Haunters (aka Psychic) Review

Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: A man who can control people with his mind clashes with the one man he cannot control.

Review: A big hit in Korea, this is sort of like a more action based "Unbreakable." It's definitely a great and imaginative film, but it most certainly lacked the depth and storytelling present in "Unbreakable." Considering its success, I'm surprised there hasn't been a sequel yet. I only bring this fact up, because a sequel could easily alleviate many of my problems with the gaping holes in the story. In fact, I would have rated this so much higher if it weren't for a nonsensical ending and the fact that answers, as to what's going on, never come despite a buildup throughout the film. I'm not saying we need to be spoon-fed plot points, but there should be a balance between being intentionally vague and leaving the audience completely in the dark.

The film begins with the introduction of the villain, Cho-in, when he was a child. He has his eyes covered and is told to never take off the blindfold except for split seconds when bathing; he also has a prosthetic leg for whatever reason. Hiding out with his mother, the two are interrupted by the abusive father who beats the mother bloody forcing Cho-in to intervene. This is when we realize he possesses the power to control people by simply looking at them. Eh, it's kind of ambiguous as to how he uses his mind to do the controlling, but he needs to physically see the person--I guess they wanted some limitations. Anyway, Cho-in makes the father kill himself as we cut to a later point with the mother trying to kill Cho-in. I guess the solution to all these Samara/Sadako people is to kill them, but Cho-in uses his powers to stop her and spares her life. We then see Cho-in as an adult, and he's become a bitter person who uses his powers to get anything he wants.

The film shifts gears a bit as we see the protagonist, Kyu-nam, working at a junkyard with all foreigners. This struck me as very odd, since I have rarely seen a non-Korean in a Korean film before, and here we have a bunch. In fact, this may be the most foreign-friendly Korean film I've ever watched. You have Kyu-nam's best friends, Boba and Ali, coming from Ghana and Turkey respectively, Kyu-nam's eventual boss was married to, what I'm guessing was, an American girl (given the whole cowboy look), and the boss' daughter was implied to be mixed and even referred to herself as Rachel. Moving along, Kyu-nam hangs out with Boba and Ali one night after work when he is unexpectedly run over by a car. Recovering miraculously quick, he appears to have been fired from the junkyard job and stumbles across a job at a pawnshop where he meets that boss and his daughter. The boss says he has noticed money disappearing and recently installed a camera yet no one is picked up. On the first day of work, Boba and Ali come to visit Kyu-nam and they all hang out together with the boss and the daughter, but Cho-in shows up to rob the place. This is the first true glance at the range of his power as he can control many people at once and they have no memory of what he does during this period. While the boss hands over the money, Cho-in notices that Kyu-nam starts to fidget until completely breaking free of the control. Scared at first, Cho-in then uses everyone else to fight Kyu-nam which includes the daughter stabbing him. Shrugging most of this off, Kyu-nam kicks Cho-in's ass...forcing him to resort to making the boss try and choke himself; this gives Cho-in time to escape while Kyu-nam tries to save the boss.

Sure enough, the boss does die, but Kyu-nam tries to explain to his friends the circumstances of the death. They have an extremely quick funeral service as Cho-in tests his powers in an attempt to rationalize why Kyu-nam could resist it. When recovering the surveillance footage for evidence, they are startled by the fact that Cho-in has come back at the same time to collect the said footage. Unfortunately for Kyu-nam, Boba, and Ali, Cho-in brought a small army of people to do his bidding. There is a bit of a standoff as Ali and Boba flee the group of controlled people, and Kyu-nam hides in the rafters with the surveillance tape. As they take the fight to the streets, Cho-in finds himself alone, with no one to control, as Kyu-nam chases him with a van. This is when Kyu-nam discovers that Cho-in has to see the people in order to control them since he blinds Cho-in with headlights when he goes to control a guy dumping his trash. In light of the revelation, Kyu-nam still gets jumped by a bunch of controlled men as they try to stab him with a broken bottle. Luckily, Kyu-nam had a taser the boss gave him, and he shocks Cho-in which in turn stops his control.

Idiotically, Kyu-nam takes Cho-in to the police who don't believe his story and end up controlled by Cho-in. After a quick shootout, the two take their fight to a subway filled with many patrons. You'd think Kyu-nam would realize this is dumb, but he still charges Cho-in. This is when we fully realize Kyu-nam has powers of his own as he overcomes all the people trying to stop him. Desperate, Cho-in controls a mother to throw her baby onto the tracks as a train is coming. Of course Kyu-nam intervenes but collides with the side of the moving train. Kyu-nam appears dead for a time as Cho-in goes back to a hotel he hides at only to discover police are all over it. Kyu-nam, alive and recovered, asks for Boba and Ali to help him hunt down Cho-in as he feels he must be stopped. They agree and run across a few goofball characters who serve no purpose in their pursuit to find Cho-in. Ali develops a makeshift flare gun to blind Cho-in and Cho-in robs a bank and gives the money to his mother who was being questioned by the police; he does consider killing her, but I suppose he can't kill her for whatever reason yet was willing to kill a baby.

