Director Bong Joon-ho’s Memories Of Murder, an intriguing gallimaufry of broad comedy, action, gore and social dissatisfaction was one of the most impressively singular films of recent years. Playing much like Q The Winged Serpent on Jason Statham’s onscreen stash, The Host, Bong’s follow-up and a tremendous snarl of melodrama, political commentary and high-octane action, repeats the trick.
Simultaneously caressing and subverting the monster movie, a brief overture – Korean stooge obeys American orders to dump ancient supplies of formaldehyde into the Han River – quickly gives way to mayhem as the resultant mutant creature begins terrorizing the capital. When a young schoolgirl is carried off by the abomination, her deadbeat dad resolves to rescue her. Alas, the situation is about to become a good deal more complicated. The fiend, we are told, is host to a deadly contagion. Worse, when an American soldier is killed in the rampage, the US government reacts with characteristic restraint and dumps Agent Yellow, a secret bacteria-annihilating chemical weapon, onto the metropolis.
This classic B-movie, already the highest grossing film of all time in its native country, allows for sideswipes at American foreign policy and South Korea’s current fears regarding toxicity, but Mr. Bong’s superb craftsmanship, echoing early apocalyptic Cronenberg and the original Godzilla, keeps you hooked. Wolfgang Petersen should take note