Witch: Part 2. The Other One, The (2022) Review

“The Witch: Part 2. The Other One” Theatrical Poster

Director: Park Hoon-Jung
Cast: Shin Shi-A, Park Eun-Bin, Seo Eun-Su, Jin Goo, Sung Yoo-Bin, Lee Jong-Suk, Jo Min-Soo
Running Time: 137 min.

By Paul Bramhall

At the end of my review for 2018’s The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion, I finished up by saying “If we do get another round of witchery, here’s hoping Hoon-jung go’s for a less is more approach, with more focus on being lean and mean, and less on everything else.” The line was in reference to many of the superfluous plot threads that populated the 125 minutes runtime, and now in 2022 we finally have the follow-up in the form of The Witch: Part 2. The Other One (a completely non-ironic title, I should point out). The only assumption I can safely make is that director and scriptwriter Park Hoon-jung didn’t read my review, as the sequel clocks in at an even longer 137 minutes.

It’s been almost 10 years since Hoon-jung marked himself as a director to keep an eye on with the release of his sophomore feature The New World, and while arguably none of his subsequent efforts have matched the gritty gangster thriller, that hasn’t stopped him from becoming the busiest director in Korea. Never going longer than 2 years without having a new big budget production hitting local cinema screens, some of Hoon-jung’s trademarks have become a fondness for blood shed (seemingly the messier the better), and an apparent allergy to runtimes of less than 2 hours. Following the first instalment of The Witch in 2018, Hoon-jung returned to the gangster genre for the Jeju Island set Night in Paradise in 2021, and TW:P2. TOO (as I’ll refer to it from now on) maintains the Jeju Island location.

The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion was an interesting change of pace for Hoon-jung, for all intents and purposes crafting a movie aimed at the 13 – 16 age range, but maintaining the hyper violent aesthetic of his more mature themed productions. So amidst high school drama, TV talent show auditions, and family life on a farm, we also got a gratuitously blood-soaked massacre of a room full of kids and bone breakages galore. A jarring mix, but proceedings where anchored by a breakthrough performance from newcomer Kim Da-mi, selling a fairly preposterous plot twist (albeit an entertaining one) with aplomb. The final scene of TW:P1. TS promised there were others like her – part of a shady scientific experiment on kids that gives them superpowers – and sure enough in TW:P2. TOO we get to meet several of them.

Hoon-jung stays close to the originals formula in the way he’s cast another newcomer as the central character, this time played by Shin Si-ah making her acting debut. Also much like in the original, Si-ah wakes up in an abandoned research facility to find herself covered in blood and surrounded by dead bodies. Finally coming across a road after walking through the surrounding forest, she soon captures the attention of a passing people carrier. Unfortunately for her, it’s full of local gangsters who are in the middle of escorting Park Eun-bin (Secretly and Greatly, Death Bell 2: Bloody Camp) to a quiet location so they can get rid of her, as she’s refusing to sell her family’s home and land to her property developer uncle who wants to build a resort. Since they don’t want any witnesses, Si-ah just happens to be collateral damage, until of course she reveals that she’s a superhuman psycho and kills everyone except for Eun-bin.

Rather than being horrified, Eun-bin brings Si-ah home where she lives with her younger brother, played by Sung Yoo-bin (Broker, Birthday), since both of their parents have passed away. Bonding ensues, with Si-ah and her powers seeing her become a protector for the siblings whenever their dastardly uncle turns up with his hoodlums, while also growing closer to Yoo-bin. He’s desperate to make her a YouTube star as he’s convinced it’ll be a money maker, before changing his mind and deciding “…let’s do a competition show like she did”, and showing a clip on his tablet of Kim Da-mi from the original doing her talent show audition. She also makes CGI cats and dogs float in the air for fun. While I’d like to say this is the main plot, it’s actually debatable considering just how much Hoon-jung attempts to cram into the epic, and entirely unjustified, runtime.

An unfocused and messy affair (much like the original), TW:P2. TOO has a lot going on. There’s a pair of superhuman assassins for hire, played by Seo Eun-soo (Kingmaker) and Justin John Harvey (Ashfall), who are hired to take out Si-ah by a returning Jo Min-soo (Pieta) as the doctor behind all of the experiments. They almost have their own self-contained story, since they branched off to go freelance from a bigger group of superhuman assassins being led by Lee Jong-suk (Hong-Joon’s V.I.P.), and the latest job sees their paths cross again after 10 years. In addition, there’s also another group of evil superhuman assassins for hire from China, who just seem content to kill anything that’s breathing. Plus there’s some back-alley surgeon guy operating as a vet. Everyone drinks whiskey and is after Si-ah for one reason or another, but it all becomes rather exhausting.

The bait and switch that the original pulled off so effectively is non-existent here, as we know Si-ah has powers from the start, and apparently so does she, so rather than the sudden bursts of violence being a surprise, they’ve now become expected. Perhaps the reason behind cramming in so many characters is Hoon-jung’s way of compensating, but his handling of them results in a tonal mess. Eun-soo and Harvey would appear to be there for comedic relief, constantly bickering in English, with the running joke of Harvey complaining at how much Eun-soo swears at him in Korean, even though every other word he says himself is “f*ck”. The issue is the first time we meet Eun-soo she graphically shoots one of her victims in the head several times over. It’s a bizarre way to introduce a character that’s expected to deliver laughs, and the harshness of her introduction makes their subsequent banter exasperating more than anything.

The attempts at humor, and the way they’re interspersed throughout TW:P2. TOO, are frequently disastrous. Even in the last hour, when proceedings should be ramping up, we still get comedic asides like Si-ah visiting a supermarket for the first time (although the scene does contain an amusing cameo from Um Tae-goo, in which I’m convinced he’s supposed to be in-character from his role in Night in Paradise). The poor pacing over such a punishing runtime becomes a real challenge, and it comes as a relief when in the final half hour the uncle and his hoodlums, the pair of superhuman assassins, the group of evil Chinese superhuman assassins, the siblings, and Si-ah all converge on the property to fight it out. What follows is a lot of incomprehensible CGI of people who don’t die very easily running and flying around at hyper speed, liberally accompanied by the kind of gratuitous violence we’ve come to expect from Hoon-jung. 

Ironically the violence is so cartoonish and over the top during these scenes, it was the only time I found Eun-soo and Harvey’s interactions genuinely funny (which continue in a post-credits sequence). The closing moments also manage to deliver a cameo that provides a satisfying connection to the original, even if it does essentially mean that everything we’ve just watched is simply a bridge to a 3^rd instalment. Depending on how much enjoyment is gained from TW:P2. TOO, the ending will likely leave audiences eagerly anticipating the next sequel, or feeling like they’ve just wasted over 2 hours of their time.

Overlong, overwrought, and over the top, there’s an inescapable feeling while watching The Witch: Part 2. The Other One that what we have is an entertainingly schlocky B-movie, that somehow accidentally got dressed in an epic big budget productions clothes. So much of it feels unnecessary, to the point that it wouldn’t surprise me if the cutting room floor is completely spotless. For those that enjoyed the original, and not just for Kim Da-mi’s performance, there could well be something to enjoy here, since it essentially offers more of the same. For everyone else, the unruly narrative, jarring tonal shifts, and pacing that’s all over the place will make it a tougher proposition.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 5/10