Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy

This is a new account I created to separate this review from my main account after seeing all these fiery reviews.

I haven't read much of the original novel or the manhwa, so I don't know much about the original plotline. I know a couple actors- Lee Minho, Nana, Jisoo, and I'd watched Hyo-seop's last movie, KPop Demon Hunters. Besides that, I know next to nothing about the production of this movie or the original IP.

Visually? It's so bad it confuses me. The lighting looks as if someone shone a flashlight in frame because the main lights broke. Many scenes are shot directly facing the character, framing them in the middle of the screen, making for an awful composition. The CGI and special effects look incredibly out of place. Not even in the way CGI will typically look out of place in live action- it looks especially bad. Train to Busan from years ago had better CGI than this. Surely they haven't been working on this movie for that long, have they?

I don't have a lot of notes concerning the acting. It's not spectacular- line delivery from Jisoo and Hyo-seop is a tad awkward, but negligible- but it's not the worst I've seen. It certainly isn't any of these actors' magnum opus.

The plot is incredibly confusing. There's a large world, that I'm aware of, but even with the background knowledge I'd had from the first few chapters of the novel and manhwa, it was hard to follow. The most you can digest is that the apocalypse is happening- of which originated from a novel- but otherwise, nothing else is explained. Constellations? Coins? Skills? I shudder at the thought of someone completely in the dark trying to understand this.

The plot is alright. A standard post-apocalyptic fantasy with transmigration elements. The fights are choreographed fine- again, not the best I've seen in film -and you can enjoy some flashy special effects.

A minor thing, but the sound mixing was a bit strange. It might have been a personal problem, but the dialogue was washed out at times.

Overall, it's an alright movie. If you've read any of the original source material, it will be easier to understand, but from what I've seen, it's not recommended. I wouldn't watch it again. It seems a bit like a movie to put on while you do chores or homework. I certainly wouldn't see it in theaters.

There are many changes to the story of Orv in the film and novel or manhwa for those who read the novel, they must be aware that this is rubbish, disappointing and tarnishes the good name of the author of the novel Orv! While those who haven't read it may think this is the best, you are very wrong!!

I recommend you read it from the original (novel) source to realize for yourself how cruel this film is, changing all the characters and their personalities but borrowing the original name 'orv' and their characters. This is the same as Copypaste but changes everything to their liking and uses the 'adaptation' sentence as a shield of not accused!!

For example : kim dokja Considering Three Ways of Survival to be his savior when he was a child, Kim Dokja was at his lowest point until he searched for it purely to survive and the novel appeared. Kim Dokja was able to live more than 10 years just to wait for the novel, reading as many as 3000 chapters for three ways of survival with the ideal of hope as Yoo Jonghyuk.

But in this adaptation!? Kim Dokja hates Three Ways of Survival, why does he hate a novel that saved him at his lowest point?? Why is Yoo Jonghyuk a side character in this live action? Yoo Jonghyuk is always a prontogonist no matter what, whether it's pure from three ways of survival or orv himself

One more thing...WHERE IS MY DEAR HAN SOOYOUNG! SHE'S NOT IN LIVE ACTION BUT I'M STILL HAPPY BECAUSE SHE WON'T BE MISCHARACTERIZED.

Overall, this is just garbage, they just changed everything about the characters that it doesn't make sense at all. Kdj hate the novel? And all those gun and staff ... why bother adapting it to LA if they can't even capture the core of the novel . Seriously, the ones who give 10 are just actor fans.

Omniscient Reader: The Prophet is, at best, a visual interpretation inspired by ORV. At worst, its a complete disservice ti the orginial webtoon that is deeply beloved. While adpatations are expected to make changes for the sake of medium and runtime, this film fundamentaly misunderstands the heart of the orignial work. The Prophet feels less like an adaptation and more a soulless fanfic with a big budget and no heart. I am convicned that the directors didnt even read the webtoon thoroughly. Kim Dokja's connection to Three Ways to survive the apocalyse-- the novel that canonically kept him alive. TWSA is not merely a story he reads but it was quite literally the thread that help him together through the public shame and trauma caused by his mother. The story of Yoo Joonghyuk gave him hope and identity during years of bullying and loneliness. In this film, Dokja portrayed as resentful towards TSWA, dismissing the very thing that shaped his life?? This is a major mischaracterzation. Another deeply confusing alteration involves Dokja's relationship with his mother. In the webtoon, their dynamic is one of the most emotionally complex and painful parts of the story IMO. Theres conflic, resentment and guilt. She is a convicted murderer and her actions are directly tied to the social ostraczation and truama KDJ endures. I dont undertsand how you can reduce such a relationship to quiet and caring bond with absolutely no explaination or emotional depth???

