P1H: The Beginning of a New World: Pop Your Preconceptions

I think I can safely say that P1H: The Beginning of a New World is one of the weirdest movies I've seen in a long time. An apocalyptic flick in which legions of drones from the star Alkaid (the end of the handle in the big dipper constellation) are injecting humans with a zombie sperm that makes people muderously rageful, this cockamamie sci-fi fantasy has more loose threads then an Anne McCaffrey trilogy. [If you know, you know.] We've got a bullied tween girl (Lee Chae-yun) with a talking teddy bear; a high school breakdancer (Hwang Intak) granted immunity by a razor cut to his neck; a pair of amnesiac frat boys (Yoon Kee-ho and Choi Ji-ung) who gain superpowers courtesy of a charmed ring and a magical wristwatch; and an airhead (Haku Shota) who can destroy a killer drone with a well-aimed brick when he's out of bullets.

Not all these characters exist within the same timeline; unless, you consider the ability to time-travel means everyone lives everywhere all at once. [The Butterfly Effect is not explored!] Hardcore K-pop fans may notice that there are six characters who share the same names -- and the exact likenesses -- of the six members of the boy band P1Harmony. This is not a coincidence. [Spoiler Alert] Writer-director Yoon Hong-seung's action pic increasingly feels like a crazy, convoluted music video promo for a perfectly good reason. It is one! Come the final scene in which all pretense of this not being an advertorial is discarded, you might expect a big choreographed pay-off. Instead, P1H goes to black. Roll credits. Dark magic in a way.