KPop Demon Hunters (2025) Animated Movie Review

KPop Demon Hunters is a 2025 animated musical/action/fantasy/comedy movie that features three K-pop heroines (Rumi, Mira, and Zoey), following a tradition of ancient female warriors, battling demons as they also deal with their life as music stars, members of a successful group named Huntrix. Trouble arises when a new boy band, the Saja Boys, rises in popularity and steals their fandom but this new group hides sinister secrets, turning the popularity contest into a fight for the future of mankind.

Produced by Sony Pictures Imageworks, directed by Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans and starring Arden Cho, Ahn Hyo-seop, May Hong and Ken Jeong, to name a few. It was made by Kang to express her passion for her heritage and country. It was released on Netflix on June 20. 

Right from the start one has to be taken aback by its singular style, the marvellous and beautiful art direction and the swift and fluid animation of the highest order. It's quite fantastic on those terms. I think that visually it's quite breathtaking, incredibly detailed, full of stimulating colors, eclectic music video editing and great character and background designs that are borderline iconic and memorable, especially when we are talking about the main trio with their fashionable hairstyles and outfits. 

The protagonists are quirky, pretty and energetic, playing off of each other very well. When the film was announced, people praised it not only for having three main female characters but also because the comedy involved them having very goofy and over-the-top expressions instead of being always composed and playing it too straight to maintain their "femininity". Demon Hunters breaks that boundary. I think director Maggie Kang herself said it best: "I just wanted to see something different from the Marvel female superheroes that were just sexy and cool and badass. But I also wanted to see girls who had potbellies and burped and were crass and silly and fun, because that's really what I am. So I just wanted to create something that encompassed all of those elements." This is a good step forward because girls being silly is something that is needed in entertainment, it's almost normalized here with daffy jokes about eating lots of food, slapstick, burps, nutty shouting, kooky reactions and things of that sort. It's varied in its comedy, using both character-based humor and visual gags to good effect.

The musical department is just as imaginative, I enjoyed the rhythmic and catchy songs all the way. Even if K-pop isn't my cup of tea I still had a very good time listening to the soundtrack and every song worked very well. So if you were worried about the movie depending on your musical taste then you don't have to anymore because it's not an alienating factor here.

I must say that the world, the art and the writing are all pretty creative and well done, but unfortunately there are some issues with it, the storyline isn't quite as original as I expected, reusing the typical "big secret" and the trite "girl band versus boy band" tropes. It never becomes intolerable but it sort of becomes too conventional and safe to stand out properly. I also wasn't a fan of the cheap Korean humour, the boyband jokes and also males writing stuff that they think women find attractive. I also think it loses momentum by the third act before quickly gaining it for the climax. The character conflicts also could have been less arbitrary or resolved in a more thoughtful manner.

Since a great deal of its components are so greatly made, I think it would be good to see a full animated series based on this world and characters in the future or at least some sequels that explore the possibilities of its universe. I would pay to see these characters in a plethora of hilarious scenarios and plots.

Also, here's some older concept art I found that they used when the project was announced.

In short, it's a fun and entertaining time, especially for teens and kids but parents will also enjoy it's cleverness and the technical feats accomplished will surely make it more palatable than the average kids film. Totally recommended if you believe it may be for you (specially if you are into the subject matter), and also if you can put up with some cutesy weirdness. 

Trigger Warning (2024) Review

A rare successful new straight to streaming release, Trigger Warning brought in Indonesian director Mouly Surya to the mainstream after her lower budgeted features Fiksi (2008) and Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts (2017) gave her the best director award twice at the Indonesian film festival The Citra Awards in their respective years. So it was a no brainer to bring an international talent so consistant like her to bigger productions, which probably wasn't the best move, considering the commercial requirements for streaming movies are often at war with those of independent cinema.

Trigger Warning started as a spec script by Josh Olson (A History of Violence) and John Brancato (Primeval, Catwoman, Femme Fatale, Terminator 3) back in 2016, originally envisioned as a female First Blood or John Wick but set in rural America. After some production changes Jessica Alba (Dark Angel, Machete, Fantastic Four, Sin City) was cast and Surya was hired as director.

It tells the story of Parker (Jessica Alba), a Special Forces commando, who comes back home from Syria to New Mexico after her father dies, but she finds a different town than the one she left. After encountering some local criminals she uncovers a group of domestic terrorists that menace the little town. 

The film has been attacked for being completely generic and by the numbers, which is true, it doesn't have anything new or different to offer aside from some adequate action sequences that are well executed and efficiently staged, but being slightly above average does not fully save it compared to better examples of the genre. The film lacks much personality and energy, it ends up being mostly dry and heavy.

Directing wise, Surya´s compositions, clever shot placement and knack for understated camera movements show some good craftsmanship and she keeps things visually dynamic but the well done cinematography is at the service of a run of the mill “coming home” story, hitting predictable plot beat after predictable plot beat quite mechanically and without ingenuity nor subversion or deviation.

Alba has always gotten some flack for not being a very good actress and because of that she came off as confused and phony-sounding in some of her previous movie roles like Machete (2010) or Fantastic Four (2005), but she was just fine in this movie and in Dark Angel, pulling off her choreographies with some dedication. I still think that this is the type of action vehicle that would suit a rougher actress better like Michelle Rodriguez or Katy O'Brian.

The movie suffers from a lot of the issues I have with many modern action movies, like how the action seems mostly gratuitous and the addition of some unimpactful hits ruins the combat sequences, like hitting people in the leg with an object and making them fall down for example, it´s something that obviously wouldn't happen in real life, striking someone in the leg with a backpack would hurt but it wouldn't make them get knocked down. Those are some parts that are shaky or wobbly, they take away from the strong impression the rest of the fight actually achieves. However, maybe I am just spoiled with all the Asian martial arts movies I watch which feature more resounding stunts. This flaw isn't exclusive to the movie, so it could be forgiven. 

The biggest positives are obviously the fight scenes, but there are also some very memorable images that very much exalt the main character and these fragments might stick with me for a while, like the back lighted Jessica Alba swinging a machete at magic hour. Quite magnificent. These are, however, very few and far between. 

A mixed bag of a flick with competent direction, satisfying screenwriting and decent acting but it´s bogged down by an erratic pace, an unoriginal premise and an overall lack of dramatic weight due to the flimsy characterizations and weak storytelling. Not particularly good nor particularly bad. It's in the limbo of Netflix´s constant output, at least quality wise. Popcorn flick at best.