‘K-Pop Demon Hunters’ slays the summer

By Owen Glancy Arts & Features Editor This past summer saw two super-powered giants battling it out in the box office to be remembered as the movie of the summer. While “Superman” and “Fantastic Four: First Steps” were both great, they ended up taking the silver medal as Sony Animation Pictures’ new film “K-Pop Demon Hunters” won the hearts and minds of the world after its release on June 20. The film was somewhat unceremoniously released on Netflix without the typical marketing or fanfare that usually accompanies the release of Sony films, making the movie’s breakout success all the more surprising. Inarguably the most well known aspect of the film is the songs, which dot the film with its many musical numbers. Every single song is a banger, from the hopeful and bright “Golden” to the sinister and entrancing “Your Idol.” The soundtrack effortlessly bounces between moods and tones. While the songs are definitely the most stand-out aspect of the movie, it’s the visuals that drew me and many others into watching the film for the first time. It’s once again another evolution of Sony’s signature animation style they adapted after “Spiderverse.” However, unlike films like “The Mitchells vs the Machines” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem,” it forgoes the 2D flourishes and instead puts everything into the 3D visuals. The flowing lights that follow the hunter’s weapons, the ominous lighting that fills a bathhouse full of demons, the bright glow of the stage lights during HUNTR/X performances, this is a film that looks as good in motion as it does thanks to the animation and the phenomenal lighting. However, a film lives and dies on its story and characters and thankfully “K-Pop Demon Hunters” is good in that regard. The simple tale of HUNTR/X, a K-pop band made up of three women who secretly act as demon hunters, fighting against the Saja Boys, a demon boy band, is as entertaining as it is silly. Rumi, the main character of the film and arguably the star of HUNTR/X, is a strong anchor for the story and the audience - her struggles with mental health and identity really hit home for a lot of people. Jinu, the antagonistic opposite to Rumi, has a parallel struggle to her, trying to grapple with his identity with Gwi-Ma, the main antagonist, embodying a not-so-subtle negative voice in his head. Sadly, the rest of the film’s main characters are not as interesting as Rumi and Jinu. Mira and Zoey, the other members of HUNTR/X, really don’t get to do much. Mira gets one scene with Rumi, and Zoey receives even less attention, getting no real scenes dedicated to her. Their personalities are fun to watch, and the bulk of the film’s stellar humor can be attributed to them, but their lack of screen-time and development does make them feel like objects for Rumi’s story to move forward. The rest of the Saja Boys get it even worse. Abby, Mystery, Romance, and Baby all get virtually nothing to do and have less than 20 lines outside of the songs among all four of them. Romance and Baby especially are underused outside of one or two visual gags. It’s a real shame especially considering that these characters are supposed to be metaphors for the toxic culture surrounding Korean boy bands and the fandom around them. The metaphor is definitely there, but the lack of screentime really hurts the strength of it. Not every side character suffers this lack of development and screentime, with the biggest example being Bobby, HUNTR/X’s manager. He gets just as much attention as he needs, has multiple funny lines, and a nice character arc about learning to believe in his girls and himself no matter what. The tiger and bird - named Derpy and Sussie respectively - are fun comedic relief that bring some levity and cuteness to the film. “K-Pop Demon Hunters” is a cinematic sensation that deserves every bit of positive reception it’s received. While not a perfect film, the side characters are criminally under used and the main villain is phenomenally lame, this is a fun and memorable film that managed to beat the lack of marketing and somewhat negative stigma surrounding K-pop to become the film of the summer. Rating: A- This is how it’s done, done, done