62 reviews
- classicsoncall
- Feb 20, 2020
- Permalink
It is good but I have seen better exorcist-type movie. Particularly like the conversation between Park and Father Ahn. Fighting scenes were great, tension building was good. Overall a good Friday movie if you are looking for something scary to watch.
- bananasonata
- Sep 6, 2019
- Permalink
I don't understand a lot about horror movies and i didn't watch enough to judge the story or the effects but i gave it 6 on 10 for the amazing cinematography and the great acting... Overall a good movie to watch in your free time
Here's the Lowedown on "Divine Fury" (NR - 2019 - Blu)
Genre: Horror/Paranormal/Martial My Score: 6.9
Cast=4 Acting=8 Plot=7 Ending=9 Story=6 Scare=4 Jump=4 F/X=9 Creep=10 Fights=8
After his father's death, a man turns from his faith and becomes an MMA fighter. When a stigmata appears on his hand, he seeks the help of a priest only to get caught up in a fight he never anticipated.
"When my father died...God did nothing." This Korean film was a lot of fun. Not particularly scary, but good fight and exorcism scenes made for a solid watch. It was like taking 'Constantine' and throwing in some Mortal Kombat for good measure. Ultimately, I think it was trying a bit too hard to be a good possession movie and a good martial arts movie...but they came close to making it work.
Genre: Horror/Paranormal/Martial My Score: 6.9
Cast=4 Acting=8 Plot=7 Ending=9 Story=6 Scare=4 Jump=4 F/X=9 Creep=10 Fights=8
After his father's death, a man turns from his faith and becomes an MMA fighter. When a stigmata appears on his hand, he seeks the help of a priest only to get caught up in a fight he never anticipated.
"When my father died...God did nothing." This Korean film was a lot of fun. Not particularly scary, but good fight and exorcism scenes made for a solid watch. It was like taking 'Constantine' and throwing in some Mortal Kombat for good measure. Ultimately, I think it was trying a bit too hard to be a good possession movie and a good martial arts movie...but they came close to making it work.
Made very well without a hint of being small budget. All the technicals of lighting and sound are as good as any big budget offering. The biggest issue for me was the English subtitles were very poor. "Our daily diet" may well be the literal translation but a polished subtitle would have said "bread". However, the hard coded subs were created by a Korean fan group and not professionally made by the creators do on dvd or Netflix These will be improved, I imagine. These type of misses really caused me to be distracted. If you like the Korean horror genre it should be one to watch though clearly influenced by the American exorcism subclass of horror which is why I suspect Koreans were not as fond of it as I was. Worth watching to the end even if it's not your bag, if you like a good martial arts fight.
- nickyb-79131
- Oct 8, 2019
- Permalink
A different take (mixing MMA fights w/exorcism) on the evil Satan (as a demon water snake maybe; don't know as we don't see him, but maybe next film) as he torments human souls. A bit stereotyped as to flashing room lights; crows; levitation; evil looking screams.
- westsideschl
- Dec 7, 2019
- Permalink
I'am surprise of your reviews thats why I had watch it, what a boring movie
- omar-general
- Jan 21, 2020
- Permalink
It's a promising movie to watch where there are no major faults in story plot or acting or cinematography. You are kept hooked always by Interesting elements throughout, making the long run-time of 129 minutes easily passed by unnoticed.
Great charisma and chemistry displayed by the two main actors, Ahn Sung Ki and Park Seo Joon. The big generation gap was well handled and they made a believable team to root for. Really impressed by the funny and warm moments between the Heroes in face of a serious battle against Evil.
Visually appealing overall whereby certain scenes made good impressions but unfortunately, not memorable enough to leave a lasting impact.
If I am to point out any major minus, it would be on lack of narrative of the Villain. Though Woo Do Hwan managed to portray a very sinister and powerful Big Bad character through his acting, his agenda (plot design) is simply not insidious enough to intimidate the audience. This is made worse by how little the interaction time between Villain and the Heroes. In my opinion, if the plot focus more on friction between the two sides instead of the Villain solo act of evil deeds, the result would have been different, a lot!
Summary in one word would be "Harmonious". With some minor adjustments, it could have been "Awesome". Thus, I give an additional star for Effort (it should have been 8/10) as I look forward to its sequel.
Great charisma and chemistry displayed by the two main actors, Ahn Sung Ki and Park Seo Joon. The big generation gap was well handled and they made a believable team to root for. Really impressed by the funny and warm moments between the Heroes in face of a serious battle against Evil.
