“Reawakened Man” Poster
In the opening scene of Reawakened Man we witness an undeniably janky CGI body flung from a cliff in the dead of night, its torso bouncing off rocks and through foliage before landing with an abrupt thud, before the next scene reveals it to be Koo Kyo-hwan. An actor who here continues to make his case for being to the mid-2020’s what Hwang Jung-min was to the mid-2010’s in terms of borderline over exposure, the production is just 1 of 4 movies (not including the K-drama which he headlined, We Are All Trying Here) he’s featured in during 2026. It’s also the lightest in terms of tone, with the story being an adaptation of the same named webtoon written by Chae Yong-taek and Kim Jae-han, which featured on Naver between 2016 to 2019. Part of the Super String Universe, as the first of its characters to land on the big screen, personally I’ll be hoping for cinematic appearances from Neolithic Girl and Terror Man next.
Kyo-hwan plays a thirty something orphan who lives with the father who adopted him, along with the father’s biological daughter (played by Kim Si-a – Kill Boksoon, Miss Baek), with his daily life consumed by the mission to land a stable job. However when their home is terrorized by a gang of suited and booted foreign agents, Kyo-hwan’s attempts to protect his adopted father finds him beaten to death. It’s when he comes back to life 72 hours later, only to find himself captured by lackeys from the same organization that just killed him 3 days earlier, that he realises he has a special power – he can’t die. Not only that, each time he dies, he comes back with more power than his previous pre-death life, and with increasingly red hair to boot (we later learn that his code name is, unsurprisingly, Red).
Helmed by Baek Jong-yeol (here simply credited as Baek), his 2015 directorial debut Beauty Inside marked him as a talent to look out for, so it was kind of heartbreaking when, after waiting 8 years for his sophomore feature, the result was Believer 2, one of the singularly worst Korean movies ever made. Thankfully Reawakened Man sees a return to form, even if that form is an undeniably light and entirely throwaway slice of entertainment. To its credit, Reawakened Man is a brisk affair, clocking in at just 100 minutes, prioritizing a manic pace over everything else, including characterization and the need to spend any meaningful time on a lengthy backstory.
The result is one that feels like we’re watching a cast of caricatures, although that’s not necessarily a criticism, with the somewhat one-dimensional nature of the characters being a suitable fit for the breezy pace. This particularly applies to the obligatory bad guy of the piece, played with a deep voiced relish by Shin Seung-ho (Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy, Pilot). Appropriately code-named Black to Kyo-kwan’s Red, Seung-ho is able to use mind control to manipulate those around him, the origin of his powers being the same as Kyo-hwan’s. Revealed through a generic backstory of the Japanese experimenting on kids to give them superpowers – think Park Hoon-jung’s The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion, but told through the brightly shot comedic filter of Kang Hyeong-cheol’s Hi-Five – and you should have some idea of what to expect.
Kyo-hwan’s realisation that he can’t be killed is accepted almost immediately, with him humorously declaring “I get it, I can’t die!”, while in the middle of a montage that sees him repeatedly being killed by his captors and then regenerate 3 days later. It’s a little like Bong Joon-ho’s Mickey 17, only with none of the underlying social commentary attached to it (unless the whole thing is intended to be a metaphor for the endless job application cycle many Korean youths find themselves in, but I’ll leave such analyses to the more academically minded critics out there). Instead the comedic focus wisely chooses to stay more grounded, with Kyo-hwan’s hunt for a job remaining just as much of a priority after his power’s discovery, and the introduction of a salary man friend played by Kang Ki-young (The Point Men, Exit) offers up some of the runtimes funniest moments.
Indeed the greatest strength of Reawakened Man is the chemistry between the cast, with Kyo-hwan, Ki-young, and Kim Si-a having a likeably onscreen dynamic that makes them easy to root for. The foreign agents also see chunks of the script spoken in English, with the likes of Seoul based actor Kevin Dockry (Space Sweepers, Ashfall) getting his meatiest role in a Korean production to date, and German actor Stephan Käfer (The Prize) clearly enjoying his role as the head of the mysterious agency that ran the experiments.
The casts performance is an element of the production that becomes even more important once it becomes apparent the action scenes aren’t going to be anything to write home about. It’s not that they’re bad per say, but rather they feel outdated for a 2026 production, sporting the kind of video game cut scene aesthetic that was the go-to in the early 2010’s. There’s been an increasing shift over the last 10 years to rely more on stunt teams training the cast to execute their own action beats, one which has allowed for more in-camera action to be authentically captured, and in many ways Reawakened Man made me appreciate what a significant shift that’s been.
Here the action is more dependant on CGI to sell superpowered hits, create the kind of mass-pixel environmental destruction that traditionally closes out superhero movies, and have a constantly moving camera that helps to cover the fact most of the violence on display is of the digitised variety. It’s a cartoony approach that arguably fits the tone (and origins) of the story, however it also means a lot of the action scenes lack any real impact, and personally I thought action cinema in general was through with CGI car chases at this point, however here I was proven wrong.
On the plus side, CGI is also used to bring some of the webtoons more out there elements to the screen with little regard for the reality of them, none more so than the villains base on a ship, which contains a whole high street (buildings included) built down the centre of it. Jong-yeol has clearly made the decision to prioritise faithfulness to the source material, and in doing so bypasses such trivial questions like how on earth is the ship staying afloat, instead relying on narrative momentum to trust the audience won’t ask too many questions.
It’s a gamble that pays off, with his third feature clocking out before it has an opportunity to outstay its welcome, although not without the tease of a sequel. Offering up a cameo appearance for Kim You-jung (The 8th Night, Commitment) as a third kid who was experimented on, her brief scenes are limited to laying comatose in an incubator (and despite having the code name Blue, unlike Koo-kwan and Seung-ho, her hair isn’t), as we learn that the three all share inter-dependencies in regard to how their powers work. The reveal of You-jung and a latter half appearance by Kim Sung-ryung (The Call, Believer) made me think more than once whether we’ll end up with a Reawakened Man: Part 2. The Other One a couple of years down the line, but only time will tell.
As it is Reawakened Man is the definition of undemanding entertainment, whether anyone will remember it a few hours after watching is another question entirely, and also the reason why I’m not convinced we’ll get to see a sequel. Bring Neolithic Girl into the picture though, and maybe I’ll consider.
Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 6/10
