This review may contain spoilers
What I loved:ACTING: Every single actor, either main, secondary or guest did an excellent job. I don't need to mention that the two main leads, Park Seo Joon, and Ahn Sung Ki were mindblowing. The emotions that they portrayed through their facial expressions, the feeling showing through the eyes, the warm budding relationship of these two characters and every single time they shared the screen, it was magic. I was completely floored by the child actor, Jung Ji Hoon, too.
What I didn't love:
PLOT: Park Seo Joon's character continues to rave and hate God throughout the movie, till the bit before the end where he rushes into the church to yell at God, and yet he is selected to become this harbringer of so-called divine fury because his dad said so? Really? He shows no particular religious feeling, no actual connection with God, and seems to have taken on the role of an exorcist's disciple simply because he somehow chanced upon an exorcism. I suppose the most that you can say about it is that he doesn't like ignoring people who are in pain or who need him, but honestly that wasn't well-developed and I wish the director had pursued that more.
THE HERO: Needed more character development! Everything is rushed; his relationship with his dad and with Father Ahn. He also seems to lack a clear motive, at least in my opinion. He's pretty much lost in his life during the pre-Father Ahn years, but afterwards, what motivates him to suddenly jump into exorcism? Is there a clear reconciliation between him and God? Would he have continued on this path had Father Ahn died? I think what the movie needed was a powerful moment where he witnesses people who lose loved ones and still continue to have faith in God, or who still smile. There was just something missing in this character that I can't seem to put exactly in words.
THE VILLAIN: My biggest disappointment is the fact that the villain is just this bland evil guy who is evil for the sake of it. There's no background, no motives, no depth at all. He just worships his Snake Lord for the sake of immortality but boy, what you gonna do with your eternal life? Party away in that club of yours? Heck, Doctor Faustus had a better motive than you, though he was pretty stupid too. There was just so much potential and room here and it was a big let-down.
THE ENDING: Everybody lives happily ever after. Ew.
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The Exorcist meets MARVEL.
Rather than a horror movie, it felt much more like a superhero origin story with a religious twist, and I loved every second of it. It was extremely entertaining, the effects were nice, and so were the fighting scenes. The acting was believable. Except for a bit of a false advertisement (the trailers made it seem like more of a horror than action movie), I'd say this is a solid film.The best part was definitely Park Yong Hoo's character and how amazingly unimpressed he was about all the crazy stuff happening around him. I chuckled a few times simply because of his reactions, or rather lack of it. He was a rather well written hero, who struggled with accepting his true calling. As I said, it sounds like a superhero origin.
Since I myself don't believe in any of the things presented in the movie (hi there all the atheists) I cannot rate how scary this movie was, coz for me it was not at all. That said, I've been watching horror movies since I was around 6 years old, so it's not easy to scare me anymore.
All the characters were nicely done, we got a believable main villain (in terms of his motivations), the side stories and characters fitted the overall tone of the movie. It was a consistent storytelling without any plot holes and unexplained storylines. The ending felt a bit like a final boss fight in a video game, but that was fitting with how "superhero versus the villain" the whole movie was.
It's obvious how high the production value was. The shots were extremely aesthetically pleasing, the background music was fitting, the set design was amazing (the last scenes in the club: loved them). I also want to thank the demon for not ruining Do Hwan's face close to the end of the movie. He knows the true beauty and how to appreciate that.
Overall, really enjoyable. I might rewatch some scenes with Park Yong Hoo from time to time, since as of today, he is my favorite "horror" movie character.
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Other reviewers mentioned the lack of character development &/background stories, but I thought enough was done to make me care about them, or at least want to continue watching them. The actors were talented enough to carry the story without needing to rely heavily on history. Would I have liked to learn more about Ji Shin's (Woo Do Hwan's) backstory, & how he came to be the HOTTEST paragon of evil in Seoul? Absolutely, but I didn't feel the plot required it in order for me to feel satisfied. I think it's safe to assume he'd been through some s**t, tho.
