Woochi: The Demon Slayer

Unrated

4/9/20132h 16m

Theatrical Release (US)

~ World beware. The wizard is coming. ~

Overview:

Spanning four centuries in Korea, this epic action-adventure concerns a powerful pipe and a trio of wizards who will do anything to protect it.

Director:

Choi Dong-hoon

Status:

Released

Language:

Korean

Buget:

$12,000,000.00

Revenue:

$0.00

Key words:

joseon dynasty (1392–1910)
taoist wizard

Cast

Gang Dong-won

~ as ~

Jeon Woo-chi

Kim Yun-seok

~ as ~

Hwa-dam

Lim Soo-jung

~ as ~

Seo In-kyeong

Yoo Hai-jin

~ as ~

Chorangyi

Song Young-chang

~ as ~

Buddhist monk

Ju Jin-mo

~ as ~

Shaman

Kim Sang-ho

~ as ~

Priest

Sun Woo-sun

~ as ~

Female doctor / goblin

Kong Jeong-hwan

~ as ~

Helper / goblin

Baek Yoon-sik

~ as ~

Woo-chi's mentor

View full cast & crew

Reviews (1)

Dali Parton
Written 8 year(s) ago
3
(spoiler free) I've watched a lot of Korean movies over the years - from the silly (Sex is Zero) to the sublime (Oasis) and enjoyed most of them, even some of the more marginal titles like Spygirl and A.F.R.I.K.A. But for me, and the group of people watching it with me, Jeon Woochi was a big bust.

The biggest problem I had with this movie was the terrible pacing, especially in the first 30 minutes of the movie where the timeline was not linear and the director did practically nothing to inform the audience that he had made a jump in time until wrapping up the scene and rejoining the main timeline.

Other problems included a major lack of funny - there was so much opportunity for "fish out of water" jokes, but the writers barely even tried. And it wasn't like the comedy was too subtle either, much of the humor in the movie was just too ham-fisted to laugh at.

There were also way too many fast cuts during action sequences - it made it difficult to enjoy the biggest feature of the movie: the excellent CGI. The director barely gives the audience a chance to focus on the contents of a shot before cutting to a new camera angle. I recognize these fast cuts are a modern Hollywood style, but it is still a terrible one to emulate.

The story itself was, as expected, fairly simple. But even then, the telling of it was too convoluted - due mainly to the confusing timeline.

I haven't given any examples to illustrate my criticism because I wanted to avoid spoilers as much as possible but still provide a counter-point to the misleadingly high rating (7.0 as I write this) and the other 5 or so reviews which all gave the movie exceptional scores. It was on the basis of that rating and the other reviews that I purchased the korean blu-ray and would strongly recommend that no one else waste their time or money the way I did. I suggest watching the older Arahan which has a similar "wizardry in the modern city" plot. I had a lot more fun watching Arahan despite its flaws.

Also, watch out for the korean blu-ray. It is poorly mastered - the black levels are elevated making the picture look washed out and hazy unless you have a fancy display that can correct the problem.