabbed but some other young girl. His daughter, Hyun-seo, was frightened and abandoned, running just in front of the oncoming giant beast.
Right when you think the creature has passed her by untouched, its tail snatches her up and it carries her as it dives back into the river. Gang-Du dives into the river after her, but watches as the creature rests on the opposite bank and devours his daughter whole. Does it sound too gruesome? Just wait, its not gruesome at all, it’s a fantastic twist on a seemingly tired plot.
As Gang-Du’s sister and brother arrive to mourn with their family, it is apparent that everyone blames Gang-Du for his daughter’s death. While they are mourning with other families that also lost loved ones during the creature’s killing spree, Gang-Du’s cell phone rings. It is a static-riddled call from Hyun-seo and she says that the creature is keeping her somewhere. At that moment the call is lost and the police come to insist on quarantining anyone that came in contact with the creature. Especially Gang-Du, because he foolishly admitted that he got the creature’s blood on his face during the panic.
Gang-Du and his family, especially his sister, an expert archer, must evade police and find Hyun-seo.
This picture is easily one of the most clever genre-redefining films of any new movie to hit the screen since Sin City. The story is simple and sympathetic and the effects are outstanding. There isn’t a moment that gets hokey and the thrill goes on right until the end. See this film at the San Marco Theatre starting this Friday, April 6 for one week only. Showtime is 9:00 pm.
|