Park Seo Joon's athleticism was a joy to watch. He did a great job overall. My only beef with his role was his insistence that he didn't believe in a god, which was addressed. As an atheist, myself, I can't really get pissed off at something in which I don't believe, & it was very clear Yong Hoo was furious! I mean, I get why they wrote his character like that. This was a Good v. Evil/God v. Devil movie, after all. At least they didn't resort to the "Well, He believes in YOU, Son" zinger.
Bottom line, I was thoroughly entertained!
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This review may contain spoilers
This is actually the first exorcism movie that I chose to watch and to be honest the trailer made it scarier than it seems. I would say there is horror and jump scares etc but the movie overall was pretty good. Story:
Basically it's about (Park Seo Joon) Yong Hoo has doubts and hatred of his faith. Due to his circumstances and belief, he grew up to be a martial arts fighter. An incident happens to Yong Hoo and he meets (Ahn Sung Ki) Father Ahn. Father Ahn is an exorcist and goes around performing exorcisms. Some incidents happen which bring them to (Woo Do Hwan) Ji Shin and the story deepens.
The plot might seem slow but every part was necessary. You get to see the character growth of Yong Hoo and the decisions he makes after legitimately being tempted by the devil.
The exorcism parts were quite scary but as I lack experience in watching exorcism movies, I am not a good judge.
There are scary parts, jumpscares but there are also heartwarming parts, character growth, and comedy.
Cast:
The cast was amazing. Honestly, my friends wanted to watch the movie because of Park Seo Joon's abs. (Which was worth it cause the movie was better than I had thought it would be). There are many parts that had us laughing out loud and also parts which made us hide behind our fingers.
Ahn Sung Ki was amazing as Father Ahn. The way he acted with his voice at normal volume to a soft whisper was oddly comforting. He made him sound softhearted, kind and very much like a Father/ Priest.
Woo Do Hwan always had the look as someone sinister, someone dark. He was so amazing as the Serpent Satan follower and his acting was perfect in the movie.
Music: The music/ bgm was good and it did help with the flow and pacing of the movie.
I dare say halfway through or at the end of the movie, I immediately had the thought that I would rewatch the movie and was more than eager to recommend the movie to my family and friends.
I would say that like how different Train to Busan was as a zombie movie, The Divine Fury was more than just about exorcism as you see Yong Hoo grow and change as a person. It was pretty inspiring.
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Both of my top 10 South Korean actors are in this SK movie. I loved that Park Seo Joon was playing the good guy but I hated that Woo Do Hwan was playing the not so good part. For me, the visuals felt so real and that's why I stayed away from it until now. The writers told this story like it should be told. It brings the awareness that a lot of people blame God or are angry with God because he doesn't save our loved ones from death. That's a whole different story. I thank the writers.
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This storyline had so much potential but it got shut down so quickly. The characters could have been expanded and the villain could have had more background but nothing. I was waiting for a massive shutdown of the villain and his secret organisation but was extremely disappointed when none of that came. Maybe because it was a movie, that’s why there was not enough minutes to explain everything or even enhance the story. If it was a drama, then for sure this would have been a good one.
The story is such a let down.
Aside from that, the actors were great, but their talents were wasted on this disappointing movie.
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However, I was mostly disappointed by the "development" of both the characters and the story. For example, the bad guy didn't have any backstory or that much screentime as he schould have, it felt like they were fighting just another regular demon... The storyline was very rushed to the point where I was thinking "Why are they acting like this all of a sudden?", although it had a great potential and if it was made into a drama, it would've done so much better for sure. The hype aroung this movie was huge but after watching it I don't think I'll give it a second shot, it's just not worth it in my opinion.
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There were no boring scenes throughout the movie, everything was there for a reason, whether it is for character establishment, development or emotional impact. There were some quite emotional and thought-provoking moments that made my eyes water. Although the story had a dark (and sometimes preachy) undertone, it made good use of comedy from time to time for relief so that it doesn't get too overloading.
