“Along With the Gods: The Last 49 Days” is a chaotic and heartfelt, action-fantasy film that was released nationally and internationally on August 1st, 2018. The movie was directed by Kim Yonghwa and is based on the popular webtoon, also titled “Along With the Gods,” by webtoon artist/author Joo Ho Min.
The production effort was a combination of Realise Pictures, Dexter Studios, and Lotte Entertainment, with international promotion by Well Go USA Entertainment.
“Along With the Gods: The Last 49 Days” plays as a sequel to “Along With the Gods: The Two Worlds,” a mega hit film released in 2017. However, despite one or two confusing moments within the plot if you haven’t seen the first film, “The Last 49 Days” easily does well as a stand alone movie.
The plot of the story follows three grim reapers leading souls through trials towards the afterlife as they slowly find answers regarding their own pasts. Ha Jung Woo (“The Yellow Sea,” “The Chaser”) plays Gang Rim, a grim reaper who has been given the challenge to successfully assist 49 souls to be reincarnated. However, he only has a millennia to do complete the difficult task. If he manages to do so, he will then get his own chance to reincarnate.
The first movie followed the path to the afterlife for Kim Ja Hong, played by Cha Tae Hyun (“Scandal Makers,” “Hello Ghost”). In this new story, Gang Rim is seen leading Kim Ja Hong’s brother and vengeful soul Kim Soohong (played by Kim Dong Wook of “The Take Off,” “Coffee Prince”) throughout several levels of hell in order to grant him a retrial of his fate within the afterlife. Gang Rim wishes to prove Kim Soohong’s innocence in being a vengeful soul as he was killed on earth by murder, not an accident as his family had previously suspected.
Ju Ji Hoon (“The Devil,” “Antique,” “Mask”) and Kim Hyang Gi (“Wedding Dress,” “Snowy Road”) play the grim reapers Hae Woon Maek and Lee Deok Choon, respectfully. These thousand-year-old reaper guardians are assigned alongside Gang Rim to also assist the 49 wandering souls in attempt to gain their own reincarnation. However, along the way, the two of them are stopped in their tracks by a house spirit (now considered an outlaw in the afterlife), played by Ma Dong Seok (“Train To Busan,” “Outlaws,” “Derailed”). Seong Ju treasures protecting a young boy in his household more than anything else and— for reasons which later become clear— refuses to let the guardians release the soul of an old man who is far past his time on earth.
Prior to being a house spirit, however, Seong Ju was also a guardian reaper. Because of that, he knows exactly what the trio of new reapers want to know most: the secret of their past. Hae Woon Maek and Deok Choon make a deal with Seong Ju that they will not ascend the soul of the elderly man (played by Nam Il Woo of “Lightning Man” and “Late Spring”) and also swear to protect the young boy Heo Hyun Dong (played by Jung Ji Hoon) until he has a better foundation in life. In return, Seong Ju will tell the guardians about their past.
However, they only have 49 days to complete the task given to them by Yeomra, head judge of the afterlife (played by Lee Jung Jae of “The Thieves” and “City of Rising Sun” ). We follow Gang Rim on his path to take Kim Soohong to his chance of an afterlife retrial as the details of Gang Rim’s own background unfold.
Meanwhile, Seong Ju slowly reveals the identities of Hae Woon Maek and Lee Deok Choon in exchange for their promise of protection for the young boy. As the details of their story unfold, the two realize they are more intertwined than they ever imagined.
Actor Sung Dong Il makes two guest appearances within the movie, one as an esteemed King during a flashback, and the other as a simple support worker who tries to make sure the old man isn’t faking illness in order to get government support. This particular role gives the film a nice dose of humor that was well needed at the time, despite the negativity of the situation.
Do Kyung Soo (“It’s Okay It’s Love,” “Annoying Brother,” “Room No. 7”), otherwise known as EXO‘s D.O, also makes an appearance in the film as Won Dong Yeon. Won Dong Yeon, along with Park Moo Shin played by Lee Jun Hyuk (“City Hunter,” “Are You Human Too?”), are incredibly important characters behind the story of Kim Soo Hong and his real cause of death.
Mixing genres is a great tactic in order to keep things entertaining and retain humor within what would have otherwise been an incredibly dramatic film. However, there were times where I felt that certain comedic lines were not needed and even harmed the film’s narrative by making it slightly awkward and causing you to forget what the topic of conversation was in the first place. Although there weren’t an excess of these parts, some of the forced humor was simply just not needed— especially as the movie had much better placed humor in other parts. All-in-all, the film was typical of Korean entertainment in the way it managed to mix genres. The movie could go quickly from sharply pulling at your heartstrings to laughing at a piece of slapstick comedy. As such, this was well-received by moviegoers, even across international borders.