Visually appealing overall whereby certain scenes made good impressions but unfortunately, not memorable enough to leave a lasting impact.
If I am to point out any major minus, it would be on lack of narrative of the Villain. Though Woo Do Hwan managed to portray a very sinister and powerful Big Bad character through his acting, his agenda (plot design) is simply not insidious enough to intimidate the audience. This is made worse by how little the interaction time between Villain and the Heroes. In my opinion, if the plot focus more on friction between the two sides instead of the Villain solo act of evil deeds, the result would have been different, a lot!
Summary in one word would be "Harmonious". With some minor adjustments, it could have been "Awesome". Thus, I give an additional star for Effort (it should have been 8/10) as I look forward to its sequel.
The Divine Fury is an interesting, mostly decent movie with great acting on its darkest scenes. But it goes stumbling to a very poor ending. The best way to enjoy this is to not take it any serious.
An MMA fighter joins a priest to exorcise demons while struggling with his own. The premise seems interesting but u fortunately tbe movie spends too much runtime on the drama, while not necessarily making the lead any more likable. In fact, he looks just like an annoying angsty teen. Though he has a tragic past, tbe way he acts does not make his character more sympathizing. On the contrary, the villain is much more fun to watch because the actor just plays a straight up stereotypical cult leader villain. And the actor manages to do it with a straight face, whicb is admirable. The exorcism scenes are great and suspenseful. It is helped with the presence of a veteran actor playing the stoic exorcist. Though the build up is awfully slow, the final fight scene is great. The fight choreography was brutal and the special effects make it seem like a superhero movie. However, it took too long for the payoff and there had been more action instead of needless brooding, this movie would have been much much more entertaining.
- sophaljonesy
- Aug 24, 2019
- Permalink
After losing his father as a child, a champion boxer finds that he has been afflicted with stigmata and begins traveling with a Vatican-sanctioned priest performing exorcisms in South Korea looking for a Satanic cult leader, and when he finds the man is responsible for the death of his father team up to cast out his evil.
There was a lot to like with this one. Among the better aspects on display is the fact that this one offers plenty of intriguing aspects to the religious undertones found within the storyline. The fact that the story is transposed to South Korea with all the usual trappings found in supernatural and exorcism stories with plenty of focus on his stigmata is a wholly impressive feat, giving this a recognizable and familiar grounding that is to be expected in such a situation. The various connections made to regular religious practices, including the priests who are shown performing the usual Christian rituals and exorcism practices as well as the Satanic interactions occurring under the nightclub operating as a front for the cult. That also leads into their conversations about his faith growing up and how he's waned over time which comes into play with the stigmata he has that allows for some rather intriguing philosophical debates about their religion that gives the film some extra weight. The other strong aspect to like here is the film's fun supernatural horror aspects. Starting with the dream sequence of seeing the religious ceremony that allows him to become possessed by the burning cross in his hand, the onslaught of possession tactics displayed here manage to give this some fun elements. The scenes of the shadows coming to life and toying with him are quite fun, as is the fiery exorcism attempt in the church where they attempt to exorcism the victim but eventually have to use his spiritual powers to finally cleanse the spirit. That there's a series of other exorcism attempts they perform in the community trying to track down the leader of the Satanic cult is where this one really works the best, offering up engaging battle tactics, impressive special effects and plenty of action in the battle to finally stop it leading up to the final fight as there's a lot of fun methods on both sides to get the upper hand in the brutal, emotional battle. Overall, these here are what hold this one up as the film does have a few big problems. The main one is the usual issue associated with these films in that there's no reason for this one to be as long as it. The love affair with adding over-the-top melodrama into everything here, from the overbearing intro that gives us far too much backstory than it really needs as it can tell this story in much sharper manners without going so heavily into these dramatic tendencies. This also causes a large issue with the film focused much more on their relationship and his journey back to the light of his faith that the main villain is incredibly underwhelming and not at all that scary, with no build-up at all in his motivations or purpose or what his plan actually is with all the possession attempts and cult practices are really for. That causes for a severe drop-off in the tension of the final battle where it's just another demon possession to overcome instead of the culmination of their journey, but this isn't a detrimental issue and only brings it down slightly overall.
Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Language.
