157. Along With The Gods - The Two Worlds (Singwa hamgge); movie review

ALONG WITH THE GODS - THE TWO WORLDS (SINGWA HAMGGE)
Cert 12A
140 mins
BBFC advice: Contains scene of hanging, strong injury detail

It is a pity that Korean movies tend not to have wider distribution in the UK because they often have a different dimension to any others.
Along With The Gods - The Two Worlds is a classic example, offering a mix of fierce action with great pathos and even a dollop of religion.
Kim Yong-hwa's movie looks back on the life of a fireman who is held up as a paragon because he is killed saving a young girl from a burning building.
Nevertheless, he has to go through the ritual afterlife trials to prove he has been thoroughly upstanding before reincarnation.
Cha Tae-hyun plays the fireman who is desperate to return to the world for one last meeting with his ailing mother.
Thus, he is escorted by two guardians (Kim Hyang-gi, Ju Ji-hoon) and their grim reaper boss (Ha Jung-woo) through seven trials in 49 days.
These vary from the trial of murder to ones such as betrayal and violence.
On each occasion, the assumption would be that the paragon would skip through any questioning.
However, life is complicated and what appears to be black and white is more often a shade of grey.
Along With The Gods - Two Worlds provokes deep questions about the meaning of life and whether there is anything after we die.
But it also has the fantasy element which makes many Asian action movies so stirring with myriad disaster scenarios from burning buildings to tornados and intense fighting with participants flying through the air.
This is combined with probably what is likely to be the thickest seam of moral messages in any movie in 2018.
The follow-up to Along With The Gods - The Two Worlds is expected to be released later this year. It is a rare thing at the movies - a sequel to which I am looking forward.

Reasons to watch: Spectacular action combined with thick moral message
Reasons to avoid: Might be too fanciful for some

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 8/10

Director quote: -  Kim Yong-hwa: "Having success is only a part of the process. I hope this film doesn’t end up just being a 10-million-seller title. This film proved that the fantasy genre can be loved in Korea too, and I’m happy about proving this possibility."

The big question -

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