Alienoid
review by Bobby Blakey
Well Go USA bring fans all the epic Asian cinema to the US across all genres. The latest, Alienoid blends the martial arts period film with sci-fi action world in hopes to create something new and fresh. The film stars Ryu Jun-Yeol, Kim Woo-bin, and Kim Tae-ri from Assassination and The Thieves director Choi Dong-hoon. Does this mash-up flick offer something fans of both genres will love or should it be lost in the timeline?
Alienoid follows two Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392) gurus seeking a legendary, time-bending blade as they unexpectedly cross paths with modern-era people hunting down a dangerous alien concealed inside a human’s body.
The trailers to this movie promised a time jumping action extravaganza, but also a bit confusing to how it was really going to mesh together. After finally experiencing it I can tell you it works pretty great most of the time, but it’s not without its issues. One of the biggest issues is the time jumping itself, but not because it is too confusing or doesn’t work. It’s so all over the place it is hard to just stay with it and get invested before it dives back to another element. At the same time this is why this film is so entertaining.
There is something fun about seeing the usual wuxia style film that suddenly showcases someone blasting people with a glock. Both the present day and past stories work, but might have been better had they let us spend a little more time there each time. Make no mistake it isn’t rushed with it running almost two and a half hours I just wanted more for it to flesh itself out.
This is a big movie and CGI plays a lot into it with the aliens themselves and action in the present day. The effects are decent coming off sometimes more video game like and anime style that real life, but honestly that seems pretty common with the Asian film market. When it works it is really cool, when it doesn’t it is still entertaining, but harder to buy into despite the insanity of buying into any of it already. Some of this might not have been as noticeable in a lesser film, but this film relies on these effects pretty heavily so are front and center. There are some great uses for
Despite this I still had a blast with the flick for what it was and what it accomplished. Be prepared that this is the first of two films that were shot at the same time and this one ends on a cliffhanger. Thankfully I found this out right before I finished it or I would have been all sorts of confused.
Decide for yourself and check out Alienoid when it hits digital, Blu-ray and DVD on December 6th from Well Go USA.
