Alienoid

Alienoid (2022)

Within the first few minutes you get to witness an alien and a robot travel back to Goryeo times in a four-by-four to capture a different alien who’s been imprisoned within a woman’s head. There, after recapturing the inmate, the robot rescues a baby who back in the future/present then tries to––correctly––explain to her school teacher that a robot and alien kidnapped her as a baby. It doesn’t get any less insane after this!

Alienoid is a giant mishmash of genres including Whu-Su, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Period, Western, and plenty of gun totting action… even back before handguns were a thing thanks to the Girl Who Shoots Thunder. It’s one of those films that if you tried to explain it to anyone it would sound extremely messy, with two different timelines and sets of characters, but watching it the absolute chaos is surprising clean.

The special effects are top notch as i’ve come to expect from Korean Movies, and Kim Tae-Ri reasserts herself as the Queen of Korean Sci-fi. The rest of the cast are fantastic as well, with Kim Woo-Bin an absolute delight as Thunder. It’s one of those movies were everyone knows their role, and what type of movie they’re in.

The action is insane, and the set pieces become increasingly spectacular. The film clearly has a ton of influences and isn’t afraid to show them, while also telling its own unique story. The idea of an alien race imprisoning its criminals in our heads without our knowledge is batshit, but also stupidly cool. The ship designs are fun and the red smoke spreading across the city is an amazing visual that i’ll never forget.

The wackiness of the past is great through-out, provoking memories of plenty of my favourite old Hong Kong movies, and for the record I’m loving this recent trend of my Korean Movies and Shows being set in the past. (Everyone should watch Kingdom)

Above all, the film has heart. Plenty of relationships develop through-out, and the drama doesn’t stop unfolding as there’s always a twist or the next piece of the puzzle ready to be unveiled.

This one might take a second viewing for some, but it’s worth it. If you want a movie that has absolutely everything, this is could well be it… and part two is equally insane (more on that soon)