Sang-Ho Yeon, the brilliant director of The Last Train to Busan is back, directly on Netflix, with another film of the genre: Psychokinesis. An ordinary man discovers superpowers that he will use to defend his daughter against the corrupt police and the Korean mafia.
In line with Chronicle
With The Last Train to Busan we were entitled to get a real masterpiece for this new film. The filmmaker played with the codes of the genre to deliver a profound political and horrific work. With Psychokinesis, Sang-Ho Yeon uses the same approach. He plays with the codes of superhero movies and uses this approach to denounce the corruption of his country. Why is this in line with Chronicle ? Because Sang-Ho Yeon uses a very realistic approach in the materialization of powers. With almost broke special effects, it gives a half-realistic half-video game atmosphere in the manner of Josh Trank in Chronicle (2012).
It's also a way of thinking about how the average person would react with superpowers. This is what Nick Love awkwardly tried to tell in 2016 with American Hero. Sang-Ho Yeon contrasts the powers of one man against the entirety of a corrupt government. It opposes the people to the powerful and exposes the powerlessness of the former against the latter.
A cruel lack of renewal
Unfortunately Psychokinesis does not go further than this initial premise. With its finale in apotheosis, nothing is surprising in Sang-Ho Yeon's film. The characters are relatively stereotyped, the relationships classic, and the issues common. The main character is a father who will have to make up for his years of absence with his daughter who hates him. He will have to prove himself, helped by his super powers. Classic then. The stakes pit a group of young individuals desperate to defend their land against a corrupt police force in the service of a militia seeking to buy the premises. In short, nothing very surprising. The emotional springs work at a minimum. Finally, the primary interest of Psychokinesis is the gap between the superhero film and Korean culture.
Despite its ultra seductive starting premise, Psychokinesis disappoints. The treatment is ultra classic, the characters bland and the situations hackneyed. Rest of the special effects and a realistic approach that is reminiscent of Chronicle, classic of the genre.