Despite many complaints in other reviews that the movie had “cheesy” and “awkward” CGI, I personally thought the CGI portions of the film were well-placed and matched the film’s style. If it were completely detailed and all of the money was used for the sake of computer generations, it would have felt separated and taken away from the rest of the movie.
There were small moments that almost felt as though the director was breaking the fourth wall without actually doing so. These moments often involved dialogue between characters about Korean stock market, adoption agencies within Korea, and other true-to-life pieces in comparison to the base narrative of this movie. These topics could have been quickly brought out but were often dragged out into full scenes as if they were trying to get a particular message across. It was an unexpected but accepted portion of the story that, despite feeling somewhat random, was a neat and welcome addition to the narrative. Whether or not that was the pure and full intention, I am unsure.
Overall, this movie has certainly gathered a feeling of fondness from me. It was incredibly entertaining and had just enough mystery to keep the audience guessing. A larger plot twist in the film was just surprising enough and it made the slowly building story worth the wait. The intertwining pasts and end-game court scene kept me on the edge of my seat until all my questions were answered. Thankfully, they were well explained by the end. The slower scenes were kept upbeat with sharp color contrasts on beautifully rendered CGI sets, as well as a very dynamic soundtrack that accurately kept the pace of each scene.
I often forgot it was the same actors playing different versions of themselves each time we, as the audience, were sent back to the past. This shows the incredible work and talent of each actor. In particular, I would single out Ju Ji Hoon as Hae Woon Maek, who so easily played a slightly self-centered, modernized Grim Reaper, as well as a harsh, ancient warrior with a sad past and caring heart. Ha Jung Woo floored me as well when his straightforward and by-the-book character, Gang Lim, suddenly falters and begins to show an immense sense of guilt. This particular moment happened right around the time the audience had begun to piece things together, so his acting was well received. I would also like to point out that the makeup, clothing, and set teams did an incredible job in keeping things very real during flashbacks and helped draw clear lines on what could have easily been a confusion story with so many details.
More than anything, there was a large amount of character development that I did not expect from this movie initially. It took the majority of the movie to do so, but by the end, I felt incredibly, emotionally connected to the main three reapers. The sense of family love and forgiveness throughout the entire film is what really sold it for me on a personal level. A particularly hard-hitting line that was spoken near the end of the movie was a beautiful way to sum up the lesson these films are based on— every human deserves the right to be heard and forgiven. “No humans are innately bad, there are only bad circumstances,” the movie stated.
Final Ranking: 9 Out of 10 Stars
“Along With The Gods: The Two Worlds” ended somewhat open in order to lead into “Along With The Gods: The Last 49 Days,” a fact which makes sense considering the two were filmed at the same time. However, the slight cliffhanger at the end of “The Last 49 Days” gave two interesting new plot points that will likely be the basis of the inevitable sequels. In fact, it was recently announced that there are two more sequels on the way to continue what has now become a saga! They will be completed and released sometime in 2019. How exciting!
“Along With the Gods: The Last 49 Days” has notably made headlines for breaking multiple records. It started by having the highest pre-sale ticket sales in Korean box office history! With over 60% reservation rate, it’s no wonder the hype for this movie was well received across international waters as well. It reached 42 million, which beat the previous record holder of “Battleship Island”!
The film also broke opening day sales records by bringing it more than 1,263,700 viewers on the first day of sales, beating the previous record holder “Avengers: Infinity War”! The second day followed up by attracting more than 2 million viewers. By the fifth day, the film brought in over 5 million viewers! As such, it became the quickest movie to receive this number of views in Korea, beating out “The Admiral: Roaring Currents” which had set a similar record in six days.
The film is still being played in national theaters, as well as select international theaters across the world. I would definitely suggest going to see this film for yourself! Meanwhile, check out the trailer for the film below.
In the meantime, stay tuned to What The Kpop for more movie reviews and recommendations!
CaptainMal has been involved with Korean entertainment since 2010. She travels to conventions in her area, showcasing her “Kpop Game Show’” and occasional Kpop cosplay. Although her favorite bands are INFINITE, Super Junior, and VIXX, she boasts love for a huge variety of artists and has been lucky enough to see many perform live! Other than Kpop, CaptainMal loves Disney, 1980’s rock, Daft Punk, gaming, and orange juice.
Media: Realise Pictures, Dexter Studios, Lotte Entertainment, Well Go USA