The Restless 2006

vertex reviewed The Restless (2006)

Too Restless

I got very interested about The Restless when I heard that Woo-sung Jung portrays a warrior in it. I thought to myself: am I going to see another Musa? No, this is not Musa and unfortunately this is not even Bichunmoo.

In The Restless Woo-sung Jung portrays Yl Gwak, a royal demon slayer who dies and gets stuck in to a place called Midheaven. Midheaven is a place where dead people stay for 49 days before incarnation. In Midheaven Yl Gwak experiences an adventure where he must fight for justice and for his love.

Midheaven is a beautiful and imaginative fantasy world. The world and its inhabitants remind me of Zu Warriors. There are some pretty amazing sceneries and exquisite costumes. Even though the fantasy world is beautiful I can’t help thinking that the movie is at its best outside of the fantasy world. However, if you can accept that The Restless is in fact a fantasy movie, it offers a somewhat promising start. Unfortunately, pretty soon the story develops into a mess. For some reason the excitement fades away and the story gets boring to the point where the viewer doesn’t really care anymore. I think there is just too much hanging around time that doesn’t support the story properly. If you are in for the action you’ll probably find some satisfaction. There are several well executed, though not spectacular, wire fu style sword fights. Ultimately The Restless is a light weight Korean fairy tale whose best offering is the beautiful visuals.