From what I heard, ‘Monstrum‘ is the first of its kind in Korea–a creature in the Joseon era kind of film.

But you know what’s more interesting about it? The story is actually based from a true happening in Joseon back in 1527 during King Jungjong’s reign. It is said based from records that a creature had killed people near the capital of Joseon. It must have been a huge threat to Jungjong’s life that he had to leave the main palace for 3 years for safety reasons. The creature, though, was never seen after that. It had vanished in thin air and no one knew what really happened to it until now.

Did that get your attention? Well, the movie itself is kind of interesting, but since it’s foundation is purely imagination, you’re basically going to watch fiction, but of course, that’s while wondering whether this creature is actually real or not.

The Story

During a deadly outbreak of a mysterious plague in the Joseon era back in 1527, there’s a rumor spreading widely that an unknown, vicious creature they call ‘Monstrum’ is roaming around Mount Inwangsan. This creature is known to kill anyone that trespasses its territory and caused so much scare to the people of Joseon that no one unnecessarily crosses that same path.

Determined to solve this mystery, King Jungjong (Park Hee Sun) seeks the help of his most trusted general, Yun Gyum (Kim Myung Min), who had a disgraceful retirement in the past because of the King’s adversaries. Yun Gyum along with his daughter, Myung (Lee Hye Ri), trusted right hand man, Sung Han (Kim In Kwon), and Heo (Choi Woo Sik) set out to find the feared creature.

Review:

The premise of this story is so good that I got hooked during the first arch of the film, but it starts getting predictable as it progresses that I eventually started losing the hype. The monster and other CGI effects were superb. I guess, what stops it from being a really good film comes from the political struggle plot. That’s a part of it that’s totally predictable even if I watch this with my eyes closed. There’s just nothing new. Someone always stabs the King from the back and eventually someone saves him from trouble at the end of the day.

What’s probably more striking about this film than the plot are the actors. Kim Myung Min totally nailed his role and the Joseon look actually suited him so well that I was impressed. Hyeri’s acting though is a bit of a let down. To be honest, I was looking for ward to something new from her, but it’s the same typical Hyeri I saw though the role of Myung seems pretty amazing to me. She knows archery and has a lot of knowledge about medicine. It’s just that the actress behind it doesn’t exude the same kind of charm. Like she didn’t immerse herself into the role that much. Hyeri has a lot more to learn for her to actually perfect her acting. The biggest reveal to me though through this film is Kim In Kwon’s Sung Han who’s unexpectedly good at fighting the goons aside from being such a funny-looking character who you’d think to be the first one to flee at the sight of ‘Monstrum’. Lo and behold, however, because Sung Han is ready too in facing a battle with the monster as well as their other adversaries.

I also like the backstory of ‘Monstrum’ which though lacks personality, has a very sad story behind it. Apparently, Monstrum was a secret ‘pet’ living in the dungeons underneath the King’s throne room. It was set free by its caretaker during the time when each of its kind had been killed during a coup d’état. It fled through the water canal connecting to the outside mountains near the palace. What makes its story even rich was the fact that it lived and survived at the cliff where everyone who caught the plague in the past where killed, so the monster eventually carries the plague within it. It grew into such a large monstrosity with no gift of sight. It only relies on smell and sound to hunt down its prey.

The only let down about this monster though is the inconsistencies regards to how it was depicted as in the film and how its existence doesn’t have much motivation for it to be even called a valuable element, because I think that even without its appearance the movie would be able to stand on its own. The monster felt like a distraction only–creating not much of an impact–amidst a political battle that this movie would make you want to contemplate whether to be scared of this monster or pity it because of how it became the victim of horrible adversaries of the King and was created to look that ‘monstrous’ to show a metaphor: the monster is here, but the real monsters are the ones that created it. Chaos happens, but at the end of the day, I think that’s the message of this film.

There are many other flaws about this film, but I won’t delve so much on it right now. I think it’s up for you to decide whether it should be a flaw or not, so I’m leaving that part in your hands except for one: how simply being clawed by the monster or its saliva touching your skin would easily spread the disease it carries to its unsuspecting victims who all eventually die, yet when the monster actually sneezes at Myung or dares to spit at any of the protagonists, nothing really happens to them, so does that make them somewhat immune to it? Or do they carry a different kind of gene that the other people don’t have?

Other than those insights I got from watching this movie, I think that this film received so much hype at first only for it to be so underwhelming. It’s a good movie that dies down towards the end, so it isn’t as good as you may think it is. Nonetheless, it doesn’t hurt to give it a try.

Rating:

Grading this film, I can say that ‘Rampant’ stays on a higher level than this one. So, it’s going to be 3.6 out of 5.0 for this film in my opinion.