Alienoid: Part 1

I am usually not a fan of these kind of fantasy movies. This movie combines all sorts of genres, but it does it in a quite entertaining and creative way.

The story: alien monsters invading the earth must be fought. Lots (LOTS) of fighting follows...

The good: there are some pretty spectacular action scenes in the middle part of this movie, around 1 hour into the movie.

The bad: this movie lasts (WAY) too long. Almost 2 and a half hour and most of it is talking scenes, which isnt terrible, but there is simply too much different characters talking to each other. I lost count.

More bad: the story is all over the place, which isnt terrible, but doesnt help either in understanding who is fighting who and for what reason.

In the end this is quite an entertaining spectacle, with some flaws though...

Probably the worst screenplay, editing and directing I've seen in such an eye-candy filled movie. Feels like one screenplay from every genre was shredded and randomly pieced together.

The story lacked continuity, cohesion and most of the attempt at humor was infantile. Even some of the dialog was questionable. Writer and director Dong-hoon Choi failed in giving us a story that made much sense, and instead convoluted almost two and a half hours of story-telling with ridiculous timelines that were riddled with plot and technical issues, and lazy filler with very little substance to the story.

I could edit/cut this down to a 90 min film and even give it a proper ending, and I'd enjoy it more, and I'm not a filmmaker. If it wasn't for the amazing visual effects and decent performances, I would've turned this off after the first time-line jump. I lost interest during every change in timeline because the story kept getting sloppier and lazier.

What's worse, is that after the long dragged out 142 min runtime, there was no reward in the end; we'll probably have to sit through another convoluted 142 mins mess of a story in Part 2, and I'm not willing to make that investment. It's a generous 6/10 from me, mostly all for the visuals effects and decent performances.

I was rather enjoying it although it's a bit too long. It has decent effects, the Asian over the top acting, nice fight choreography, soundtrack is decent. It kinda resembles Kung Fu Hustle in a way, you'll know what I mean if you've seen it. There's plenty of action, but maybe a tad bit too plenty. It was going OK, I was enjoying it, and then when I started to get bored it turned out it ends in a cliffhanger without actual resolution to the story. I really don't have any will to watch two more hours of this. There was plenty of time to finish the story here, instead of twisting and turning it inside out.

If you are a person who couldn't sit still for more than 2 hours, this might not be your cup of tea! But if you could, all the acts, comedies, sceneries, CGIs, and story-lines won't dissapoint you. I got sceptical at first, but more than satisfied at the end of the movie. I suggest to watch it in the cinema (especially 4D) so you'll have more remarkable experience. Can't wait for Alienoid Part 2!

The must see movie of this genre is Fyodor Bondachuk's 2017 Russian movie, Attraction. It's on many streaming platforms. The 2022 Korean Alienoid seems inspired by Attraction. What Alienoid has going for it is very good on-set morale; it's fun. Its verve, snappy dialogue, committed acting and stunts and lots of creative scenes make it watchable TV.

The VFX are stellar. The middle part of Alienoid is a Terminator vs. Terminator battle in a city with impeccable post-production values. There's also a Mission Impossible stunt reference.

As with many foreign sci-fi and fantasy movies, even with very committed acting as you have here, a series of action scenes strung together, does not add up to a blockbuster. To really pop, the characters have to have an arc of development which fuels their passion.