Director Jang Joon Hwan and screenwriter Park Joo Seok’s attempted to delve deeper into the ultimate debate of “ nature vs nurture” with ‘Hwayi: A Monster Boy’ - a savage action-thriller that is expedited by its gratuitous fight scenes. Despite Jang Joon Hwan’s film bringing forward TV star Yeo Jin-goo’s first silver-screen debut, the film’s scant insight into the motives and drives of its odd ensemble of characters alongside shoehorned storytelling and dialogue, will likely test the patience (at times) of action-genre enthusiasts and casual watchers alike.

The movie focused upon the titular main lead Hwayi ( Yeo Jin Goo); a high-school boy who was kidnapped as an infant and brought up by a gang of sadistic thugs. From a young age Hwayi has been reared into becoming a perfect killer by his five “ dads”: Suk-tae (Kim Yun-seok), Jin-sung (Jang Hyun-sung), Ki-tae (Cho Jin-woong), Dong-beom (Kim Sung-kyun) and Beom-soo (Park Hae-jun). However after turning seventeen, Hwayi is soon forced to face the reality of his upbringing as questions soon rise towards his birth parents against his violent nurturing and environment.

Jang Joon Hwan’s 2003 success ‘ Save The Green Planet’ was a work that combined graphic violence, fantasy and social critique to create a daring result. In many ways ‘ Hwayi: A Monster Boy’ shared a lot of similar themes with its predecessor- bloodlust gore and themes revolving around captivity and humanity blooming to life in an attempt to hook and intrigue viewers. However, whilst ‘ Save The Green Planet’ was a movie that possessed tactful multilayered themes and topics, ‘ Hwayi: A Monster Boy’ struggled to sketch-out the same depth as Joon Hwan’s previous work due to a notable key issue; writing.

In theory, Hwayi’s complicated relationships with his five fathers should have been the backbone of the entire movie. However, their character-drives and definitive personality traits were so ineptly draw together at times in Park Joo Seok’s fictional and niche microcosm of convicts and killers, that it was often difficult to truly differentiate them apart. Aside from Suk-tae acting as the boy’s main rearer and as the leader of the group( who is revealed to have his own motives in a twist which whilst climatic, lacked pretension, )and doltish Ki-Tae who sincerely showed affection for the boy , the other men’s reasons and personal motives for bringing up the boy and corrupting Hwayi were rarely tackled or given convincing explanations.


Playing Hwayi as a character pushed over the edge, Yeo Jin Goo could admittedly often lack an air of subtlety by overstating his character’s angst. Nonetheless Yeo Jin Goo gives the main lead an edge of complex fragility, instability and sympathy for audiences. His budding romance for classmate and potential love interest Yoo-kyung (Nam Ji-hyun), one of the few female characters of the movie( who lacked definitive qualities) , acted as a lighthearted respite from the movie’s downbeat narrative.

Costarring alongside Yeo was Kim Yun Seok. The venerable actor added a running streak of brutality and viciousness to his onscreen persona Suk-Tae. Nevertheless despite the brilliant dynamic charm of Kim Yun Seok onscreen, tedious dialogue exchanges against lukewarm chemistry between him and Yeo during scenes rarely instilled tour de force moments when ambiguous feelings of love and contempt became apparent in their final conflict.

In terms of pacing the narrative is filled with adrenal energy- suspenseful and expedited by its violence, but given the myriad of action sequences and locations shown throughout the film, the pinnacle conflict of the movie was climatic yet slightly incoherent also . ( Especially due to sporadic editing at times.) A notable issue which should also be addressed within ‘ Hwayi: A Monster Boy’ was its presentation of female characters. Whilst it is arguable that Joon Hwan and Joo Seok may have been trying to present a critique towards the infringement of gender stereotypes within South-Korean society, the lacking scope for female archetypes aside from the nameless, abused wife of Im Hyung Taek ( Seo Hyung Hwa), and “ love interest” Yoo-Kyung, served little purpose or depth exploration aside from being plot devices to keep the storyline moving.

Of course it’s wrong to entirely critique the movie. Admittedly well-mounted cinematography served as aesthetic eye candy for viewers with inventive and intuitive choreographed fight scenes paired together with a subtle yet momentous score.


Overall ‘ Hwayi: A Monster Boy’ was a film which will likely appease and irk audiences alike. The notable cast lineup did not disappoint and whilst the polished and slick fight sequences and gruesome violence will likely appeal to many fans of the genre, the bogged-down dialogue against cliche-ridden characters and plot will test genre aficionados and casual watchers alike. However, whilst the ending certainly helped to wrap up several key plot points, the end outcome of ‘ Hwayi: A Monster Boy’ was a mixed-result of gory and hare-brained carnage against some insightful delves into nurture, crime and parenting along the way.