The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion is a 2018 South Korean mystery action film written and directed by Park Hoon-jung. The movie centers around a high school student who had a troubled past that she doesn’t remember but soon starts to uncover the unimaginable dark truth. The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion (2018) movie review
The first half of the movie is very slow and to be honest, really boring. It deals with Kim Da-mi’s character Ja-yoon and her attempts to fit in and live a normal life. The whole singer part and her competing is not really interesting. However it is important to show character development. The action starts about 1hr into this 2hr movie. Real non stop action happens for about 20 minutes at the end. Speaking of action, it is well done and very brutal with a lot of blood spewing everywhere.
While most scenes of action are bloody, there were a bunch of scenes where the camera either focused on the person with the gun and not the person getting killed or something violent happens and we see the aftermath of it and not the actual act. My guess is to save on effects but it was a bit disappointing. Als, some of these characters went down way too easy after being built up to be almost unstoppable.
Another thing that was annoying (perhaps this is just my pet peeve), but the Korean actor/actress would say few words in English and than go back to talking in Korean. It was pointless but you have to pandor to western audiences. Most of these English parts were to sound intimidating, to sound smart, or just to appear like stuck up basterds. My point is that it was not necessary and it almost appears like Korean crew learned these verbatim so they can say it but I can’t confirm that. American films such as The Meg, Transformers (one of the later ones), and Pacific Rim: Uprising also did things to help it sell in the Asian markets. I understand the point of it, but I hate it nonetheless. It doesn’t really help the story at all.
The acting was pretty good all around. The story itself is very similar to many spy movies that came out in the past where a person was trained/brainwashed by some secret agency that wants them to be highly skilled assassins. I think this movie differs in the execution of it. It is also rumored to be part of a trilogy so I am very much looking forward to seeing where they take this story.
Thanks for reading my short review of The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion (2018) movie review
