Here's what you need to know; by day, Huntr/x bask in fame and adoration as the most popular K-pop group in the world, but by night, Rumi, Mira and Zoey battle to protect the mortal realm from unspeakable evil. They are the Hunters, the heirs to an ancient legacy of using the power of music to hold back Gwi-Ma and his demon army. With the release of their latest single, they hope to seal the demons off for good, until a rival boy band, the Saja Boys, appears out of nowhere and starts to steal their fans. But the Saja Boys are not what they appear to be, and with the stakes mounting and time running out, the Hunters must put on the show of a lifetime before Gwi-Ma consumes the souls of all of humanity.
So yeah, KPop Demon Hunters; it's a film that actually exists, it launched on Netflix a few weeks ago, and like most people who saw the trailer, I initially struggled to wrap my head around it. An animated fantasy musical about K-pop idols who hunt demons? it sounds a bit ridiculous, doesn't it, and while I have a considerable soft spot for Twice, K-pop isn't really my thing either, though demon hunting is, as I've spent the last few weeks sweating on Doom: The Dark Ages. When my girlfriend put this on for our film night, I didn't know what to think. Imagine my shock, then, when it dawned on me that I was loving it; I found myself completely captivated by this film in a way that no film has hit me since Transformers One. I expected some goofy fun and catchy songs, I did not expect it to be awesome, and having watched it, I am very glad I did.
KPop Demon Hunters gets you on board immediately, not just with it's sensational animation, but with a tight, efficient and exceptionally entertaining introduction. Not a single second is wasted in establishing this film's world and characters; flashing through the history of the Hunters before dropping us in with Huntr/x themselves, as they wrestle control of their private plane back from the demons before literally dropping out of the sky into their concert and blowing their adoring fans away with a live performance of "How It's Done." On rewatch, I was amazed by how well this sequence balances worldbuilding, exposition, and spectacle, expertly getting the audience up to speed with the lore of the Hunters, the demons and the Honmoon, the spiritual barrier between the worlds. It also introduces us to Rumi, Mira and Zoey, the titular demon hunting pop idols. As is the case with many great animated films, KPop Demon Hunters is an absolute treat for the eyes; the film's visuals, animation and character design is all amazing, blending the stylised chaos of the Spiderverse series with all the colour, energy and imagination of a K-pop music video. The action sequences are fast, slick and beautifully choreographed, as much dance sequences as they are action sequences, and they are consistently entertaining throughout. The film also manages to blend Spiderverse's style with hyper expressive character animation, which is often insanely imaginative, giving the film's heroes and villains levity and vulnerability that makes them immediately charming and likable, while not coming across as jarring or visually inconsistent with the rest of the film.
Another secret weapon that the film makes incredible use of is visual comedy. The medium of animation is taken full advantage of here, not just to make every single shot splendid to look at, but with plenty of anime-esque character expression, slapstick humour and absurdism, it's a fun watch, through and through. Like with music, I wish I could go into more detail about animation, I wish I knew how to convey what makes this film so visually enjoyable, but the result is the same. There is not a single dull frame in this film, it is gorgeous from beginning to end, each shot brims with energy and imagination in a way that only animation can. The animation lends itself a lot to growing and developing the personalities of the characters, and while these aren't unique or genre defying heroes and villains, KPop Demon Hunters' central cast are stellar. The Hunters themselves are immediately endearing, and each fit into comfortable archetypes that work brilliantly together. Zoey is the cute, energetic, hyper expressive goofball, Mira is the more hard edged, deadpan tough chick, while their leader, Rumi, plays the straight man, so to speak, and is the heart and soul of the group. The film centre's on Rumi's journey while still giving Mira, Zoey and even their manager, Bobby, room to shine as full characters rather than comedic foils. The show stealer though, both on the stage and in the character department, is Rumi. Rumi isn't just a Demon Hunter, she's also part-demon, born of a forbidden union of Hunter and demon and forced to hide her identity, and her patterns; tattoo-like marks on her body that reveal her demon side.
The metaphor here isn't subtle, but the film is called KPop Demon Hunters, so why would it be. Rumi's arc of self-acceptance plays out in parallel with the external conflict, and particularly in her relationship with Jinu, the demonic leader of the Saja Boys, who is far from your typical evil villain. Their awkward, endearing dynamic evolves into something much more powerful as they confront their shared shame and begin to find peace. But what makes them work so well is, of course, how their characters and stories tie into the film's core themes. Both characters have dark pasts that haunt them in different ways, and they manage to help each other with their respective shames throughout the film, giving it a solid emotional payoff in the finale, when they are both finally able to shed their more metaphorical demons and find peace in themselves, giving Jinu his redemption, and Rumi the freedom to finally love herself. The Demon King, Gwi-Ma is more metaphor than monster, a literal manifestation of self doubt, shame and inner demons. His voice is the one telling you you're not good enough. Counter to Gwi-Ma's weapons-grade negativity is the rigid ideal of perfectionism the Hunters try to uphold, where showing weaknesses is forbidden. What we have here is two sides of the same coin; Gwi-Ma and the demons are all the weaknesses and shames that gnaw away at the human soul, while the belief of perfectionism in the Hunters, and by extension, the repression of personal flaws creates the appearance of strength, but creates disharmony in their souls by allowing those flaws to fester, fuelling the negativity that Gwi-Ma wields against humanity as a weapon.
