Along With The Gods: The Two Worlds is a Korean film adapted from a popular webcomic of the same. Distributed through Well Go USA, the film feels like a martial arts version of Robin Williams’ What Things May Come along with Dante Alighieri‘s The Divine Comedy and the Eastern Orthodox ideology that some saints hold, referred to in English as The Toll Houses.
The story follows the dead of Ja-hong (Cha Tae-hyun), a firefighter who goes on a spiritual quest in the afterlife with the help of his guide, Gang-rim (Ha Jung-woo) a Virgil type character. There he will be given a public defender who will argue his case during seven trials in 49 days, where similar in Eastern Orthodoxy’s Toll Houses, the trials are between angels and demons wrestling for your soul in deciding where one will spend eternity.
Although the film is heavy on second tier CG, it refuses to sacrifice the quality of storytelling for special effects and that is what makes it one of the best comic adaptations on any side of the planet. Director, Yong-hwa Kim storytelling is masterful and it is no wonder why this is the second largest grossing film in its home country of Korea.
Rarely am I ever on the edge of my seat for a film anymore, but Along With The Gods: The Two Worlds has managed to move my cynical butt closer to the screen than any other superhero flick has since The Dark Knight.
A splendid mix of theology, fantasy and moral dilemma, Along With The Gods: The Two Worlds should be in any cinephile’s collect.
Along With The Gods: The Two Worlds is available now on Blu-ray and DVD.
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Overall Score
The Verdict
Along With The Gods: The Two Worlds is what most comic adaptations should aspire to be.
