The movie “KPop Demon Hunters” has been trending online, and it seems as if almost everyone has seen the movie. Everyone around me has been talking about it and telling me to watch it, and when I went to the Fort Collins Comic Con, it seemed like everyone was cosplaying the characters in the movie. No matter where I went, it was there– and even people who previously had no interest in K-pop loved the movie.
So, I sought to find out what was so great about the movie, and why it connected people who previously had no interest in K-pop. After watching the movie, my verdict was that it was a surprisingly good movie. Despite the cliched title and the weird facial expressions, the movie was good. The animation was relatively high quality, the character designs were done well, the story was decently executed, and it was overall a good experience.
I wouldn’t say it was a phenomenal movie, it simply did its job and performed well. Without too many spoilers, I would say some characters were unnecessary to the story and didn’t add anything.
The three main characters of the movie are in a K-pop group called Huntrix, and they oppose the other most popular K-pop group, the Saja Boys. There are a total of five members of the Saja Boys, and only one member of the group has an impact on the overall story–Jinu. The other four aren’t very significant, and one of the members in particular is frustrating, and a detriment to the story.
Baby, one of the members of the Saja Boys pretends to be a baby and acts childish. It feels very out of place and an odd choice. He only has one line in the movie, “googoo gaga,” and this persona of his feels very uncomfortable. If he were removed from the movie, not much would have changed, and, in all honesty, it would have improved the movie.
The Saja Boys supposedly represent issues within the K-pop community. Baby is representative of the infantilization of the K-pop idols, and all the other members symbolize an issue as well, but I don’t think movie went about it in a great way. It should have gotten into the characters’ backstories and gone into depth about the issues to show this instead of showing the characters with no context.
The other complaint I have with this movie is that all the characters feel a bit underdeveloped, except for Rumi, one of the protagonists, and Jinu. They don’t feel like their own separate people, and all of the characters blend into one. That’s not to say that having one-sided characters is bad, but rather, there needs to be more developed characters. The movie is fun to mindlessly watch without paying too much attention.
What is it about this movie that is so enticing to people if there are major issues with the characters and plot? The music. The music has been everywhere, and it is what everyone praising the movie is talking about. The heart of K-pop is its music, and the same is true for the movie. The music is fine. I don’t think there is anything special about it, and the music is the same basic pop music I hear everywhere, maybe that is the appeal? It is made so that anyone can enjoy it. I understand why they enjoy the soundtrack, but to me, it falls flat. I like music that is specific and unique–that feels different to me, whether that difference comes from the vocals, the lyrics, or the melody. I like hearing music that feels unique. The music is catchy which also plays a part in its popularity.
I would recommend this movie and give it a solid 3/5 stars. It was enjoyable. There are rumors of a second movie in the works, and, hopefully, if it is released, it will fix the issues I had with this one.
