August 2022, U.S. audiences were introduced to co-writer/director Choi Dong-hoon’s brand-new sci-fi action comedy Alienoid (외계+인 1부), a world in which an order of intergalactic peacekeepers house alien prisoners within the bodies of humans in order to keep them docile. Jumping between present-day 2022 Korea and the Goryeo Dynasty (1300s), Dong-hoon and co-writer Lee Ki-cheol took us on an adventure wherein Taoist dosas and a girl with a modern era firearm vie for possession of an ancient artifact with mysterious properties while, in a separate time, a futuristic sentient guard seeks to stop the Controller from breaking free from his human prison and restarting the war that got him locked up in the first place. Filled with charm and excitement, Alienoid’s most frustrating aspect was the way it ended — on the kind of cliffhanger that leaves you gasping, while also telling us, via title card, we’d have to wait until 2023 for the conclusion. Excited audiences ended up having to wait even longer as Alienoid returns with Return to the Future (외계+인 2부) in 2024, bringing with it all the action, hilarity, and drama of the first film, as well as a few of the same drawbacks. However, despite the flaws, it’s still a rousing good time that delivers on all it promises and more.
Kim Woo-bin as Thunder in ALIENOID: RETURN TO THE FUTURE. Photo courtesy of Well Go USA.
After 10 years of searching, Ean (Kim Tae-ri) has found the Destiny Blade and is ready to go home so she can stop the haava explosion and prevent the annihilation of humanity in 2022. But Jajang (Kim Eui-sung) knows she has the blade and where Thunder is located, thereby setting traps along the way so that he can reclaim the blade, free the Controller, and confirm the execution of their plan. Meanwhile, Muruk (Ryu Jun-yeol) struggles between the connection he has with Ean and the realization that something is lurking within him and what that means. As the paths of all converge, who will return to the future, who will stay behind, and will humanity survive another day?
If you need a refresher ahead of Alienoid: Return to the Future, you can either head to the spoiler-free or spoiler-filled home release review for the first film.
L-R: Kim Tae-ri as Ean and Ryu Jun-yeol as Muruk in ALIENOID: RETURN TO THE FUTURE. Photo courtesy of Well Go USA.
Even if you don’t read the above reviews or have time to rewatch Alienoid ahead of Return, Choi smartly opens with a brief refresher narrated by Kim’s Ean. In an economical fashion, the audience is not only brought up to speed on the details necessary for the plot and tension, but also to remind audiences of characters big and small from the first film as all of them become important in this concluding tale. Remember Lee Ha-nee’s Min Gae-in? She’s the aunt to young Ean’s best friend who seems to have the hots for Guard (Kim Woo-bin). Turns out she has a bigger part to play in the larger scheme of the story and is not just for laughs in the awkwardness of how she flirts to no-avail with Guard. Even Shin Jung-geun’s Right Paw and Lee Si-hoon’s Left Paw, the assistants that Muruk pulls from his fan, play more significant roles, getting a chance to do more than provide little pieces of comedy around Muruk’s attempts to prove himself as not a hack/pretender but as a dosa and retrieve the Blade. Granted, in these instances, it does mean that the focus may need to shift away from the more engaging aspects of the film which track Ean and Muruk, but they are necessary to the film’s overall success.
Kim Tae-ri as Ean in ALIENOID: RETURN TO THE FUTURE. Photo courtesy of Well Go USA.