There was a lot to like with this one. Among the better aspects on display is the fact that this one offers plenty of intriguing aspects to the religious undertones found within the storyline. The fact that the story is transposed to South Korea with all the usual trappings found in supernatural and exorcism stories with plenty of focus on his stigmata is a wholly impressive feat, giving this a recognizable and familiar grounding that is to be expected in such a situation. The various connections made to regular religious practices, including the priests who are shown performing the usual Christian rituals and exorcism practices as well as the Satanic interactions occurring under the nightclub operating as a front for the cult. That also leads into their conversations about his faith growing up and how he's waned over time which comes into play with the stigmata he has that allows for some rather intriguing philosophical debates about their religion that gives the film some extra weight. The other strong aspect to like here is the film's fun supernatural horror aspects. Starting with the dream sequence of seeing the religious ceremony that allows him to become possessed by the burning cross in his hand, the onslaught of possession tactics displayed here manage to give this some fun elements. The scenes of the shadows coming to life and toying with him are quite fun, as is the fiery exorcism attempt in the church where they attempt to exorcism the victim but eventually have to use his spiritual powers to finally cleanse the spirit. That there's a series of other exorcism attempts they perform in the community trying to track down the leader of the Satanic cult is where this one really works the best, offering up engaging battle tactics, impressive special effects and plenty of action in the battle to finally stop it leading up to the final fight as there's a lot of fun methods on both sides to get the upper hand in the brutal, emotional battle. Overall, these here are what hold this one up as the film does have a few big problems. The main one is the usual issue associated with these films in that there's no reason for this one to be as long as it. The love affair with adding over-the-top melodrama into everything here, from the overbearing intro that gives us far too much backstory than it really needs as it can tell this story in much sharper manners without going so heavily into these dramatic tendencies. This also causes a large issue with the film focused much more on their relationship and his journey back to the light of his faith that the main villain is incredibly underwhelming and not at all that scary, with no build-up at all in his motivations or purpose or what his plan actually is with all the possession attempts and cult practices are really for. That causes for a severe drop-off in the tension of the final battle where it's just another demon possession to overcome instead of the culmination of their journey, but this isn't a detrimental issue and only brings it down slightly overall.
Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Language.
- kannibalcorpsegrinder
- Nov 19, 2019
- Permalink
- lindasepdianti
- Apr 13, 2020
- Permalink
In many ways, "The Divine Fury" is a pale ripoff of the 46-year-old masterpiece "The Exorcist." The difference here is the Koreans opted to REALLY hammer the greatness of their god into your brain. It was overkill, really. The special effects were okay, but the over-acted melodrama and cliched scenes could only be appreciated by someone who'd never seen an exorcism-type film before, and there are many. "The Divine Fury" gets an 'E' for effort. They tried, but skip this one.
- redrobin62-321-207311
- Oct 28, 2019
- Permalink
I mean if you are going to do an Exorcist movie, you might as well go all the way .. out there and do it differently. No pun intended - and notoo easy to explain either. But let's just say this is isn't your grandpas Exorcist - no offense of course. I love the original Exorcist and I doubt I will see the day (or movie) that will top it in that field.
Divine Fury indeed - the English language title of the movie hits the nail - not the nail(s) on the cross that is! No pun intended of course. Acting is good, stunts and action choreography likewise. I feel there is more to those open to the idea - and maybe not as much to those who may have issues with how the movie handles itself.
Divine Fury indeed - the English language title of the movie hits the nail - not the nail(s) on the cross that is! No pun intended of course. Acting is good, stunts and action choreography likewise. I feel there is more to those open to the idea - and maybe not as much to those who may have issues with how the movie handles itself.
The cast works hard, but the writing is not good enough for the star quality of the leads. I'm surprised Park Seo Joon took the part.
- AJ_McAninch
- Feb 10, 2021
- Permalink
Please upload this movie on Netflix(India) I really really want to watch this movies becozz its Woo Do-Hwan in this and also it's supernatural too please upload this on Netflix(India)
- priyanshishah-14116
- Sep 7, 2020
- Permalink
I was honestly not sure what to expect from this movie before watching it, but I was pleasantly surprised. It is a roller coaster of a ride and the actors perform fantastically in their roles. I have been a fan of Park Seo-joon for awhile and he kills in this role, literally. The story brings in various perspectives of non-believers and believers, while subversively signaling the message that although you may hate God, God still loves you. Strong VFX, sound and cinematography amplify this one of a kind movie. It is a solid execution by the director, producers, writers and the entire production team to deliver an impressive good vs evil story.
- aznidentity
- May 26, 2023
- Permalink
'The Divine Fury' reminded me of 'The Priests', also a South Korean film.
