ALIENOID: RETURN TO THE FUTURE Review: A Worthy Sequel to 2022's Korean Sci-Fi Action Extravaganza

Time-traveling aliens team up with ancient sorcerers to save the planet once again in this year’s Alienoid: Return to the Future, the hotly anticipated sequel to 2022’s Korean sci-fi blockbuster Alienoid.

Attempting any kind of efficient synopsis of either of these films is a challenge to which I won’t even attempt to rise, but suffice it to say, there’s a lot going on here. Alienoid the elder was a two-and-a-half hour overstuffed but very fun FX spectacular that captured the imagination while simultaneously bewildering the audience with layers upon layers of lore, both terrestrial and otherwise.

The plots basically boil down to the idea that aliens were using human bodies to imprison dangerous criminals bent on galactic destruction, but when those aliens find a way to escape, Earth is now in existential peril and it’s going to take a medieval village to get things back on track. Cue the whiz-bang computer-generated battles – that actually look pretty good, even if they pull a Man of Steel and essentially ignore the actual human cost – and combine them with good, old-fashioned magic and you’ve got a genre mash-up that is fun for the whole family, if they can follow the labyrinthine plot and sort out the constantly shifting characters.

The first film ended with a pretty bold cliffhanger, all but demanding a return to this world to wrap up some stories, and Alienoid: Return to the Future does a better job taking on that job than I would’ve imagined. Starting with a ten-minute recap – so that the newcomers aren’t quite as lost as those of us who actually saw the first film – the sequel gets right into the action, quickly checking in with all interested parties and defining their initial relationships. Smart, efficient, and a great launching point for further adventures.

Return to the Future finds our young hero Lee Ahn (Kim Tae-ri) transported from present day Seoul to medieval Korea, in search of a way back and an end to all of the madness started by these failed alien jailers. She finds herself in league with/at odds with familiar faces from the first film, namely Taoist wizard Muruk (Ryu Jun-yeol), and we are off to the races as everyone is hunting for the alien time travel crystal known as the Divine Blade to put this whole mess to rest.

While the sequel suffers a bit at the convoluted narrative constructions of its kitchen sink predecessor, writer/director Dong-hoon Choi smartly chooses a slightly more efficient and contained story to tell here, and the results are more easily digestible and perhaps even more entertaining than the original. Coming in at a hair over two hours, Alienoid: Return to the Future manages just as much excitement with a half-hour less runtime, a blessing in these days of bladder challenging cinema. Not only is the film shorter, but the characters’ desires are more focused, the plot scaled back, and with the heavy lifting of world building largely in the rear view, it’s much easier to sit back and enjoy the ride.

Choi has a great eye for action and creative use of visual effects, which could be overwhelming, but are charmingly over the top here in a way that invites a smile. The stars of the film all give compelling enough performances without anyone really stealing the show. It may sound like damning with faint praise, but I genuinely enjoy this kind of popcorn cinema without a lot to say, it’s comforting and, in this case, blissfully vapid in its intentions. It’s hard not to question the indulgence of a two-hour runtime, but there’s so much going on – one could very easily argue TOO much going on – that it mostly flies by and you’re bound to see some sequences that have never before been projected on a giant screen, which is always a plus.

Building on the successes and learning from the shortcomings of Alienoid, Alienoid: Return to the Future is a solid sci-fi actioner with charming characters and a blistering pace that helps the audience forget just how complex the whole thing is by keeping the plot moving. A definite refinement of the ideas of the original, Return to the Future is a sequel that very nearly works as a standalone – a bit too much lore to completely forsake the first film – and even improves upon it. For those looking to scratch a sci-fi itch, it more than does the job while weaving in a bunch of crazy elements and visuals that you didn’t even know you needed in your life. What a wild ride.