“The Divine Move 2: The Wrathful” Theatrical Poster
Director: Khan Lee
Cast: Kwon Sang-Woo, Kim Hee-Won, Kim Sung-Kyun, Heo Sung-Tae, Woo Do-Hwan, Won Hyun-Joon, Park Sang-Hoon, Jung In-Gyeom, Stephanie Lee
Running Time: 106 min.
By Paul Bramhall
Since Korean cinema started to gain international recognition in the late 90’s and early 00’s, sequels have never really been a part of the industries repertoire, and when they have, they’ve mostly felt unneeded. It’s safe to say nobody was really clamouring for follow-ups to the likes of Attack the Gas Station, Friend, and Tazza, and their arrival was greeted by a muted response combined with low box office returns. 2014’s The Divine Move also feels like it fits into this category, and while it came long after Korean cinema had asserted itself as a force to be reckoned with, like the Korean Wave classics mentioned, nobody was expecting a sequel to it.
5 years later though, and that’s what we have with The Divine Move 2: The Wrathful, although technically it’s billed as a prequel. The prequel billing only relates to the late 90’s era its set in, offering up a new set of characters, with only the fact that the story revolves around the game of Go connecting it to the original. The opening introduces us to a villainous master Go player played by Jung In-gyeom (The Negotiation, Assassination), who has an unhealthy fondness for the underage girl he’s been giving pocket money too for cleaning his house. After In-gyeom forces himself on her which leads to tragedy, her younger brother challenges him to a game of Go, but he crumbles under the pressure and is left humiliated. Vowing to take revenge by becoming a master Go player himself, he books a one-way ticket to Seoul and is taken under the wing of a one-armed Go-master played by Kim Sung-kyun (The Prison, The Suspect).
The brother grows up to be Kwon Sang-woo (Running Wild, Once Upon a Time in Highschool), and according to the narrative’s timeline, we’re supposed to believe the 1976 born Sang-woo is playing someone in his early-mid twenties. Thankfully this fact is never implicitly stated, and is one of those things you only stop to think about after the end credits have already rolled, allowing first-time director Khan Lee to get away with certain liberties. Working off a script from Yoo Seong-hyeob, who also penned the original, Lee seems willing to embrace the unabashedly B-movie nature of The Divine Move as a concept more so than the originals director Jo Beom-goo, and this approach works in the sequels favour. We are, after all, talking about a guy who wants to avenge his sister by defeating someone at a board game.
Whereas The Divine Move took everything rather seriously, for the sequel Lee keeps proceedings poker faced, however imbues them with a number of increasingly preposterous situations and characters. Anyone who’s seen the original will have likely had the thought that the game of Go is almost treated like a religion, so rather than dial back the ridiculousness, Lee cranks it up to 11, and essentially treats it as if it is. Once under the wing of Sung-kyun, the young version of Sang-woo (effectively played by child actor Park Sang-hoon) is taken to a temple where he has his head shaved, and is trained to memorise ancient Go scriptures and pass through the Go equivalent of the Shaolin wooden men, by winning a game through playing only in his mind. By the time he’s an adult, he’s doing pull-ups hung upside down from the ceiling, with each pull-up also allowing for a Go move to be executed on a board directly beneath him.
What’s the meaning of all this? Well, from what I could ascertain, it means that Sang-woo has become a formidable Go player, and has developed one of the most self-esteem damaging six-packs to ever grace the screen. Personal insecurities aside, onscreen it equates to equal doses of Go and opportunities to throw down. Sang-woo has a list of opponents he insists on going through before reaching In-gyeom, including a shaman (Won Hyun-joon – Dark Figure of Crime) who only plays on the condition that the loser chop off their own arm, a hot-headed gangster (Heo Sung-tae – Rampant) who hates to lose, and his bodyguard (Hong Ki-joon – The Outlaws) who’s no slouch with a blade.