A great example of this is after the refresher, we’re back on Ean and Muruk’s timeline dealing with the immediate revelation left by the end of the first film. This means more of dosas Madam Black and Mr. Blue (Yum Jung-ah and Jo Woo-jin, respectively), which is never a bad thing for the vibe they bring to their scenes, which also allows for more exploration of Muruk as the surprise fifth person that day 10 years ago and what Master Hyun (Yoo Jae-myung) knew about his former disciple. Delivered with delicacy, this portion is more than an info dump of exposition and helps to move the narrative forward, while helping to establish the complex interpersonal dynamics between the two dosas who didn’t seem to know Muruk before, who now must acknowledge their connection. This, plus Jajang’s pursuit of Ean for the Blade, generates great momentum for the start that, unfortunately, fizzles a bit when switching to 2022. This wouldn’t be as big a deal if not for the fact that it’s not “present day” 2022, but a few days before in which we, the audience, get to see Gae-in’s side of things. Ha-nee is positively charming in the role, ability to do more than present perseverance with Guard, but demonstrate her physical and intellectual capabilities outside of Ean’s world. The issue is, by switching to her, important as it may be later, the momentum all but stops until the initial Gae-in sequence cuts back to Ean/Muruk. Once it does, the cutting back and forth is far more fluid and more easily maintains its energy.
But much like the energy of Alienoid dropped and picked back up, so does Return to the Future where the 122-minute film spends the bulk operating under the conclusion that all you need is a brief refresher to stay on board. Because of this, like most sequels or second-halves, the script is able to jump in and deal with the fallout from the previous film without a whole lot of time-wasting. But don’t mistake this to mean that there are no secrets, surprises, or twists to be found. Amid the action, comedy, and science fiction veneer, there’s an interesting character tale placed before us wherein the value of one person’s life, no matter the time in which they were born, is explored as not less significant as another. Smartly, the script doesn’t try to increase the size of the planetary threat by digging into the Controller, their people, or their war and maintains them as just “bad guy fodder,” therefore allowing the weight of the film to reside in the dynamics between Ean who wants to stop the Controller, reunite with Thunder and Guard, and get home (thereby representing the present) and Muruk who wants to understand what’s going on with his body and how it’s impacted his path as a dosa (thereby representing the past). The time aspect is merely a single portion of the idea of duality at play within the film and not anything that’s explored beyond the surface, except in the way it demonstrates that, even with centuries between us, not much changes on the individual level re: figuring ourselves out.
Ryu Jun-yeol as Muruk in ALIENOID: RETURN TO THE FUTURE. Photo courtesy of Well Go USA.
In terms of setting expectations, as said before, what works and what doesn’t in the first film are about the same here. The cast nimbly inhabit characters that fit within the period-style action adventure with their charms, magical tools, and feats of extraordinary martial arts abilities, while also leaning into the silliness that highlights the ways in which life can be silly and soft, while also hard and strange within moments. The CG work in the first film that often seemed very much an illusion remains as noticeable now and it’s still hard to tell if this is on purpose to lean into the comical nature of aspects of the past timeline or just the visual style of the film. Additionally, one still only has subtext to go on as to why Ean is just so good at what she does (more on that in the home release review ::fingers-crossed::) as her young self was precocious, but the older one is the kind of remarkable that makes sense if Ean were a dosa disciple and not a time traveler abandoned in the past.
Yum Jung-ah as Madam Black in ALIENOID: RETURN TO THE FUTURE. Photo courtesy of Well Go USA.
Ultimately, after an extended wait from the first to now, Choi delivers on everything promised in the first film and then some. The world created by Choi and Ki-cheol remains vibrant and exciting, while maintaining a sense that it’s not just danger that lurks in the shadows but heroes ready to shine a light and defend those who need it. As a result, Choi absolutely sticks the landing, offering a conclusion that feels earned from the time spent. More than that, it leaves us wanting more from these characters and, while I don’t think I want a forced continuation, I wouldn’t balk at another go-round. Buckle up, everyone; the fate of the world rests on the shoulders of misfits, but I’ve got a good feeling about this.
In Korean theaters January 10th, 2024.
In select U.S. theaters January 26th, 2024.
For more information, head to the official Well Go USA Alienoid: Return to the Future webpage.
Final Score: 4 out of 5.
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Categories: Films To Watch, In Theaters, Recommendation, Reviews
I saw the first Alienoid in Budapest, Hungary… no English anything in sight. Original Korean language track with Hungarian subtitles. LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT! Bought the blu-ray watched everything offered on it. So excited about Return to the Future!
That’s a heck of an adventure with the first film. With luck, screening the second will be less difficult and more immediately fun.