HauNTeRs (2O1O film)

Haunters (Hangul: 초능력자; RR: Haunters, Psychic, Hunters, Choin) is a 2010 South Korean film directed by Kim Min-suk – cowriter of The Good, the Bad, the Weird – depicts the struggle between a psychic named Cho-in (Kang Dong-won) who can control people with his mind and a man named Kyu-nam (Go Soo) who is immune to the psychic’s supernatural power.

Directed by Kim Min-Suk
Screenplay by Kim Min-Suk
Starring Kang Dong-Won
Ko Soo

Distributed by ZIP ENTERTAINMENT
Release date(s) November 10, 2010
Running time 114 minutes
Country South Korea
Language Korean

Preview
IMDB - Ratings: 6.2/10 from 256 users

Box Office
The film opened number one at the South Korean box office collecting 685,670 admissions on its opening November 12–14 weekend. The movie took the #1 spot for ticket sales for 2 weeks straight before it fell down to #3 spot during the 3rd week since opening. The film sold total of 2,017,485 tickets during the three week span.

Story
After losing his job at a scrap metal yard, Kyu-Nam (Ko Su) finds a new job at a small pawn shop named Utopia. He is immediately drawn to the family atmosphere at Utopia, working with his new boss Jung-Sik (Byeon Hie-Bong) and boss's daughter Young-Sook (Jung Eun-Chae). Unfortunately for Kyu-Nam, his moment of happiness will only be fleeting.

Cho-In (Gang Dong-Won) lived through a brutal childhood. He has had to use a prosthetic leg since an early age, grew up with an abusive father and lived with a mother who at one point attempted to kill her own son out of despair. Cho-In also possesses an awe-inspiring supernatural gift. Cho-In can control other people's minds when they are within his field of sight.

One fateful day, Cho-In walks into the Utopia pawn shop to steal whatever money exists in the safe. Not expecting much resistance, Cho-In is surprised to find one man at the Utopia pawn shop is able to break free from his mind control abilities. That man is Kyu-Nam. Cho-In then resorts to killing the owner of pawn shop to make his escape. All of this is captured on CCTV.

An epic battle will soon occur between these two people with supernatural abilities and nothing to lose.

Review - Gleefully Over-the-Top and Charming
A man who can control people's minds (as long as they are within his line of vision) encounters a person who is immune to his powers. After an unfortunate death, they square off against each other. Within the opening 15 minutes you'll know that this one is gonna be crazy. Realism is not a priority, which means that this roller-coaster ride aims simply and solely to entertain. The premise allows for some very unique sequences that are refreshingly different, shocking, and damn exciting. The psychic's victims move in a slow, methodical, creepy manner that creates an ominous mood.

I'm quickly becoming a fan of Dong-won Gang, who starred in "Woochi", "M", "Secret Reunion" and a few other films. Here he plays the villain with panache and charisma. The scriptwriting in "Haunters" could have added more character development, but it's still a lot of fun to watch. My favorite scenes are the car chase and the office balcony sequences. The premise itself is fascinating and the film did a good job in terms of executing some thrilling interaction between the protagonist and antagonist, which does get over-the-top at times but is charming so.

Some have complained that the origins of the characters' special abilities were not explained, but what kind of ridiculous explanation should we expect? Another generic biological mutation that we see in superhero movies? Sometimes it's better just to leave the exposition alone because any attempt at a scientific explanation would be flat out preposterous anyways. I think it's best to approach this film like one would approach those old school Hong Kong action flicks that throw logic into the wind while focusing on pure entertainment. Sit back with a cappuccino and relax. You'll enjoy it.