User reviews

I watched the movie first and realized later this was just the first part of a possible trilogy. The second movie has not come out yet. I do like to watch a series back to back if possible and I probably would have waited, especially because I have a backlog of movies to watch anyway. But there is a hype surrounding this and I was curious to see it.

Now I do understand if some people think and say that at least 2/3 of the movie feel slow to them. Because the movie is taking its time. You can see that as a bad thing or a good thing, that depends on your viewing habits and how you like your movies to be. The movie does end with quite a highlight though. And I have to admit, the ending itself works like it is. Sure now that I know there is more, I want to watch that as soon as possible - which is going to be some time.

Acting is good, twists are nice if predictable I reckon and there will be blood. If that all sounds good to you to you can either watch now or wait at least until the first sequel arrives and do a double bill

The Witch starts off comfortably enough with a very Korean domestic teen vibe. I found it a little annoyingly sugary at times and overstated. That said, it does set the scene nicely for the stark contrast, that comes next.

This film is extraordinarily frenetic, action packed and violent. Certainly once it gets started its never ever boring but the mayhem can get a little exhausting at times. Its not one for the faint hearted but if you enjoyed films like the John Wick franchise, you will, I suspect, love this one.

What helps lift The Witch above a lot of other similar films is an intriguing and intricate story and in some cases, genuinely excellent acting.

A worthwhile watch. 7/10.

Koreans just know how to make intriguing movies and this is no exception. Sci-fi with gore and great action set pieces.

An often mesmerizing, occasionally kooky but thoroughly entertaining thriller.

Make no mistake, this movie's theme is thriller, not horror. And as such, this movie was suspenseful with plenty of twists and turns to entice the audience. However, the most brilliant factor about this movie was the amazing acting from both the main protagonist (played by Da-Mi Kim) and her best friend (played by Min-Si Go). Although others shined in certain areas as well, these two actresses were absolutely phenomenal, especially considering the notion that Da-Mi Kim is still considered as a rookie who recently started her official career. This movie is only the first part of a series that is to come and may be one of the biggest hits in Korea yet.

Excellent film. Thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish. The cast may be rookies but damn .. they exceeded all my expectations.. better than some of the hollywood stars you see these days. I am really looing forward to part 2 of this series.

As usual there's a huge number of 9 or 10 star reviews from single review accounts trying to boost the rating. Don't be fooled! Great ending but the rest is slow and derivative.

Very slow to build to anything. The first hour could be easily cut to 30 mins or less to improve pacing without losing anything and would definitely improve the story of the two school girls. It's quite tiresome and childish at times.

Reviewers seem to praise the action but there is very little action and the plot expositions near the end should have been the meat of the movie.

However...

The end action sequence is superbly put together, decently long, violent and entertaining. Action fans should watch it for this alone on a streaming service.

If there's ever a 'Part 2' and it carries on in the style of the ending it'd be a a truly great action film.

For those folks who says that this film took too much storytelling, so boring for an hour; blah,blah, blah- It is like you are reading a book! You need specific and concrete details to totally understand what story you are into.

Good job for the director!

Can't wait for the sequel...

I started watching this movie convinced that it was a horror film. Although there is some gore and violence early on, it didn't really have a lot of tension and soon I realized this was more of an action movie with supernatural elements.

And it's fine at being that, I suppose. The action choreography is stylish and pretty well done, it reminded me mostly of the 2000 era movie 'Equilibrium' with Christian Bale. The plot is more substantial than just a reason to have these fights but the movie still is a lot more style than substance.

So, it's fine if you're looking for a decent action movie, but it's not much more than that.

6/10.

This movie is highly underrated here! It is by far one of the best action movies I have watched in the last few years! The plot is masterfully written, keeps you on your toes the entire time and takes turns you never ever expected! I watched it on my flight and boy, oh boy i did not even take a bathroom break until I finished watching it, it was that good and full of suspense!

Give it a go and see for yourselves! Highly recommended!

I'm honestly looking forward to part 2. This was really a eye catching, I had moments that I didn't even blink because I didn't want to miss anything. Great Movie, Great Story!

