Review for Woochi: The Demon Slayer (2 Discs)

Introduction

Trailers do work! Of course that's the whole point, a little burst of a movie's key points to draw in and excite potential audiences. It was one key point of Woochi that worked its magic on me, when I saw the trailer for it on the 71 Into The Fire disc. The sight of a CGI rabbit, dressed up for battle awoke a long forgotten teenage memory for me, that of the Usagi Yojimbo comics and the Samurai Warrior computer game that I used to play. Coming from South Korea, I knew that this would be no Samurai Rabbit in Woochi, but the prospect of such an intriguing character in a fantasy film had me anticipating the next delivery of check discs with unseemly enthusiasm. When the disc came, it was a timely reminder that while trailers do work, they can often be misleading as well.


Man and beast had no problem living together in peace; the problem was the evilness of the goblins. The archgod took his magic pipe and captured the goblins, confining them to darkness long enough to tame their natures. But it was a trio of lesser Taoist gods who were left in charge of the prison, and through their error, the goblins were released a day early, bringing darkness to the world, which led to the magic pipe being lost, and the archgod falling into darkness. That wasn't important to the scoundrel wizard Woochi, who merely quested for greater power and fame. To be recognised as the best in the land, he needed a magic mirror and bronze sword. What he found instead were a couple of goblins living in human guise and the magic pipe.


But the magic pipe can't be controlled, it controls and corrupts others. The three Taoist gods have been looking to rectify their mistake, and with the aid of the wizard Huadan have been searching for the magic pipe, and been trying to capture the escaped goblins. When Huadan encounters Woochi's master and the magic pipe, disaster falls, and the pipe is broken. It's Woochi who takes the blame and pays the price, sealed away in a painting for hundreds of years. In the present day, the two goblins escape, and with Huadan nowhere to be found, the three Taoist gods have nowhere to turn but to Woochi to help them recapture the goblins. Dark forces are gathering however, the pipe may be restored, and he who controls the pipe will decide the fate of the world.

Picture

Woochi gets a 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer, which does a fine job in bringing the film across. There is the odd moment of softness, an overall layer of grain, but by and large the image is clear and sharp throughout. Brighter colours, particularly in the opening, period setting half of the film are strongly saturated and unrealistic, but I feel this is a narrative choice given the tone of the story. The only real issue I had with the transfer was some moiré on fine detail, particularly Woochi's mesh hat. The CGI is of a high standard throughout, although the effects enhanced characters and creations do on occasional lack a sense of weight. There is a Blu-ray release on the same day as this DVD should you want the higher definition.

Sound

Woochi offers you the choice between DD 5.1 and DD 2.0 Korean, with optional English subtitles. The dialogue is clear throughout, and the action and music of the film come across adequately enough. I did feel that the surround mix was a little subdued and lacked dynamism. Woochi settles more for establishing an ambience with its surround rather than punctuating the action with any particular flair. It is still an enjoyable and immersive experience though.

Extras

Woochi The Demon Slayer is one of Cine Asia's Ultimate Editions, so it comes on two discs, packed with extra features and with the usual animated menus.

Disc 1

Here you will find the trailer gallery, with the UK trailer for Woochi, the theatrical and teaser trailers, and 3 TV spots. You'll also find 12 trailers for other Cine Asia product in an Also Available section.

The deleted scenes last 22 minutes in total, and there are 12 to choose from. The last one is a combination deleted scene and making of featurette though. Unfortunately, there is no Play All option here.

Most substantial on disc 1 is the audio commentary, with Bey Logan and Mike Leeder filling the commentary booth with oodles of pertinent information and tantalising titbits about the Asian film industry. It's another solid, dependable commentary from the pair and very much worth listening to. I noticed they had to be circumspect about some of their previous commentaries. Now that Cine Asia are resurrecting the HKL name, maybe they won't be so coy in the future.


[b]Disc 2[b]

The majority of the extras are on the second disc, almost three hours worth, beginning with an EPK intro to the film, in The Newest Korean Style Hero Movie. This lasts 6 minutes and has brief interviews with the director and the stars, plenty of clips from the film, and behind the scenes footage.

The Making Of on the other hand is 24 minutes of pure b-roll footage, showing off some of the films stunts and action sequences under construction.

