Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy: Never Quit the Game

I've been reading a number of disappointing contemporary novels in which the main character exercises minimal control of their fate so Kim Byung-woo's Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy is a welcome counterbalance. It's leading man Kim Dok-ja (Ahn Hyo-seop) is stuck in a choose-your-own-adventure narrative for which taking drastic action is the only way to survive. You see, he's been propelled into a scenario containing endless parallels to a dissatisfying online novel that he's been reading and recently finished. Now, finally, he has the chance to influence the outcome — as well as who lives and who dies — every time a new crisis arrives. Joining him in his postapocalypic journey are spiderwebby former co-worker Yoo Sang-ah (Chae Soo-bin), insect telepath Lee Gil-yeong (Kwon Eun-sung), muscle buddy Lee Hyeon-seong (Shin Seung-ho), tough girl Jeong Hee-won (Nana a.k.a. Im Jin-ah), loner Lee Ji-hye (Kim Ji-soo) and former fictional hero Yoo Jung-hyuk (Lee Min-ho).

If mentioning the biggest stars at the end seems strange, well, Omniscient Reader is a pretty strange movie. I mean, when's the last time you heard of a scifi pic in which heartless ETs set off a series of disasters on Earth so they could be entertained by human players in a live-streamed reality TV series / videogame? The metaphors aren't hard to decode. Nor is the plot hard to follow despite the reviews I read online. One villain is a politican! Another's a rich guy! Another's a sexually predatory businessman! And then there's quite a variety of lizard-like demons. What's the message? Teamwork and good friends will get you through the worst of times. And let's not forget the small joys that come when little kids mind-control oversized praying mantises.

The Great Flood: Rain, Rain, Go Away!

An asteroid has hit earth. There's flooding. There's rain. There's less panic then you might expect. Will anyone survive? Weepy Dr. Gu (Kim Da-mi) has a shot since the robots are focused on rescuing her and shooting her into space. But if humanity must depend on this scientist to survive then we might be better off extinct. Gu has been doing work on implanting emotions while the robots have been working on making human bodies. Time for teamwork, in theory. But how empathetic is our heroine? When disaster strikes, she seems pretty quick to pass by other people to save her child which is, as she knows, a robot. Other kids in need? Pretty much a passing concern. An elderly couple in an apartment? Not even worth a second thought. Looks like Gu is ensuring the future of robotkind, not mankind. Valid to some.

The robot child (Kwon Eun-sung) isn't esppecially endearing. The special effects, I mean the tsunamni-level waves, look unlikely to survive. Not that this is real life. It's a movie. Or a video game. Or an apocalyptic fantasy (with antiquated walkie-talkies) intended to appease the A.I. overlords? Their representative here, bossy — none-too-bright Hee-jo (Park Hae-soo) — has been sent by some agency to ensure she survives, or maybe to ensure they survive, or maybe to forge a bond. He claims he can't feel emotions so I'm unsure how to interpret his irritability. System malfunction? Or how so many people can hold their breath underwater for so long. Or how a cellphone can survive extended time underwater. Or the idea that guns are the answer. Or how many lives I'd have to live to get it right. (It's a relevant thought related to Kim Byung-woo's loopy scifi movie that I won't explain because... Spoiler: Deja vu.)