Not all of the confrontations require a game of Go, but the one’s that do entertain. The shaman comes with a creepy lair that includes a shelf containing the shrivelled arms of those he’s defeated in the past, surroundings that lend themselves well to the psychological games incorporated into their confrontation. The gangsters refusal to lose ultimately sees the pair playing in the middle of a one-way railway bridge over a river, the timer being to complete the game before a train ploughs into them, and the finale involves Sang-woo in a game of Go that pits him against 100 other players in order to get to In-gyeom. It’s bombastic and silly, but somehow it works, and Sang-woo makes for a likeable protagonist.
One of my main complaints towards the original was the lack of characterisation and background to the main players, and in many ways the same could be said here. However as a result of the main plot involving the events that took place during childhood, it acts as a cheat to allow the audience to relate with Sang-woo’s motivation. This is beneficial because apart from having a constantly smouldering expression, playing Go, and getting into fights, he doesn’t say a whole lot. Luckily as an actor Sang-woo can pull off the weight of the world on his shoulders look well, and as a result his presence effectively anchors The Divine Move 2, never once looking like he’s taking everything that gets thrown at him anything but completely serious.
He also displays some fine action chops, getting into several tussles along the way. An alley way one on one against Hong Ki-joon is a highlight, throwing in nods to similar scenes in both SPL and The Raid 2, while never feeling derivative of either. Ki-joon returns with a group of lackeys later for a showdown in a public bathroom, which sees elements of capoeira thrown in, and gives us the opportunity to witness the Go equivalent of the pool ball wrapped in a handkerchief trope. I can say it’s just as effective. The last fight scene is also The Divine Move 2’s most problematic, not so much in its execution but for who it involves.
While Sang-woo’s character is still a kid under the tutelage of Sung-kyun, the pair run a scheme where Sung-kyun plays opponents for high stake odds, with what move to execute being fed into his ear by his young protégé. One such opponent is a down on his luck factory worker, and after Sung-kyun wins, the worker commits suicide by setting himself alight, an act witnessed by his young son who suffers horrendous burns trying to save him. Growing up on a parallel path to Sang-woo, the heavily scarred older version is played by Woo Do-hwan (The Divine Fury, Master), and wants nothing more than to seek revenge against Sung-kyun and Sang-woo for his fathers’ death. It’s an element of the plot which feels like it should be given equal weighting to Sang-woo’s own mission, but instead Do-hwan turns up in random scenes almost as an afterthought, armed with a custom-made Go table that sprays acid in the face of the loser.
He gives Sang-woo one more opponent to throw down against before the Go-centric face-off with In-gyeom, but the way his role is incorporated into the narrative feels more like padding than of any importance. It also can’t be denied that The Divine Move 2 is a decidedly macho production, with the few female characters who appear either being there to be abused, threatened, or kidnapped. Only Yoo Sun (Moss, The Wig) has a role of any real substance, as a bubbly patron of a Go parlour that Sang-woo begins his journey in.
These are minor quibbles though in what’s a thoroughly entertaining and unpretentious slice of gritty action, and for fans of the original we do eventually get a tip of the hat when Sang-woo arrives for the finale decked out in a white suit, much like Jung Woo-seong did in the original. Similar to Tazza: One Eyed Jack which came out the same year, The Divine Move: The Wrathful feels like a throwback to a time when, while not particularly long ago, Korean cinema knew exactly how a dish like revenge should be served. We may not have asked for seconds, but when the credits rolled, I’m glad we got them.
Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 7/10
I was a big fan of the original, but I never would have guessed there’d be a sequel that cranks it to 11. I’m still fascinated enough to want to check it out. I’ve heard rumors of there being a remake of The Divine Move, and I don’t know what to make of it. Would it involve Go or another board game?
There is more connecting it than just the game of go to the 2014 film. It’s his name, his location, Busan. Even the blind style playing. Sang-woo’s character ended up in the jail with and training Tae-seok. It was all really well done.