A girl wakes up in a secret laboratory and meets Kyung-hee, who is trying to protect her from a gang. When the gang finally finds the girl, they are overwhelmed by an unexpected power.
I did not see the predecessor, but “The Witch 2: The Other One” is primarily thrilling and quite familiar. The titular character and others wield various supernatural powers: telekinesis and superhuman speed. Park Hoon-jung, writer of “I Saw The Devil” and director of other popular Korean films like “The New World” and “The Tiger,” helms an ambitious sequel with plenty of genre influences.
Haunted by vague memories, The Girl (Cynthia) is kept prisoner in a secret laboratory. Known as the Ark, the lab’s state-of-the-art facility is run by shady administrators and an older woman. “The Witch’s” first act moves swiftly, with The Girl escaping the Ark covered in blood. Park viscerally captures the aftermath with electronics making distorted beeping noises and pools of blood mixed with shards of glass underneath scores of bodies. The sound design is highlighted by the crunch of glass and The Girl’s squishing footsteps through the blood mentioned above.
Jo-Hyun is one of the only people fortunate to survive The Girl’s bloody escape, and she begins hunting The Girl. Jo-Hyun is one of the film’s best characters, and she harnesses some superpowers as well. Her partner is a South African Himbo, and the two trade plenty of verbal jabs. Working against other foes, the two make haste to find the powerful young witch.
Eventually, The Girl discovers her humanity as she’s taken in by a kind young woman and is further assimilated into a loving home. But the humanizing of The Girl takes a bit too long and should have been edited down. Meanwhile, various groups of gangsters and superhumans are heading her way to capture her – dead or alive.
For all the promising aspects of its style and ’90s goth aesthetic inspiration, “The Witch 2: The Other One” relies on effects for action sequences to a significant fault. It could’ve been great through tight editing, choreography, and practical effects. Regardless, Park’s framing makes characters shrink into large-scale landscapes and makes everyone look cool. He also uses innovative camerawork; most notably, a drone flies through trees during a car chase. The cast is full of stylish and gorgeous people who deliver solid performances.
Ultimately, the film feels like a reworking of “X-Men.” The assortment of outcasts capable of superpowers resembled the Marvel franchise. Even a wise older woman in a wheelchair brought to mind Professor X. Other characters manipulating wood recalled how Magneto uses metals. Although “The Witch 2: The Other One” gets lost in its greater narrative ambitions, it held my interest throughout.
Available on Blu-ray™, DVD, & Digital November 8th
