Alienoid

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.

There are so many ideas mixed together in this movie and a lot of it does work. But it works mostly when it's a goofy action movie where aliens, magic and time travel come together with all its craziness. Every time the movie tries to be serious, it falters.

The one-note characters and it being just part 1 ending in a cliffhanger is not a big help either. While I did enjoy a lot of it and appreciate a lot of the ideas used, the bad parts were painstakingly bad. I would definitely be interested in a better executed version of these concepts. There's so much in it that is not fully explained and only would be explained in a sequel.

Messy but entertaining Korean hybrid-genre from Choi Dong-hoon. Took a while to understand its concept and get to know a lot of characters. Star-studded cast crafted a deft mix of high-octane action and character-driven comedy to kept us all on hold for part two.

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.

I like the movie, even though at the beginning and the middle it was shown 2 different timelines and made me confused, but in the end it was explained too. I like the male and female (i forgot their names) acting, the one who has a mirror. And part 2 will air next year. Can't wait.