The film goes to some surprisingly dark places with this idea, as Rumi is forced to reconcile the two halves of her soul while the world falls apart around her. The themes of inner peace and self-acceptance are hardly new ground in film, but KPop Demon Hunters, nonetheless, pulls it off shockingly well, giving the film an emotional punch that I never expected it to have. We haven't even discussed the Honmoon yet, but it too has strong significance to this theme. The Honmoon is a spiritual barrier to the demon realm, powered by the emotional connection of the fans through the music. Again, the metaphor here isn't subtle; the people of the world being brought together by their love of music, with that spiritual connection driving out the darkness. It's a very wholesome and relatable concept, but KPop Demon Hunters makes it literal, which is genius. It should be apparent that KPop Demon Hunters is a musical, a K-pop musical, no less, which is, understandably, going to be a hurdle for some people. A musical with bad music is like a horror movie without scares, it's not an enjoyable experience. Thankfully, KPop Demon Hunters' original tracks are all absolute bangers; "Golden" will almost certainly be in my most played songs this year, "How It's Done" hits like a train alongside the opening action sequence, while "Soda Pop" cranks up the sweetness with it's upbeat, sugary joy. But to my surprise, KPop Demon Hunters' songs aren't just a gimmick. In addition to the Honmoon being powered by the love of the music, the film's songs all serve as parts of the whole; used to express the emotions of the characters and drive the story forward.
"What It Sounds Like" becomes a full-on anthem when the group sings it in the climactic battle, while "Your Idol" underlines the emotional vampirism of the demons, to the backdrop of Gwi-Ma's flame burning its way into the mortal world. And for icing on this musical cake, members of Twice cover Huntr/x's "Takedown" during the credits, and surprise, surprise, it's also an absolute banger. KPop Demon Hunters unironically has an amazing soundtrack, which isn't even the most surprising thing about it for me. But with all of that being said, I'd be lying if I said the film didn't have flaws, though even then, I'd happily concede that plenty of these flaws are nitpicks. The film does leave a few of it's supporting characters a little thin on the ground, most prominently Celine, a former Hunter and Rumi's mentor, who is criminally underused, her brief scenes work, especially a key emotional moment late in the film, but expanding her relationship with Rumi could have made it land even harder. Gwi-Ma is conceptually very cool, but lacks physical presence, and in a film this visually imaginative, giving him a physical form could've been fun, or at least more interesting than a big, ominous purple fire. Making Gwi-Ma and his army scarier probably would've helped too, being as how they're all soul eating monsters from another realm. But to be honest, it's KPop Demon Hunters, expecting the villains of a film with that title to be scary was probably always going to be too big an ask, as would've been asking for more violence in the action sequences, when this film is clearly aiming for a younger audience.
An even bigger nitpick is that the other Saja Boys are pure archetypes with next to no character; there's the cute one, the romantic one, the sexy one and the mysterious one, and that's literally as deep as it gets. Though this was likely a necessary trade-off to keep the film's runtime down and pace snappy, and I'm completely fine with that. A slightly more glaring issue is that while Rumi's demonic heritage is crucial to the story, her mother and father play no role in it whatsoever. The film hints at deeper lore that we then don't explore. It's clear that the film's themes of self-acceptance and inner peace took precedence in Rumi's story, and the film crushes it in that regard, but that still leaves the mystery of her parents hanging. The same can be said of Zoey and Mira, into whose inner conflicts, we only get brief glimpses. Mira struggles with being a black sheep, an outcast in her family, while Zoey, a Korean American, struggles with the anxiety of not feeling like she belongs anywhere. While they're both fun and memorable characters, It feels like the film is barely scratching the surface with them, and giving them deeper arcs would've given the film more emotional weight. That said, these shortcomings could also be looked at as opportunities, in the likely event that KPop Demon Hunters gets a sequel, this film leaves plenty of room to grow these characters' backstories and expand the lore in interesting ways, and if that also means more bangers, I'm all in.
Why Couldn't You Love Me?
The last thing I expected to say about KPop Demon Hunters is that it's amazing, but somehow, it is. It's gorgeously animated, with electric action, absurdist visual humour and an energy that bleeds through every moment. The film's leads are an absolute pleasure to watch, funny, likable, and surprisingly well rounded and sympathetic. As a musical, it completely slaps, with some of the most addictive songs you're going to hear this year, with lyrics and visuals to match. But what surprised me the most about this film was the heart; it was how, under all the glitter and monsters, it explores the weight of shame and power of self-acceptance. KPop Demon Hunters is a vibrant, visually stunning, musically infectious thrill ride with a ton of heart, while it's not a masterpiece by any stretch, I do find myself loving it, and I'd strongly recommend it.
