Chronological order of the story:
1. The Beginning (2021) - when it all started, Himura Kenshin became Hitokiri Battousai; Yukishiro Tomoe meets Battousai
2. Rurouni Kenshin (2012) - 10 years after "The Beginning", Hitokiri Battousai reappears as Himura Kenshin and meets Kamiya Kaoru
3. Kyoto Inferno (2014)
4. The Legend Ends (2014) - when Himura Kenshin finally learns and masters the final technique of Hiten mitsurugi-ryu which signifies or symbolizes the end of "Hitokiri Battousai"
5. The Final (2021) - they come full circle, Yukishiro Enishi takes revenge on Himura Kenshin
It was great how they did this live-action franchise as well as how they titled each.
There are two arcs in these 5-movie franchise: [1] The Yukishiro arc; and [2] the Hitokiri Battousai arc.
It all started in "The Beginning" when Himura Kenshin became Hitokiri Battousai. Then later met Yukishiro Tomoe and [accidentally] killed her.
From "Rurouni Kenshin" to "The Legend Ends", it was about Kenshin being forced and struggling to fight Battousai from coming out again. In "The Legend Ends", it was the end of the Hitokiri Battousai arc when Kenshin finally learned the final technique of the Hiten mitsurugi style.
--> "The Legend Ends" for Hitokiri Battousai.
"The Final" is when Kenshin and the Yukishiro family comes full circle. Enishi witnessed when Battousai [accidentally] killed Yukishiro Tomoe. Once again, a fitting title:
--> "The Final" story of Kenshin and the Yukishiro family.
“I wanted to make a horror film that can help someone forget about their pain.”
A phenomenal film, Warning: Do Not Play shares more than a passing similarity with The Shining (1980) and Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Loft (2005). In all three films, the stress of having to produce and the strain on one’s mental health transforms into a supernatural circumstance. In Warning, there is a particular kind of dreamlike logic, initiated precisely by Mi-Jung’s initial waking from a dream in the film’s first scene.
But this film follows a different path than either Kubrick or Kurosawa's film with similar premises (to a lesser extent, this film also shares a bit with Sinister [2012] and Hush [2016]). First, this is a work of urban horror as opposed to the provincial isolation of The Shining or Loft. More importantly, Warning is a film about horror film, maintaining a brilliant streak of self-awareness that puts it in conversation with Behind the Mask (2006) and In the Mouth of Madness (1994).
There's also an unexpected found footage element to the film.
What Jin-won Kim accomplishes here, directing the awesome Seo Yi-Jin as Mi-Jung, is to capture the essence of what appeals about horror film and the challenge true auteurs face when trying to bring to life a vision that has yet to be imagined by any filmmaker before. In his efforts, director Jin-won manages just that.
I have so many thoughts, but the first is if you enjoy Korean or exorcism films you might actually like this. It's so dynamic and something I really appreciate is that the movie has parts in italian and english, not just Korean. YongHo is an mma fighter but he's not actually that muscular and his first opponent isnt as cut as I thought hed be. Actually I think YongHo gets more ripped halfway through the movie? The match takes place in america so the white guy is called john white of course. Lol
YongHo's dad died when he was young despite all the praying so he has forsaken god. This opens him to the influence of the devil, or in this movie, the "dark priest", a super hot Korean guy, hotter even than YongHo, worshipping the snake lord or something. He owns a nightclub like the one in the third john wick movie. Slick, black great use of colours throughout this movie btw. Especially at the end contrasting between the evil and good as yongho descends into the underground dungeon at the nightclub.
The music was nothing to write home about and the movie also imo has huge issues with decibel levels. All the sounds are normal until someone screams and its 3x the volume of everything else - beyond actually just being that screaming is loud. There were some great CG AND practical effects and the story came together quite well, except for YongHo battling with his hate of god. I really disliked the part where he chose to be influenced by the dark priest in the place of father choi and ignore his priest friend who he had bonded with over the course of the film.
It was actually genuinely scary in some parts. It doesn't hold back showing gore and violence and a dead kid even. However, I think for me the pitfalls are the ...on the nose devil signs and product placement. The dark priest runs a nightclub with a logo that looks like demon horns and snakes and his club is called Babylon. How was that not so obvious? And there are some blatant scenes showing the logo of the car the main character is driving, a starbucks cup and asahi beer. With tensions rising in korea between Japan aas that really well placed? Lol and I guess they needed funding from the car and starbucks to film internationally.
Also says theres a sequel coming with choi wooshik again so they can deal with the fact they just left that hand snake thing in the nightclub so anyone can go find it. Hope to see it. 8/10