When coming toward the climax, the movie oddly decides to have Kyu-nam, Boba, and Ali driving around, and Kyu-nam falls asleep and then they're suddenly under attack by Cho-in. What a lame way to force them back together. They head into an apartment complex where Cho-in forces people to commit suicide as he escapes, but he runs into Ali and Boba who are easily enthralled. For some reason, Kyu-nam goes back to the pawnshop and finds Ali and Boba strung up to be hung; Kyu-nam is knocked out and also put in a similar hanging position. After villain ranting about how this is all Kyu-nam's fault, which we hear throughout the film, Cho-in leaves them all hanging, but Kyu-nam narrowly survives by using a utility knife nearby to cut his rope; sadly, this is the end for Boba and Ali who die. Kyu-nam immediately chases after Cho-in who is driving in a car with the boss' daughter he controls. After a mildly amusing car chase, Cho-in crashes and uses all the nearby drivers to block Kyu-nam, but Ali had enhanced their van with nitrous which allows the van to outrun the controlled cars. Cho-in then flees to the top of a building and forces the boss' daughter to the top of the neighboring building. When Kyu-nam catches up, he is once again faced with a dilemma concerning stopping Cho-in or letting the daughter die. This allows Cho-in the opportunity to shoot Kyu-nam a number of times. When he goes in for the head shot, Cho-in is distracted by Kyu-nam mentioning that no one even knows who Cho-in really is, because he uses fake identities. For some reason this bothers Cho-in which gives Kyu-nam the opening to throw them both off the building. Cho-in dies but Kyu-nam survives once more. We then cut to a future point where Kyu-nam appears paraplegic, and he's seeing the boss' daughter off at a subway now that she has become a stewardess. Conveniently, a kid falls onto the tracks as a train is coming, but when the train passes they see that Kyu-nam is on the other side of the tracks holding the kid. Well that would have been a hell of a lot cooler if we simply cut to that scene, without the daughter and Kyu-nam, and it demonstrated that Kyu-nam found his calling in life as a superhero rather than some paraplegic bullshit. Actually, if the film really wanted to have fun with the material, they would have ended the movie with maybe a third person with powers.

Now I just want to address a few things that didn't make sense or needed clarity. First, was there a connection between Kyu-nam and Cho-in? We know nothing about Kyu-nam's backstory except a line about he did things he didn't want to mention when at the job interview. I've read others suggesting they were brothers, but that would be beyond cliched and I don't see any evidence of that. I believe the contrast between the two, much like in "Unbreakable," had a narrative purpose that the two being brothers would negate. Although, why did Cho-in have the prosthetic? What happened to his leg in the first place? Was there more to that or was that to emphasize his physical weakness being compensated by mental strength whereas Kyu-nam had those physical abilities instead. Okay, we get that Kyu-nam had powers, but why are his all over the place and he never accessed them until meeting Cho-in? I know the film wanted to emphasize that the two meeting was a twist of fate, but that really only works if the two influenced the other's creation in a way similar to "Unbreakable." Ahh, I keep making the comparisons, but it's because "Unbreakable" handled these aspects better, but "Haunters" did the action better and had more fun with the film. Anyway, my problem with the inconsistent powers is due to the ending and Kyu-nam being pointlessly paraplegic. Wouldn't it stand to reason the powers were natural and he'd heal like with the car accident at the beginning? Another weird aspect was that Cho-in was feeling weakened or blinded the more he fought Kyu-nam. Again, what was the meaning behind that? There just too many aspects that needed to be addressed in some shape or form. I mean, were they simply sequel baiting or what?

Despite my gripes, this is a cool flick. You've got solid action, a charming lightheartedness, and it doesn't follow a conventional presentation and avoids lameness like a romance subplot. The acting is pretty good and the effects were better than I thought they would be. However, I felt they held back or added plot aspects deliberately for the intent of a sequel which who knows if we'll ever get. I do wish they got rid of, or modified, that lull in the middle of the film when they are looking for Cho-in, because then the film would have been a nonstop battle; this would have been significantly more entertaining. I definitely recommend checking this bad boy out especially when I'm sure others won't care about the story related holes that bothered me. If you ever felt like "Unbreakable" needed less talking and more action, this is the film for you.

Notable Moment: When we see all the men working at the junkyard. Maybe it's common place in Korea, I don't know, but I've never watched a Korean film with this many non-Koreans in it. It's amusing to me for some strange reason.

Final Rating: 6.5/10