‘Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy’ review: Ahn Hyo-seop heads adaptation of South Korean web comic sensation

Dir: Kim Byung-woo. South Korea. 2025. 117mins.

A doormat of an workplace employee lastly has the prospect to be the hero of his personal story in Kim Byung-woo’s adaptation of the wildly fashionable internet novel and subsequent internet comedian Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy. One half action-fantasy a few younger man rewriting his life and – if you happen to squint – one half critique of late-stage capitalism, Omniscient Reader is a meticulously produced blockbuster journey steeped in style custom and imagery. There’s little on show that’s actually unique, and it by no means fairly hits the goofily enjoyable highs of one thing like Choi Dong-hoon’s Alienoid, however the movie delivers precisely what it guarantees.

An old style creature characteristic powered by a starry however unchallenged solid

Polished manufacturing and extensively recognisable influences make Omniscient Reader’s prospects in Asia pretty sturdy. There are excessive hopes that it’s going to revitalise the struggling South Korean field workplace when it premieres there (and in Taiwan) on July 23, and it rolls out throughout the area per week later. It must also fare nicely abroad when it opens in numerous territories together with the US in early August, following a spot at Fantasia Worldwide Movie Competition. Followers of the web variations ought to end up, despite the fact that it does differ in some important methods from the comedian, and the movie’s top-loaded solid of buzzy and rising actors and Ok-pop stars might additionally assist its prospects.

Director Kim, who made modest waves with The Terror Stay (2013) and Take Level (2018), works nicely throughout the parameters of style conference. Right here, he, co-writer Lee Jung-min and novel/webtoon writer singNsong (typically often known as Sing Shong) ably show the depth and breadth of their collective information of death-game storytelling throughout numerous media, referencing the whole lot from Battle Royale and The Starvation Video games to The Operating Man and Squid Recreation – in addition to any variety of city fantasy videogames resembling Satan Could Cry.

Kim Dok-ja (former One O One boybander Ahn Hyo-seop, who additionally lends his voice to Netflix animation KPop Demon Hunters) is the story’s protagonist, actually and figuratively. Dok-ja was bullied as a middle-school pupil, graduated a ‘third-rate’ faculty, and is now an nameless workplace drone who leaves little impression on anybody. After his final day at a temp job, Dok-ja turns into engrossed in his favorite internet novel Three Methods To Survive The Apocalypse – a ebook he has been studying for a decade – solely wanting up when he bumps into former co-worker Sang-ah (Chae Soo-bin, Hijack 1971), who strikes up a dialog.

Minutes later their subway prepare is below assault, first by manipulative dokkaebi (a legendary Korean goblin), which calls for a combat to the loss of life with the passengers, and, later, a river dragon lifted straight from Bong Joon Ho’s The Host. The passengers are terrified, however Dok-ja recognises the occasions from his beloved novel. Tiny modifications within the story make Dok-ja realise he has the ability to rewrite what comes subsequent, so he units out to search out its actual hero, Joong-hyuk (Lee Min-ho, Apple TV’s Pachinko), stage up his powers, guarantee everybody survives numerous quests, and forestall the tip of the world.

In some ways Omniscient Reader is solely an old style creature characteristic powered by a starry however unchallenged solid, together with Nana from Ok-pop woman group After College as Huiwon, a warrior who refuses to bow all the way down to apocalyptic bullies, and Blackpink’s Jisoo as Ji-hye, a high-school sharpshooter with a high-powered rifle. The movie does endure from a muddled plot and murky inside logic: has the ebook’s plot manifested in the actual world, or has Dok-ja been pulled into the novel? Readers of the unique internet novel could perceive these narrative machinations, however newcomers could possibly be at a loss.

Cinematographer Jun Hey-jin, who labored on Kim Jee-woon’s Cobweb and Park Chan-wook’s Determination To Go away, bolsters the movie with just a few well-shot videogame lower scenes, and it’s peppered with gooey CGI monsters. But Kim would have a stronger movie on his palms if it have been leaner, and embraced its id because the entertaining B-movie it actually is.