Omniscient Reader - The Prophecy

For 10 years, Kim Dokja has been an avid follower of a web novel entitled Three Ways to Survive in a Ruined World. When the finale arrives, he finds the ending completely unsatisfying as the protagonist becomes the only survivor of mankind - even more curious, he appears to be the only person left reading.

When he expresses his dissatisfaction in a message to the author, he gets an unexpected reply - "if you don't like my ending, you can create your own". Seconds later, the opening events of the novel start to take place - a small digital creature appears and challenges the occupants of Kim's train to kill another living organism inside the train within 10 minutes, or face punishment. Celestial beings have taken control of earth - the test of humanity has begun and only Kim knows what lies ahead. Armed with a knowledge of the future and his augmented abilities, it's down to Kim to navigate the coming challenges and build his better ending.

There's a distinct element of Squid Games about this setup, as the stakes for survival often require killing other people facing the same challenge for survival. Then there's a Solo Leveling aspect where Kim realises, during the first game, that killing ants is the same as killing humans - taking out both ants and larvae (normal, not mutant) grants him a ton of reward coins, which he spends "levelling up" his stats to become an incredible warrior, all via a pop up screen which should seem familiar... You may also recognise dead bodies dropping coins from a certain Scott Pilgrim film.

While the story may draw from numerous inspirations, it still manages to find its own voice for the most part, while providing familiar thrills for fans of the genre. The CGI is generally of a decent standard, though it helps to think of it as part of a video game and that makes the less polished elements easier to live with. There's certainly a lack of weight to many of the fight scenes, but thanks to the inventive nature of them they're no less entertaining for it. Similarly, the solutions to some of the challenges also prove to be thoughtful and highly entertaining. 

Lee Min-ho as Yoo Joong Hyuuk

One of the nice touches of the film is that the novel's hero, Yoo Joonghyuk, is also playing out the scenario, but is something of an asshole. Likewise, Kim's "deal with the devil", making a contract with the digital creature Beeyun who broadcasts the human's trials to the watching constellations above as a "livestreamer" adds an element of savvy and makes Kim easy to root for. I reserve less compassion for the rest of humanity, who appear selfish and annoying. I don't usually like watching films with lots of death, but honestly it really isn't that hard when most of humanity is portrayed this way.

Jisoo as Lee Jihye

Ahn Hyo-seop (the voice of Jinu in Kpop Demon Hunters) provides a compelling lead, even if his heroic antics are somewhat removed from the source material (more on that later). Likewise the rest of the cast work well together, even if major elements of their characterisation don't fit the source material. Adding to the star power is singer/songwriter Jisoo, formerly of girl-band phenomenon BlackPink) as the lonely sniper Lee Jihye. She makes a great entrance and her backstory allows her to display some acting range. The film works well as an ensemble piece, each character managing to work in enough backstory to make them compelling, it's pretty efficient so far as the script goes. The ending in particular makes use of the team's earned skills and makes logical narrative sense, even if it does often look like a video game cut scene by nature of what's being depicted.

Unfortunately the review copy I watched for the film was dubbed into English and there were no subtitles - this meant that when Kim Dojka is texting with the author of the novel, the on-screen text is in Hangul (and my Hangul is pretty rusty) so you're unable to follow what's being communicated. I would also have preferred to watch the film in Korean, but hopefully this is an option on the full release. In the end I used Google translate...

The other thing to note, and this is major for fans of the books, is that - as an adaptation - this is very, very loose.

The original books were loved because of the nuance, and a lot has been lost in translation here. The original books were based on the idea of myths and history shaping our reality. Even the dokkeibi are genuine mythical Korean tricksters, but here they're depicted as fat digital space imps instead. This historical context is why all the weapons in the books are swords, bows and daggers, yet in the film we see characters using pistols and sniper rifles. While those of us not steeped in the lore of the series will enjoy an entertaining action film, fans have been very vocal in criticising everything from the casting choices to the way in which the entire saga has been brought to the screen. I can't speak to that, but I can understand the disappointment if what I've read online is any indication. I am after all a Transformers fan who had to suffer Michael Bay's atrocities, so I see where they might be coming from. 

While the characterisation may not be fully in line with the novels, the cast gel well together to create a solid and likeable team

For those of us discovering the story for the first time, I have two thoughts. The first is that this is an enjoyable action film in its own right, with good ideas and exciting set-pieces, possibly not quite up there in terms of visual effects as Western audiences are used to, but a solid way to spend two hours.

What's more tantalising is that there's a version of this story available that's more detailed, nuanced and thorough than the taster we've got here - that's an appetising prospect and one I intend to take advantage of. Was this the adaptation existing fans hoped for? Perhaps not, but as an entry into that fandom, perhaps the film has served its purpose.