Good movie to watch for the thrilling moments and also some little bit acting done but not all characters have done well but it is watchable.

Action 4.5/5 Drama 3/5 Plot 3.5/5 Suspens 3.5/5 Well entertainer

I don't really know if Manyeo is translated as The Witch but after watching the movie I would have come up with a different title as there is no witchery whatsoever in this movie. That aside The Witch is entertaining to watch, a story with some mystery and suspense, a bit of action and overal good acting which is mostly the case with Korean movies. They don't tend to overact like other Asian countries do and that's probably why Koreans are the best in Asian film making. I wouldn't rate this movie as high as other reviewers that thought it deserved a ten, it's just entertaining but not that exciting. If there would be a sequel I would probably watch it but I'm not going to lose any sleep if there wasn't.

Whoah!!! The opening scenes are very intense and intriqueing and set the tone, but the film then turns into a slow brewing story of the girls young upbringing and seemingly boring ,normal life...That is...till the middle comes with some scenes that are shocking and will set you back in your seat! I wont say what it is but the tone shifts completely and the movie begins its turn to the dark side..things get very interesting and from that point on, I cant image Anyone being bored with this insane action scifi thriller of Unimagineble Power Unleashed in this young girl..The action scenes and effects are beyond superbly done and more than once I was awed at how it was made to look so bloody convincing and terrifying.When the finale begins, be prepared for a ride to the dark side, as a growing sense of potential building and growing stronger is created..the atmosphere is Intense...And then a Critical mass is reached and she has come to her Full potential...And its Unleashed!!! just Wow!..I actually found myself saying OMG! out loud over and over...Mind blown...The acting in this movie was very good, not the typical asian silliness thats often a stereotype of asian film..this was acted well, with realness,and intensity..The 2 bad guys, the woman and her henchman were superb!! What can I say?, This is a slow starter that starts to explode middway and goes Supernova in the Finale! I loved it..Superb korean film and top notch scifi horror thriller!

A lot of the movie was competently done but nothing we haven't seen before, but Koo Ja Yoon is great. At times she is sweet, but when she isn't she seems almost inhumanly threatening. She sells the whole story of the film because you can believe she is capable of everything she does in the film.

The movie looks great but I didn't like it at all. It's too wannabe American. Style over substance. The basic premise is a bit similar to X-Men, kids with special powers. But there is only so much disbelief you can suspend and young girls being super badass at gunplay and effortlessly killing multipe grown men is just tedious and dumb. There's also not really a character in there you can really sympathize with. Just a bunch of cartoonish bad guys and teenage psychopaths trying a little bit too hard to look cool, arrogant and aloof.

I expected so much more. I Saw the Devil is one of the slickest, sickest movies ever put on fim and New World is straight up "The Godfather" of Korean cinema. I was excited to see Hoon-jung Park's latest offering. But it turns out to be just an overlong "extreme" version of a Western teen movie series. Even a lot of the elements are the same. Part Hanna, part Lucy, part X-Men, part Divergent, part whatever, all shaken up and spat out into a bland, uninteresting package. I am baffled by this one. I am used to the slow burn set-ups of Korean movies but the first hour and a half has so little character development and plot progression and world building that it just seems to drag on and on and when the final curtain is drawn and the "real" situation is revealed, I just didn't really care what happens to most of these people. The acting, praised so highly in other reviews, is adequate, but just adequate. The only character I genuinely felt invested in was Woo-sik Choi and that could have just been holdover from Train to Busan. Everyone else were just cardboard cutouts of characters. There is nothing innovative here. Just a mishmash of Western tropes thrown together into Part 1 of a series that feels like it tries too hard to be Part 1 of a series. To be fair, there are about 20 minutes near the end that pull out all of the action stops and are gloriously violent and brutal and bloody and it is very cool to watch. Frankly that is the only reason my rating is 6 stars. Without that scene, this movie is no more than a solid 4. But that's like rating Oldboy solely on the strength of the hallway scene. This movie feels like it could have been great but it turned out not to be nearly enough. Maybe part 2 will correct that mistake.