"Haunters" was originally released in 2011 with huge opening week ticket sales that placed the film at the top of the box office. Directed by Kim Min Seok and staring Kang Dong Won along side Go Soo. The film takes the concept of having unbelievable powers to a whole new limit. Kang Dong Won was the reason I wanted to view this film. When I become a big fan of a actor, I'm willing to go back and watch their earlier works. I've seen Go Soo in a few productions as well. They both are easy on the eyes. Kang's stylist could have left that perm kit alone though.
The plot tells the story of two men who don't look like they are but, are out of the ordinary. One can control whoever he chooses just by looking at them. The other can recover his body no matter how much damage is inflicted. Both of these men meet by faith and the man who controls everyone realizes that there is someone in the world who isn't affected by his power. Soon a game of cat and mouse begins.
The film was shot in a way that kept up with all the crazy antics that were happening on screen. My mind wasn't really focused on how the film was shot until the angles made me pay attention. All the action is on constant active mode with the repeated change in location and the positions of where the characters would end up. I'm sure the camera man was on a lift equipped with a pulley because the over head angles were so precise in capturing the details that I felt like I was in the same space as the characters. At other moments the shot would tilt from one side sliding the angle from left to right. This shot made everything that was going on on screen seem purely insane.(like a lot of incidents in this film.) Another instance is when the camera shot zooms in some much that is blurs the background only to create a clear shot of an actors face, was a great style choice. Many artistic shots were done during this film. Slow panning in of close up shots and more. We are not going to go over all that I noticed here since that would take all day.
Dong Won and Go Soo work well together. In the film they are very different in their beliefs but also share certain qualities. Go Soo portrays a character that does the best with what he has and lets nothing stop him. He goes through life with his friends in youthful bliss. Meanwhile, Dong Won's character is like a lost puppy who picked up a gun that he decides to point at the world because he was never loved by anyone truthfully. They both have boyish good looks that look great on screen as they duke it out for each other's own convictions. A prideful person who is lonely will do anything to keep from admitting that he feels alone. The length he went to hide his weakness was drastic but Kang brought a bit of humanity to a character who seems completely demonic. Go Soo has a harder role to play as his character goes through several emotional transitions in this film. He starts off as the guy who just wants to have fun with his friends to then become a person who realizes to true importance of one's life along with the decisions that come with that life. He was hit with hell without any warning and Kang's character refused to let up on him even for a second. I also want to give props to the foreign actors who costarred in this film. They spoke Korean at near perfect fluency and their acting caused a great connective chemistry that you would think might be hard for an African man, Turkish man, and a Korean man to have but they pulled it off with flying colors. Multiculturalism is a great thing that South Korea needs more of.
Certain lose ends ended up making conflicts in the plot. The first half and hour is kind of slow. Viewers might also get confused while looking at the box to make sure this is the same film that is playing on the screen. The beginning has a comedic vibe if you exclude some background on Dong Woo's character. My biggest problem was the lose ends that didn't completely explain why these powers came into being. Most superpower inspired films take the time to give some background on how the character's got their powers and why. Kang's character is also deformed on one of his legs. Viewers are never told if he was born that way of if he was in an accident when he was younger. Go Soo's power is never addressed at all. He just keeps coming back not matter what. The character himself acknowledges that he is not normal but he never seems to fully except this fact. I don't like having to guess about lose ends like these when the answer easily can be given to me as a viewer. Other than that, They film had a solid opening and conclusion with a few great actions scene that utilize the unique concept of a man who can control all living beings.
I came to see "Haunters" for Kang Dong Won and left enjoying it because of Kang Dong Won with help from Go Soo. The film falls in-between of not being too bad or too good. Its in the dead middle. My reason for picking up "Haunters" out weighted the fact of if the film was bad or not. I don't feel like I wasted my time but I'm not blown away either.
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