The film certainly delivers its share of noise in the form of screams, growling, snaring, etc. At least the cinematography is beautiful, considering its a horror film, and the visuals were also very good. I enjoyed the fact they didn't play loud 'scary' music during some of the scenes, like Hollywood usually does. Note creepy background effects, like shadows. This is always highly effective instead of in-your-face visuals. Some images are truly disturbing.
The story itself isn't really unique. We've seen this a dozen times before. The bad guy conducting his evil from a club was a bit cliched. The club itself was a great design, though. As for the acting, the best actor by far was Sung-Ki Ahn as Father An. There was nothing special about Seo-joon Park's acting as the lead. The little boy was a much better actor.
My main criticism about the film is the religious propaganda. If I didn't know any better, I'd have believed this to be made by the Church (or the Pope himself!) to promote Christianity. At times, their religious conversations seemed to go on forever, eventually sounding like a sermon. That was a bit much for a horror film...
The climatic finale was good.
The film certainly delivers its share of noise in the form of screams, growling, snaring, etc. At least the cinematography is beautiful, considering its a horror film, and the visuals were also very good. I enjoyed the fact they didn't play loud 'scary' music during some of the scenes, like Hollywood usually does. Note creepy background effects, like shadows. This is always highly effective instead of in-your-face visuals. Some images are truly disturbing.
The story itself isn't really unique. We've seen this a dozen times before. The bad guy conducting his evil from a club was a bit cliched. The club itself was a great design, though. As for the acting, the best actor by far was Sung-Ki Ahn as Father An. There was nothing special about Seo-joon Park's acting as the lead. The little boy was a much better actor.
My main criticism about the film is the religious propaganda. If I didn't know any better, I'd have believed this to be made by the Church (or the Pope himself!) to promote Christianity. At times, their religious conversations seemed to go on forever, eventually sounding like a sermon. That was a bit much for a horror film...
The climatic finale was good.
- paulclaassen
- Apr 16, 2020
- Permalink
This is the first Korean production I've seen in a movie theater and what a difference it makes (duh!), not only the large screen but the sound effects. That's because Korean films are generally not shown in American markets. Wish they were more widely available. This is a story about faith and good triumphing over evil. This movie is intense, scary at times, and will make your skin crawl. But it also evokes emotions, joy, and relief! It is not cheesy. It is extremely well acted, directed, choreographed, and believable with good special effects. Kudos to Park Seo Joon and the other actors who all stayed in character and performed well. You forget they are acting. Unlike the seminal film, the Exorcist, there is no vulgarity, excessive swearing, and blasphemy (the reason I rarely watch contemporary American films), but the shock value is there and the message is powerful. If properly marketed, this film can be as popular as Train to Busan, and representative of the impressive Korean film industry. As a Christian (protestant) viewer, I heartily recommend this film whether you are a believer or not as it is entertaining, not offensive. You will cheer! Bravo!
- delores96734
- Aug 19, 2019
- Permalink
I found this movie to be entertaining. The acting was fairly solid throughout. The special effects were mediocre however the were able to add to the overall impact of the film rather than detract from it. I watched a dubbed version so it is a bit difficult to comment on the actual script. There are times when the movie seems to drag a little but all in all it manages to be somewhat suspenseful. Action sequences are fairly well done without being outrageous. Characters are believable and the storyline makes sense. It is not a great film but is entertaining enough to say it is worth the watch. So if you have time to spare...
- rdamian1963
- Nov 20, 2024
- Permalink
I am amazed watching this movie on a Catholic point of view. It did not fail to convey its deepest message to the viewers. It did not just entertain the viewers. It somehow inspires the viewers about the Power of good over evil. God's victory over His adversary, the devil. The storyline and the acting were crafted very well. The characters of the story stood out. The horror aspect about this movie is in the story not the exagerated sound effects like other movies that tends to make the viewers jump on their feet. It is both an epic spiritual warfare and a physical battle between good and wvil that intensifies more the entertainment and captures the heart of the viewers. I totally enjoyed it.
- torralbapaolo-00618
- Sep 8, 2019
- Permalink
I must have missed something but I thought it started out Okay then as the horror and exorcisms came in it got boring. Park's face remained rather bland for much of the show. Also the photography was darker than it should have been.
- phd_travel
- Apr 4, 2020
- Permalink
- wendywells62
- Oct 6, 2020
- Permalink
It has been a while since any movie has put me on the edge of my seat. This one definitely did the trick. As a movie this is a strange combination of The exorcist, Blade and Constantine. It is absolutely bonkers and should not work, but is absolutely does! The balance between drama, horror and action has been executed perfectly. This is such an entertaining film and won't disappoint. Highly recommended!