On the heels of star-making roles in films like “Jeon Woo-chi: The Taoist Wizard” and “Secret Reunion,” Gang Dong-won has been one of the most prominent star actors in South Korean cinema which is the case with his turn in the role of Dr. Cheon in director Kim Seong-sik's latest effort. Based on Fresh and Kim Hong-tae's popular webtoon “Possessed” and serving as the opening chapter for its franchise, WellGo USA releases the new genre effort in theaters October 6.
Arriving in a small village, Dr. Cheon (Gang Dong-won) and his technical assistant Inbae (Lee Dong-hwi) are approached by Yoo-kyung (Esom), a young woman asking him to use his fabled Shamanistic powers to help her family. While initially turned off by her serious nature, the monetary payment brings them together to check out the requested case looking at the supposed possession of her younger sister where they live inside their house. While attempting to help them, Dr. Cheon and Inabe find the true cause of the haunting to be based on the reanimated spirit of a mystical being that's connected to an encounter with his father years earlier trying to seek revenge by possessing his new target and forces them to find the means of stopping the entity before it can fulfill its mission.
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Overall, “Dr. Cheon” was pretty enjoyable for what it is. One of the better elements of it is the likable setup by writer/director Seong-sik that mixes together several quite fun elements into being more enjoyable than expected. The initial setup of Dr. Cheon being presented as a fake shaman but turning out to be far more resourceful with genuine supernatural skills is a time-honored tactic in the genre but comes off rather fun here. The interplay between him and Inabe makes it seem that their business is catered to fleece innocent people of their money duplicitously on the basis of genuine supernatural reasoning into a rather elaborate and profitable scam. The greed with which they approach the new case provided by Yoo-kyung only to be confronted with the actual thing that requires him to perform his skillset truthfully and honestly, is a great touch overall. As well, making the family connection between him and his long-dead father, who are both quite skilled at dealing with this type of entity since they're both skilled shamans, adds some fine extra elements to this for a fun experience.
That setup provides “Dr. Cheon” with the chance to present some intriguing and chilling encounters. The opening exorcism attempt on the family manages to showcase Dr. Cheon and Inbae and how skillfully they handle a situation even though the plan doesn't go that well at the last minute. The later scenes showing them arriving at Yoo-kyung's village and looking into her sister's case turn into several fine if overly hokey haunted house-style sequences featuring the demonic spirit, offer the kind of high-energy sequences that focus on the silly CGI of the being to enhance the spectacle of the sequence. Putting together more of a showcase piece for the supernatural skills in a series of confrontations that bring about the true nature of the demonic force haunting the family, these provide a fun and overall likable presence. Continuing to build the storyline about Dr. Cheon's past which starts the third half into a solid discovery piece that adds some generally goofy scenes into the mix as the comedy throughout the film is quite nice.
There isn't much to hold “Lost Talisman” down but there are some issues at play. One of the major factors with it is a slightly convoluted scenario that arises over the course of the final half. There are simply way too many revelations that come about once Cheon and Inabe arrive at Yoo-kyung's house and begin their mission, revolving around secrets surrounding the death of his father, the real reason why it has possessed the daughter, and eventually going out on a quest to recover the sacred artifact needed to prevent its escape. All of these plot-threads are quite fine as a whole since they're building up a well-detailed storyline full of some intriguing elements. However, it only ends up making the final half feel rushed with all of these taking place in this particular point in time resulting in a rushed tempo in this section. The only other real issue to be had is the films' overuse of CGI that tends to make things feel far more low rent than it really should as the spectacle of the scenes requires it, yet there's no real way to take it over than laughably cheesy. Beyond that, the film is quite enjoyable overall.
A generally enjoyable experience let down by some small issues, “Dr. Cheon and the Lost Talisman” is a fairly engrossing genre effort that won't serve as too ground-breaking or taxing a watch but still comes off fairly well. Give it a shot if you're a fan of this particular style of genre fare or curious about it.