KDJ has no bookmark, no 4th wall, no omniscient readers view point??? Then, what's with the title? Perhaps the most baffling is the decision to frame Lee Heewon as KDJ's "favourite character". She is a minor character, nameless in TWSA and definetely not someone that KDJ would consider his favourite, over Yoo Joonghyuk of all characters. His admiration and fixation on YJH is one of the narratives central pillars... YJH is not only a hero to KDJ but a symbol of survival. KDJ models himself after him, literally moments where he would repeadetly chant "I am Yoo Joonghyuk." in moments of despair. He canonically loves YJH, whether he means it platonically or romantically doesn't matter. YJH MATTERS so much to KDJ. Their dynamic has to be the most intimate and one of the emotional cores to the story. Reducing YJH to a mere background character while elevating Heewon without a narrtaive justification or-- sense feels not only arbitrary but disrespectuful to the story. The Prophet seems to borrow only character names from ORV, while disregarding the carefully contructed emotional and thematic threads that the original had. Rather than an adaption, I would call this a misinterpretation. It replaces nuance with surface level drama and well contructed emotional depth with convenient plot points, character truth with... shallow and predictable troupes. It's genertic and cliche. I mean, really, Sanga as a healer? She's far from a healer, she was quick to adapt and she KILLS people for survival not heal. Kim Dokja's mischaracterisation hurts me deeply. He was far from timid like seen in the film, he's not supposed to be nice. He is selfish and manipulative. He scams. He does what he has to do to get through scenarios, in his favour. But now-- he's just a flattened protagonist with none of his original sharpness or inner conflict.

I didnt expect much. But i also did not expect it to be this horrible. This wasnt made for the fans, this wasnt made for the story-- it was made for the poster.

The more I think about it, the more frustrated I get. ORV revolves around stories, history, and myths-their significance is at its core. Yet, the live-action production is already disregarding key elements that are fundamentally tied to storytelling, which is honestly baffling.

The live-action adaptation of Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint (ORV) has sparked an intense backlash, and rightfully so. What was supposed to be a long-awaited moment for fans has turned into a disaster, riddled with careless changes and outright disrespect for the source material. Even before seeing the movie, fans were already skeptical, they were prepared to expect the worse, and the live action did well with giving us something way lower than our expectations with how badly this adaptation would butcher the essence of the novel. Instead of an authentic, faithful retelling, what we got was a generic action film with a misleading title, out-of-character portrayals, and baffling creative choices that make it clear the production team either didn't read the novel or simply didn't care.

One of the most ridiculous decisions was the title change to The Prophet. Anyone who has actually read ORV knows that Kim Dokja is not a prophet-he briefly pretends to be one, but the true prophet in the story is Anna Croft. Renaming the adaptation this way is misleading and sets the stage for a version of the story that doesn't even try to stay faithful to its original themes. Even if fans initially wanted to give the production team the benefit of the doubt, the trailer alone proved that the adaptation had already gone off the rails.

Then there's the blatant modernization of the weaponry, which completely ignores ORV's fundamental power system. The novel revolves around the idea that myths and historical narratives shape reality, which is why characters wield swords, spears, and bows instead of guns. And yet, the trailer features Lee Jihye holding a sniper rifle, an image so absurd that it immediately raised alarms for longtime fans. Even worse, Yoo Joonghyuk-a man who has mastered the sword across countless regressions-is also seen holding a gun, despite his well-established hatred for firearms. These changes don't just tweak minor details; they strip ORV of its identity, turning it into a generic action film rather than the deep, lore-driven narrative that made it so beloved. The sword in the story is more than just a weapon-it carries deep symbolic meaning for various characters and is central to many scenes. Its significance cannot simply be replaced by a gun.

Casting was another major point of contention, as the actors chosen fail to match their characters in both appearance and presence. A key detail-Kim Dokja being shorter than Yoo Joonghyuk-was ignored entirely, with the actors looking almost the same height or, even worse, Kim Dokja appearing taller. For fans, this is yet another sign of the production's disregard for accuracy. But what made matters worse was the influx of K-drama and K-pop fans who defended the casting based purely on their idol biases rather than whether the actors fit the roles. Some even went as far as romanticizing inappropriate dynamics and twisting relationships beyond recognition, further alienating the dedicated ORV fanbase.

