Director: Kim Byung-woo
Starring: Ahn Hyo-seop, Lee Min-ho, Chae Soo-bin, Shin Seung-ho, Nana, Jisoo, Kwon Eun-sung
Country of Origin: South Korea
Running time: 1h 57m
There’s an awful lot to wrap your head around in a cataclysmic tale which involves the destruction of the planet and a frantic race for survival.
A multilayered story within a story follows office worker Kim Dok-ja (Ahn Hyo-seop), the only person to follow the web novel Three Ways to Survive the Apocalypse from the beginning until its conclusion.
Dissatisfied with how the online book finishes Dok-ja voices his frustration to the anonymous author who suggests that the last reader left writes his own ending.
A routine journey home on the Seoul subway turns into a life-threatening nightmare as Dok-ja and his coworker Yoo Sang-ah (Chae Soo-bin) are thrust into the novel itself.
They must overcome a series of potentially fatal challenges – labelled scenarios – set by a shadowy congregation of observers in constellations which jeopardize not only the South Korean capital but the future of the world.
The novel’s hero Yoo Joong-hyuk (Lee Min-ho) somehow manages to preserve his existence when everything else fails in the book but faces a fresh set of obstacles in Dok-ja’s reimagined fantasy world.
What follows is a bedazzling adventure which relies heavily on computer-generated images to depict the collision between mere mortals and all manner of vicious end level bad guys.
For all its flaws this is a film that cannot be faulted for scale or a lack of ambition.
Large chunks of the action are devoted to epic face-offs between dinosaur-like dragons, rats, and all sorts of other ferocious looking creatures.
Dok-ja must escape from a revoltingly slimy ichthyosaur’s stomach, while resilient survivor Jung Hee-won (Nana) slays a gigantic tentacled rat in a colossal revolving vortex.
Those that can’t complete the scenarios are brutally eliminated while the successful handful that make it though gain coins which can be exchanged for weapons or powers.
Floating transparent mini goblins announce and monitor the tasks in sequences that feel cartoonish.
It’s a sensory explosion at times with so much happening on the screen that it’s difficult to know just what to focus on.
Originally a highly successful web novel in South Korea, there are occasions when Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy feels like a movie trapped inside a video game. From rewards to upgrades to monsters it has all the features of a multi-player epic.
While it might not be to everyone’s taste, it could appeal to a vast gaming audience used to such exaggerated fight to the death quests.
The incredible visuals mask a mishmash of relatable and befuddling ideas.
A glut of terms are introduced and discarded with virtually no explanation – the Ether of Faith and Illusory Prison (a rather impressive netherworld of traumatic memories) just two examples – which can be very confusing for those unfamiliar with the web novel.
On the plus side it uses subway stations as locations inventively to create an atmosphere of claustrophobia and tension (a slightly unfair portrayal of the vast and incredibly efficient Seoul subway system).
One scenario elaborately uses floor tiles as green survival points – with an evil Congressman demanding coins from desperate survivors like a slum landlord in a closed off station – as a gang fiercely protects their territory at another stop.
Despite the CGI dependence, and there are some absolutely incredible effects, the message that only teamwork and sacrifice can save humanity shines through.
Not everything fits perfectly though, as there are one too many characters, some half-drawn, others fully depicted.
Blackpink fans watching for a glimpse of Jisoo might be disappointed as she’s nothing more than an supplemental character who makes a few fleeting appearances.
Harnessing some of an undeniably gigantic global K-Pop audience is a savvy marketing idea and although Jisoo is pretty convincing as a badass fighter she has a minimal role at best.
Former After School member Nana has far more screen time and portrays a determined warrior impressively, especially in physically demanding fight segments.
Ahn Hyo-seop also has a background in music and carries the film well, as a steely protagonist with a conscience, while Lee Min-ho plays the standoffish hero with aplomb.
In an overcrowded cast of heavyweights 10-year-old Kwon Eun-seong steals many scenes as fearless youngster Lee Gil-young, an insect obsessed boy that uses his passion to find creative ways to overcome the baddies.
It would be deeply unfair to completely write off Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy especially considering its spectacular visual appeal.
Yet the overriding feeling is that it tries to cram far too much into an already overcomplicated narrative and ends up looking like a jigsaw puzzle with a few crucial pieces missing.
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Stephen Kasiewicz 