“With great power, comes great responsibility.”
– Stan Lee, 1962 Amazing Fantasy #15
Despite it now being more than 17 years since the Marvel Cinematic Universe began with Iron Man (2008), superhero stories remain in high demand from audiences in print, video games, television, and, yes, even in film. Creators, producers, and directors worldwide mine their own communities for stories born from imagination as much as from cultural mythos. This has brought us historical fiction like RRR (2022) out of India or comic adaptation Gundala (2020) out of Indonesia. Joining those ranks and out of South Korea comes the Kang Hyungchul-written/directed action fantasy Hi-Five (하이파이브), offering a blend of martial arts action, light comedy, and dark thrills whose wild fluctuations in tone manage to hold steady to deliver an engaging and affecting adventure.
Lee Jaein as Park Wanseo in HI-FIVE. Photo courtesy of Well Go USA.
On a night like any other, a body is brought into the emergency room and its six viable organs are extracted for transplant. What each of the recipients of those organs slowly realize post-operation is the appearance of an initial bruise-like mark upon each of their bodies, a mark that later expands into a tattooed image as each realizes a new, superhuman ability. For Park Wanseo (Lee Jaein), it’s super speed and strength; for Park Jisung (Ahn Jaehong), it’s super breath; for Hwang Gidong (Yoo Ahin), control over electronics; and Kim Seonnyeo (Ra Miran), well, she’s not sure — but by gathering together, these four try to seek out the remaining two in hopes of better understanding the transformation that’s occurred and the best way to use it all while trying to ensure that these powers don’t somehow fall into the wrong hands.
Hi-Five comes roughly seven years since Hyungchul’s last project, historical drama Swing Kids (2018), released and the two couldn’t be more different. It’s not just because Swing Kids utilizes the Korean War as a backdrop whereas Hi-Five is modern day with a superhero twist, but there’s a persistent heightened state of reality from start to finish, signaling to the audience that what they are witnessing is more of a funhouse ride than period drama. After transitioning the opening tags to the first scene, cinematographer Choi Chan-min (Dark Nuns) incorporates a distant overhead “God shot,” immediately conveying that we’re observing something important. The EMS vehicle driving into and across the scene conveys urgency while the visual size of the vehicle (seemingly small) conveys a lack of significance. We briefly follow the vehicle before a hard cut transitions to the interior of the operating room. Before we even learn of the details (of which there are few), Hyungchul has managed to tell us that this is serious and otherworldly, a tone that is almost immediately transformed into one more light-hearted and comedic with the introduction of Wanseo receiving her post-op update with her overbearing/well-meaning father Park Jongmin (Oh Jungse) by her side. From a narrative perspective, not only does this structure get the audience into the story quickly, it also serves to convey that Hi-Five is going to incorporate wildly shifting tones that the audience is going to need to get on-board immediately. Hyungchul doesn’t appear interested in doing anything straight here and the sooner the audience realizes this, the more fun they’ll have.
To provide an idea of tone, look to Stephen Chow’s Kung Fu Hustle (2004) or Han Yan’s Animal World (2018) as these two films incorporate a heightened sense of reality to allow for superhuman feats while never forgetting the very real human stakes. So you can get something like Yuen Qiu’s Landlady running down Chow’s Sing at superspeed without questioning the dire straits the characters find themselves in as the Bruce Leung Siu-Lung’s The Beast is unleashed upon them. In the same vein, while it’s hilarious to see the body comedy Wanseo participates in as she tries to keep her father from learning her secret while also fending off black-suited men trying to kidnap her, there’s also a proper villain whose hunger for power is exacerbated by the gifts his transplant provided, creating moments of actual horror and disquiet as a result. Hi-Five isn’t a morality play in the vein of X-Men (2000), however, Hyungchul manages to incorporate elements into the narrative which demonstrate that each of these recipients are just regular people whose respective pasts are not simply washed clean due to their inherited abilities. Thus, when placed in horrifying situations, they respond appropriately. This doesn’t mean that Hyungchul just drops-in situational comedy, finding ways to draw humor from the mixed-match group and their powers, even in times of crisis (a creative add that enables the audience to somewhat forget the terror of the moment), but it does mean that the film goes from being a bit of a comedic romp one moment into a chase sequence complete with a hilarious needle drop and something akin to body horror in another.
Ahn Jaehong as Park Jisung in HI-FIVE. Photo courtesy of Well Go USA.
The whole film isn’t just whimsy-meets-dread, but seeks to acknowledge the difficulty of living in the modern world. Despite somewhat resolved wars, an argument between Jisung and Gidong results in a reference to the cultural conflict between Korea and Japan, a point that widens the existing gap between the already uneasy duo. This may be missed by American audiences unaware of the long conflict between the two countries and the attempts by Japan to control Korea, while also looking down on the population. Inserting this political disagreement within the characters makes a minor character defect appear more disconcerting to the other, allowing for a more natural dissent in the ranks than a manufactured one leading up to the crew getting their communication down as a team (this is, ultimately, a superhero movie, after all). Additionally, Hyungchul includes a reference to suicide more than once, and incorporates the rise of cults in Korea, two choices that speak to the difficulty of individuality and the need for social support. If one is left without support, if one lacks community, then where else can they turn when at their lowest? Much in the same way that stories like Mystery Men (1999) and Megamind (2010) took the superhero tale and turned it around, so does Hyungchul seek to work in the detrimental effects of superheroism when it’s all about the work and not about connection. It’s great to be the hero who defeats the bad guy and saves lives, but what’s it like between the highs? What does it feel like at the lows? If someone doesn’t have resources to contend with such a responsibility, they may find themselves either succumbing to the lies of their depression or to those who would defraud them of their money, property, and identity. In both cases, the individual self is gone, a victim to their own inability to find support. Herein Hyungchul makes a slowly building case that five heroes with one power apiece may be better for the community than one person with many. Suddenly a simply act like a high five takes on an entirely different intention; suddenly it’s not just a symbol of celebration but of social connection.
Ra Miran as Kim Seonnyeo in HI-FIVE. Photo courtesy of Well Go USA.
The CG for the action scenes may not be up to American audience standards and the tonal swings may go for the fences at times, but Hi-Five remains a fun time at the movies. It takes the expected tropes of burgeoning superpowers within regular people and gives them a social spin without weighing itself down in the details. Would we like to know more about the mysterious individual at the start of the film or what the tattoo symbols refer to? Absolutely. But that definitely feels like a Part II situation, should one come up. As it stands, that’s not what matters in Hi-Five. What matters is the intended emotional throughline about social pariahs finding a community that supports them without seeking blind allegiance, one which allows for individuality and supports respective dreams and ambitions, as long as they don’t come at the cost of someone else. That great power should be treated as a great responsibility and, by sharing it among the many rather than being kept by a few, it can be wielded with more generosity and softness than the hardness that develops from selfish action. What a difference in the world it would be.
In select theaters beginning June 20th, 2025.
For more information, head to the official Well Go USA Hi-Five webpage.
Final Score: 4 out of 5.
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Categories: In Theaters, Reviews
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