A downside is that the story felt "episodic", like many mini stories combined, and they could have ended the movie after any one of those mini stories without it feeling off. This caused the build-up to the final boss fight to lose its momentum a bit, and the story almost fell apart in the middle (luckily it didn't).
Acting (8.5/10)
The acting wasn't the main focus of the movie, but the priest completely stole the show. He was 100% a priest, from his talking mannerisms, to his expressions... even his face looked like a priest.
Park Seo Joon, on the other hand, did not really outperform himself in this. He was good as usual, but his character wasn't that different from what I normally see from him, hence I don't have much to say about him. Woo Do Hwan was charismatic as the dark priest because he had devilish vibes and a devilish pretty face to go along with it. Everyone else in the story didn't have much screentime (there were some surprise cameos tho).
Messages (7.5/10)
This movie touched on some really interesting religious themes but failed to develop them properly (maybe because they didn't want to come off as preachy). I related so much to the ML's religious struggles, and I often asked the same question as he did. The movie didn't really answer his question, but I came up with my own answer after watching it, so I guess the movie was still spiritually enlightening in some way despite its lukewarm reflections. I think the movie was meant to be an action film and the religious aspect was just a bonus for the sake of storytelling and some slight character development, but it really could have been so much more than that.
Overall, a decent commercial movie that is thoroughly entertaining, with a good mix of action, comedy, tearjerking moments and mild horror. Would recommend to anyone who wants to see a suspenseful action movie that has horror elements but is not too terrifying or gruesome to watch. This one is pretty much entry level horror that most people can bear with, so if the reason you don't want to watch this is because it's a horror movie, you could definitely reconsider watching it.
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At first I thought that the combination of MMA and exorcism would give a fresh approach, but there is nothing extraordinary in this film, nothing that could break certain conventions in an interesting way.
All I liked was one of the exorcism scenes. I feel sorry for the potential of two actors - Park Seo-joon and Woo Do-hwan - which has not been used properly. I don't recommend this film, I think it's tiresome and tedious.
No idea, no chemistry, no idea.
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it started out great, and I didn't know who'd have what "role" so I was pleasantly surprised..
Park Seo Joon is way hotter as a dark/calm/not funny character.. he looked sooooo good ❤o❤
and Woo Do Hwan was as hot and gorgeous as always!!!! I kinda got a wish out of this so I was really happy (more in minor spoiler)
I won't say the ending was bad because it was "expected" but it got too empty dramatic, and as I said it ended like naruto xD
it wasn't that scary, and I appreciate them not trying to be "different"? which would've resulted in everyone dying or becoming evil? xD
and I don't say this often, but it'd have been better as a drama, so they could have a few demons on the side and still give us a little insight on the "evil" guy ;p
my rewatch values are 1 or 10, so....
!!!!!!minor spoiler about the end!!!!!
I was expecting bromance and got famance instead ;)
WDH became a Orochimaru! that was hilarious I couldn't stop laughing!!!
also I don't know if people knew WDH was the bad guy, but agh, he was sooo goooddd~~~~~ he deserved better though, I needed more "information" on him.. so that was also a wasted potential...
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Always Remember: To each his own
I for sure enjoyed this. I came for the actors and got sucked into the story which was actually pretty decent. I saw comments about the storyline being either awful or there was no storyline...huh? You can either watch this and take away something pretty deep, or you take it as just another kind of action, horror. It totally depends on you and how you perceive things.The acting is 100%
The storyline: If you're someone who hates anything religious, then stay away. As the depth of this story is about someone coming to terms with his relationship with God due to an incident that happened when he was younger. Throw that in with demons and exorcisms, it definitely won't be everyone's cup of tea.
Music: The only thing it really lacked for me was a good music score, but then as a horror movie I guess that is to be expected. It was basic horror/action sounds.
Rewatch Value: I would for sure put this on rotation for horror movie nights. I suggest watching when its raining nicely and there is some thunder.
I'm very glad that I didn't pass it by due to the low reviews. Sometimes you really just have to jump in for yourself.
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