Blu-ray Review: THE WITCH 2: THE OTHER ONE

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Nov 06, 2022 Posted by Kyle Nolan in DVD/Blu-ray, Reviews | Comments

The 2018 film The Witch: Part 1 – The Subversion followed high school student Koo Ja-yoon (Kim Da-Mi) who had been taken-in 10 years earlier by some farmers, found with no memory of her past. She started to piece together that as a child she was a test subject in the Witch project, which gave her enhanced strength and supernatural and telekinetic powers, while also training her to be an assassin. She was now just trying to be a normal girl, but her audition for a reality TV singing competition caught the eyes of those at the facility, who sent people to kill her. Koo Ja-yoon ultimately had to unleash her powers to stop those hunting her down, but she she still needed their special serum in order to survive. So she tracked down the woman had been in charge of the project, Dr. Baek (Jo Min-soo), and demanded to know where the serum was being produced.

The Witch: Part 2 – The Other One picks up some time later, though first showing in a flashback that Koo Ja-yoon’s birth mother actually had twins, and that Ja-yoon and her twin sister had been separated at birth. In the present, Cynthia (Shin Si-ah), nicknamed Ark 1, has just had some help to escape from the facility. But she doesn’t stick around to see who provided this assistance, instead making her way through the woods towards freedom, or so she thinks. Cynthia is kidnapped by some gangsters, who also have another woman in their van, Kyung-hee (Park Eun-bin). After using her powers to escape, Cynthia heads back with Kyung-hee to her family’s farm. Kyung-hee had just returned to Korea after her father died in order to take care of the land and her younger brother Dae-gil (Sung Yu-been). However, Kyung-hee’s uncle Yong-du (Jin Goo), a local gang boss, wants her to sell him the property and is willing to use any force necessary to get her to do so.

Cynthia quickly bonds with the siblings and tries to help them protect themselves against Yong-du and his henchmen. However, those at the company have discovered that she has escaped and have sent several teams to hunt her down. So, in addition to Yong-du and his henchmen, also making their way towards the farmhouse are a military unit let by “Chief” Jo-hyeon (Seo Eun-soo) and her South African partner Tom (Justin John Harvey), as well as a trio of enhanced sisters from Shanghai. As they try to contain the situation with Cynthia, Dr. Baek and the new head of the organization, Jang (Lee Jong-suk), both still continue to look for Ja-yoon, who has been off causing issues for the Witch project, raiding their various laboratories and headquarters.

I had never seen/heard of the first The Witch movie when I received this sequel for review, so I immediately checked that out first (it’s streaming on Peacock) and was pleasantly surprised. I really enjoyed the way that the filmmakers combined supernatural action, with more grounded character drama, and a surprising amount of humor. I’m glad to say that the second film is a solid follow-up that finds that same perfect tonal blend. It also follows a similar storyline. At the core of the second film is the story of this young girl with powers who doesn’t remember her past, but finds herself at a farm house trying to protect her friends from a coming threat. There is this nice friendship and bond that Cynthia forms with the two siblings. At first the danger is directly related to the siblings, a more human threat of the evil guy who wants to take their land—an age-old classic Western story that has been done a million times before, but still works quite well here. Then Cynthia brings her own threat to their doorstep as two teams of assassins, both with vastly different approaches and styles, come to kill her.

I thoroughly enjoyed the more comedic partnership of the military team of Chief and Tom. (I would totally watch a spin-off following these two characters.) There is this really fun dynamic and interplay between these characters. While they’re on this mission to find and kill the escaped superhuman, they still have a lot of fun along the journey. There is also this rivalry between them and the other team sent to get Cynthia. Chief is this foul-mouthed tomboy, and Tom is her loyal and inquisitive partner. When these two characters are alone, they speak English to one another, but both soldiers are fluent in Korean when they speak to the other characters. They are very militaristic in they approach and stretegy and have an arsenal of high-powered weapons at their disposal. Though how those will fare against a Witch remains to be seen. Speaking of Witches, also after Cynthia is a team of enhanced Ark subjects from the Shanghai office, who are eager and ready to face off. While we saw some of these Witch-on-Witch battles in the first film, the action is really amped up this second time around, with some truly impressive effects and fast-paced action sequences.

The Witch: Part 2 – The Other One definitely feels like it is setting things up and serving as the bridge for a likely third film in the franchise. The first two films introduce viewers to these two sisters, before likely bringing them together to find where they came from, and take on the organization that created them. My only main complaint about this movie was that I found it a bit difficult to keep track of all of the various groups going after Cynthia, and who each of them reported to. Otherwise, I quite enjoyed it and look forward to the next installment.

Well Go’s Blu-ray release includes both the original Korean audio as well as an English dub. With these foreign Well Go releases, I always try the English dub first so that I can fully enjoy the visuals of the film, and not just concentrate on reading the lower third of the screen the entire time. I found this English dub to be very well done, with for the most part natural-sounding English dialogue and background news reports. I think some of the dubbed dialogue was actually better than the subtitled dialogue. That said, I found it a bit odd that they redubbed the English that is spoken by a couple of the characters. That is where the original track may have a slight edge, for that contrast between Korean and English being spoken. Though both are solid choices. The subtitles are offered in English and Full English, with the latter also captioning the English-spoken dialogue.

The audio track provides clear dialogue throughout, and makes excellent use of the surround and stereo channels to provide a really immersive viewing experience, especially during the more action-packed scenes, or as Cynthia first escapes and is suddenly blasted with sounds in every direction and must calm herself down to drown those out until it’s just the sound of her beating heart. The video presentation is also quite impressive, with a clean, detailed picture throughout, even during darker sequences. Effects look natural and well-integrated.

Well Go’s Blu-ray release is somewhat barebones, but does contain a 4-minute behind-the-scenes featurette with the cast/crew, along with the film’s trailer and some previews for three other Well Go releases. The disc comes packed in a locking HD keepcase, and doesn’t include a digital copy, but our review copy did include a cardboard slipcover.

What’s Included:

Film: (138 min)

1080p / Widescreen 2.39:1
Audio: Korean DTS-HDMA 5.1, Korean Stereo, English DTS-HDMA 5.1, English Stereo
Subtitles: English

Extras:
All remaining items play back-to-back after starting playback for one.

Behind The Scenes (4:17)
The cast and filmmakers discuss the long wait for the sequel, the bigger scale and scope of the second film, the characters, actors, costumes, working with the writer/director, and more. Includes behind the scenes footage, and interviews with cinematographer Kim Young-ho, production designer Jo Hwa-sung, art director Choi Hyun-seouk, and stars Jo Min-soo (“Dr. Baek”), Shin Sia (“Girl”), Park Eun-bin (“Kyung-hee”), Jin Goo (“Yong-du”), Seo Eun-soo (“Cho Hyun”), and Sung Yu-been (“Dae-gil”). Presented in Korean with English subtitles.
Trailer (1:44)
Previews
- Alienoid (2:07)
- Emergency Declaration (1:38)
- Hansan: Rising Dragon (1:34)

Final Thoughts:

My Rating

Film:

Video:

Audio:

Extras:

Recommended

The Witch: Part 2 – The Other One is a solid follow-up to the first film, which centers around a different character, but still progresses the original overall storyline. It has the same great blend of action, character drama and humor as the first movie, but the scope of the action and effects seems even bigger and better (and sometimes bloodier). Well Go’s Blu-ray looks and sounds excellent, and even provides a short behind-the-scenes featurette. This is an easy recommendation for fans of the first film. And for those who haven’t yet seen Part 1, check it out on Peacock, and you’ll definitely want to see Part 2!