The tedious mediocrity of most of 2011’s summer superhero offerings (Thor, Green Lantern, Captain America) was almost enough to make even a dedicated fan consider that the genre might be reaching stagnation. It’s not as if the movies were spandex-covered excrement––they hit the required plot points, generated solid performances from (most of) their actors and found the right dimensions to make their protagonists unique and likeable. Unfortunately, they all had this tendency towards restraint and safe plotting (in anticipation of the inevitably “bigger” sequel or Avengers movie) that nothing truly resonated and the tension never felt real.
Perhaps part of the problem has been the dogged insistence on overlong origin stories that suck up significant chunks of the film and result in lazy villains set up as afterthoughts. The general moviegoing population is familiar enough with the genre conventions that we don’t really need much to suspend our disbelief and accept that these super-powered characters and their worlds exist. It’s not as if showing us that Spider-man was bitten by a radioactive spider will instantly make his character more realistic or believable. Only films like Kick-Ass and Unbreakable significantly benefitted from a focus on origins because they were riffing on it, rather than simply going through the motions.
Thankfully, writer-director Kim Min-suk is well-aware of this in his debut directorial feature and he strips the superhero story down to provide only barest of origins. Haunters begins with a grim introduction to our villain, Cho-in, as a young boy with mysterious psychic powers that allow him to control the actions of any human within a certain range. After he forces his abusive father to grotesquely commit suicide, and then runs away from his fearful mother, it’s clear his development into adulthood is going to be a bit off. That’s it, we’re all set with the villain. Twenty years later, the story picks up with Kyu-nam (Go Soo), an uneducated and recently unemployed “good guy” who in a stroke of good luck, happens to snag an ideal job as a pawnshop manager. And our introduction to the hero is finished. On his first day, when life is seems to be full of rainbows, puppy dogs and pretty Korean-american girls, the all-grown-up Cho-in (Kang Dong-wan) enters the shop, uses his psychic powers to freeze everyone and robs the place. To his dismay, Kyu-nam manages to resist his hold, so Cho-in retaliates by killing Kyu-nam’s boss. And this, kids, is how a rivalry is born.
Without franchises or iconic 50 year old characters to tip-toe around, Kim is able to push this simple duel premise to its full potential. Sure, there is never a full explanation for Cho-in’s powers or Kyu-nam’s resistance and every character––from Cho-in to Kyu-nam’s two ethnic best friends––is written one dimensionally, but it hardly matters because their performances, chemistry and dialogue makes them feel much more real than Natalie Portman as an astrophysicist or Hugo Weaving as a man with a really red face. And by limiting the exposition, Haunters is then free to use the rest of the film to smoothly flow from one chase sequence to the next, exploring all the variations of how Cho-in can use his power against Kyu-nam. This isn’t like watching Green Lantern and screaming at the screen for Hal Jordan to use his goddamn imagination and create something with his ring that he didn’t witness in a prior scene. Cho-in uses his power intelligently and confidently while Kyu-nam, despite his slow wits, teams up with his friends and actually thinks creatively about his enemy’s powers and how to counter them. All it really takes to tell a good story is to create a likable character and make his life a living hell and the good natured Kyu-nam definitely has the odds stacked against him when he faces off against Cho-in’s seemingly unbeatable ability. At its core, Haunters is simply a fun ride just to see how Kyu-nam is going to deal with every situation on a physical, emotional or ethical level. It’s like a game of chess where he has one piece left and his enemy has them all.
As the film jumps between these exciting set-pieces, however, there are some plot holes that Kim does his best to gloss over so we notice as little as possible. It’s as if he first created a list of these cool, inspired moments and wrote himself into a few corners trying to find a way to string them all together at any cost. As a result, there are some contrivances and annoying plot turns that take advantage of the vagueness of the characters’ origins, but without a set-up, they can feel cheap and unsatisfying. Depending on a viewer’s mood and generosity, moments like the ending can be interpreted as asinine if taken literally, or intriguingly touching if an effort is made to see it metaphorically. The only problem is no one will ever do the latter.
Still, for the most part, it’s a refreshing change to watch a film in this genre that at least stays ahead of the viewer by playing its cards close to the chest (something that the revered Inception sometimes did with hasty exposition at the last possible second), instead of yet another paint-by-numbers Marvel/DC film. For its ambitious, non-ironic approach to superheroes and ability to hide a low-budget, Haunters deserves a look from every genre fan, just to know that there is still hope out there––even if The Dark Knight Rises and The Avengers suck.
Reviewed by Tarun