The production team had the audacity to claim they were following the webtoon, yet every choice they've made contradicts that statement. Key elements, like the Dokkaebi-creatures central to the entire plot-are shown with an appearance completely different from how folk lore portrayals are. How can they claim to be staying true to the story when they ignore some of its most defining aspects?

But this doesn't even reach half of why this movie is a disgrace, a disrespect to ORV's name. Now that we have the actual movie-this just honestly contributes to the disappointment fans are feeling. You can't even call it disappointment, a feeling too shallow to express the hatred and anger this excuse for an adaptation deserves that the only solution would be to delete this movie entirely. There is no such thing for solutions and negotiations now, this movie obviously deserves the highest digits of rating in the negatives!

Aside from those I've previously discussed regarding the weapons, actors, appearance, and the portrayal of history-this just keeps getting lower and lower. Such monstrosity riding in the profit of ORV by residing under its name is just down right insulting. You can't even compare this to ORV anymore-even SSSSS-Infinite Grade Regressor is better than this eyesore.

First of all, they made Kim Dokja hate the novel despite the same book being his sole salvation-the reason he was able to endure all these years of suffering alone. The audacity? There wasn't even a reason to change it in the first place, the story revolves around Kim Dokja's love for the novel! Even the word love feels too low to express the complexity of emotions he feels stemming from all those years of enduring. He didn't call himself "Yoo Joonghyuk" repeatedly if he was going to end up hating on the novel. The only reason his story exists was because he was the ONLY reader of "Three Ways to Survive an Apocalypse." Making him hate it would just kill the purpose of this story. He didn't read 3149 chapters for nothing, it was the only thing that kept him going. Without the swarm of feelings he feels for TWSA-he wouldn't even exist in the first place, a possibility would be Kim Dokja disappearing from the surface of the earth. Yes, without TWSA, he could have died alone already. TWSA were written by HSY for 10 years solely to keep him alive. Clearing all the scenarios simply by being the only reader of a novel that he stayed and endure whatever life throws at him for, do you really think that's something someone could have done if they hated it? Unless it's Shen Yuan, who was able to read 3000 chapters yet ended up hating it, but we're talking about Kim Dokja here.

This movie is nothing but rotten trash made by a misogynistic director who mischaracterizes and warps female characters beyond recognition, disregarding their importance in the story simply by watering down their capabilities. Firstly, with JISOO being the highlight of the movie for K-pop fans, who's playing the character Lee Jihye-the director undoubtedly used JISOO's name and recognition to hurdle fame for the movie, so that it would overshadow the criticisms made by the original fans of the novel. They reduced her scenes, saying that Lee Jihye didn't have many lines despite being an important character in the story and the discipline of our protagonist. They also made Yoo Sangah a healer, who was originally an assassin, someone who does the opposite of healing to others-which just removes the point of Lee Seolhwa's character, Kim Dokja's Company's healer who have helped them through tough times and have prevented the deaths of many. And Lee Sookyung, Kim Dokja's mother, who was said to be taken care of KDJ in the movie-which just honestly contradicts the suffering both have experienced in the original story. Reducing Lee Sookyung's character to just a woman being looked after by her son when she's someone completely capable of taking care and saving herself-she didn't take years of abuse, taking the blame for her husband's and Kim Dokja's dad's murder, spending years in prison and writing a novel underground-for nothing. Kim Dokja wouldn't want to be involved with her due to the trauma that has separated them both. And in the movie, Jung Heewon-who had declared herself as Kim Dokja's sword-was seen using daggers instead of a sword. She was also said to be the main character or TWSA and KDJ's favourite character, when it was Yoo Joonghyuk's story he had been following for a decade, not Jung Heewon's. In the novel TWSA-Jung Heewon is an unnamed character that would later die, but Kim Dokja prevented that, but that doesn't mean she's the main character of TWSA. They also removed Jung Heewon's sa scene, as expected of a misogynist. These aren't the strong, capable females ive seen in my years of reading ORV.

At this point, it's clear that the adaptation isn't for the fans-it's for the general public, an attempt to cash in on ORV's popularity without respecting what made it great. And that's what hurts the most. Fans who have loved this story for years, who have supported it through web novel updates, webtoon releases, and discussions, are now being told to "just don't watch it" if they don't like it. But if this adaptation wasn't meant for the fans, then why use the ORV name at all? Why borrow its characters, its world, its hype, only to tear it apart and reshape it into something unrecognizable? Do us a favour and resign from your position, Director.