The Witch: Part 2- The Other One
I was hoping to get to “The Witch: Part 1- Subversion” prior to watching this follow-up to the 2018 thriller, but life did not allow for enough time to do so. Thankfully, you don’t really need to watch it to figure this one out; to a point, at least. This is a different set of characters based around the same world. That’s not a formula that American audiences are appreciative of, but I think it’s one more franchises should embrace.
The film begins with a bus ride that takes an unexpected turn. It centers of two teenagers, so they are the ones that we focus on as gas is thrown into the bus, knocking everyone unconscious. We later see one of the teenagers on a stretcher. Doctors reassure her that she will be fine, and her pregnancy- with fraternal twins- will be important moving forward. Cut to several years later, and we see a girl named Ark 1 (Shin Si-ah) as she escapes from a laboratory. She is covered in blood, drawn by her mother’s voice when she’s kidnapped by henchman. Along the way, we discover that she has some unnatural powers. It then becomes a chase movie with a bunch of action, some friends to support Ark 1, and a revelation to lead into a third film, if possible.
Before the film seems to indulge into action nonsense- albeit, terrifically staged and choreographed action nonsense by writer-director Park Hoon-jung, I was a big fan of the sense of mystery this film’s opening, and the introduction of Ark 1. There were times when it reminded me of Christophe Gans’s “Silent Hill” in its atmosphere and sense of unease and dread as it was setting its premise. As the film progresses, however, it starts to take on a more structurally-familiar, albeit narratively confusing, form, and as much as I appreciate the way Park stages all of that- and lands the final moments of the film- it helped take me out of the movie. It was where I felt as though, when I do go back and watch “Subversion,” maybe all of this will make more sense than it does. (And when I do watch “Subversion,” I will also rewatch this and see where we stand.)
To a certain extent, something like “The Witch: Part 2” is basically a continuation of the genre-melding we started to see in force after “The Matrix,” but part of the reason that worked is that- even when it gave into action- the narrative of Neo remained compelling. We kind of lose sight of the heart of Ark 1’s narrative, which is part of why it was so nice to see the film recover at the end. It does bait the hook enough with its spectacle, and the early world building, to get me on board if this does continue with a third film, however. I’m just not sure whether it’ll be a must-see yet.