The Interview Gallery is a surprisingly small one for a Cine Asia release. The Interview with Director and Cast just lasts 5 minutes, and is pure EPK bumf. The Interview with the Director, Key Staff, and Cast in Pre-Production lasts longer at 11 minutes, and is a little more varied and interesting in terms of content.

Perhaps it's because there are more interviews in the Production Featurettes that the Interview Gallery is slim. Here you have a choice of six featurettes, The Training Process (4 mins), The World Outside the Frame (9 mins that looks at the director and the actors), Production Design (15 mins), Action and Special Effects (16 mins), Shooting and Lighting (6 more mins of b-roll footage), and Post Production, Sound and Editing (6 mins).


As with any modern summer action movie that loads up on featurettes, you'll invariably find a whole section devoted to CGI, and here we have The Magic of Computer Graphics. You'll find four featurettes here. Visual Art (CG) (15 mins), CG Scenes in the Pre-Production Stage (26 mins), CG Mixed in with Final Stages (11 mins), and The CG Process - The Before and After (3 mins).

Finally there are a trio of 4-minute promotional featurettes, with Woochi The Premiere, Woochi The Press Conference, and Woochi The Showcase rounding off the extras disc.

Apparently the Blu-ray release will have another hour of extra features, but I can't tell you what they will be.

Conclusion

My first disappointment came with the realisation that the warrior rabbit isn't a character in this film, she's just a big computer generated monster goblin, a suitably robust foe to challenge our hero from time to time, but little in the way of depth or characterisation, even when she is in her human form. My second disappointment is that Woochi isn't all that amazing a film. The reason behind that becomes clear in the extra features, where director Dong-hun Choi states that as well as being inspired by Korean legend, he was also inspired by Hollywood entertainment for the masses, the superhero flicks that saturate the multiplexes each summer. In that respect he has made a resounding success, for Woochi the Demon Slayer is fast paced, fun, and uproariously entertaining for the duration of its runtime. It's also lacks depth, has a threadbare narrative, and characterisations that are so thin as to be non-existent, other than the title character Woochi, a playful trickster that is played with verve, wit and panache by Dong-won Kang. Of course in this case the lack of characterisation isn't down to the actors, it's the script which seems more devoted to the action set pieces than it is in developing the back story and giving dimension to the characters.


Of course this probably is my fault, and not the filmmakers. Woochi as described in the extras is a venerable Korean legend, a trickster wizard, a scoundrel and a scamp that has as much cultural reference in Korea as Robin Hood would have in the UK. What I see as opaque and thin storytelling, is probably a cultural shorthand that Korean audiences share, a common understanding of what all these settings and tales are, who these characters are and how they related to each other, which means that the film doesn't need to be padded out with excessive exposition. That's probably true for them, but for someone as ill-versed as me in Korean legend, that means having to take this film at face value, which is why I find it thin and underdeveloped.


Still, it is entertaining though, full of action set pieces that don't disappoint, with a central character in Woochi that is very appealing and likeable. The trickster and the prankster is such a common archetype in all forms of myth and legend, that even given the unfamiliar culture and myth, understanding the playful and quirky Woochi is never a problem. And while back stories and character depth may be lacking, the archetypes of the three Taoist gods, Woochi's sidekick Chorangyi, and the corrupted wizard Huadan deliver enough spark and wit to entertain even when the big action moments are yet to come.


Another disappointment was that the story didn't really make much of the culture clash that comes with bringing mythological characters into the modern world. There was a brief moment where Woochi and Chorangyi looked a little like the knight and his squire in Jean Reno's Les Visiteurs, out of place time travellers faced with a modern world that they can't comprehend. However, the heroes fit in a little too smoothly into this new world, and the culture clash doesn't even get close to the hijinks in the similar The Iceman Cometh with Yuen Biao. It is something of a missed opportunity, but the action and the comedy does make up for it to some degree.


Woochi the Demon Slayer is fun, and it's also a Korean movie with Hollywood level special effects, with some really impressive CGI work. It's fun, fast paced, and entertaining, the Korean equivalent of a summer blockbuster. That's probably why despite my enjoyment of the action comedy, I was left feeling hollow and unfulfilled at the end of it. Woochi is released on DVD and Blu-ray on the same day.