[FANTASIA 2019] ‘THE FABLE’ and ‘THE ODD FAMILY: ZOMBIE FOR SALE’ Mini-Reviews

THE FABLE

The Fable (Junichi Okada) is a John Wick-like assassin, a legend whose tales of talents run wild but are actually true. After he’s advised to lay low for a year, he reluctantly agrees and has to vow not to kill anyone. Now this cold-blooded killer with a soft spot for an awful, comedic TV star, is forced to try to integrate into a society he knows next to nothing about. He has to get a regular job. He has to hold back from murdering a pair of muggers he stops. At the same time another up and coming hitman, Fudo (Sota Fukushi), who has his sights on usurping The Fable and becoming a legend himself.

The action in The Fable is extremely awesome. Director Kan Eguchi’s manga adaptation pulls off a lot more from what initially feels like a small budget, slapstick comedy. It opens with a crazy sequence showing the mathematical precision that The Fable utilizes to dispatch a room full of thugs, thrilling and dazzling with on-screen schematics and equations like he’s a robot. But then the movie really, really slows down into a fish-out-of-water story before settling back into a really elaborate, slick free for all with The Fable attempting to shut down a seemingly endless supply of gangsters without killing any of them. I wish there was a happy middle ground between the two, but I really enjoyed when the movie was dazzling with spectacle instead of meandering in silly comedy.

Unfortunately aside from playing Fantasia 2019, there’s no word yet on a North American release for The Fable. But be on the lookout!

4 OUT OF 5 STARS

THE ODD FAMILY: ZOMBIE ON SALE

The titular odd family is a group of swindlers with a gas station/auto shop, looking to make an easy dollar when the opportunity arises…and willing to lie and con for a few more bucks, too. After a pharmaceutical company’s product unleashes the side effects of becoming a zombie, one such zombie stumbles into their lives, and his bite appears to be a fountain of youth! Opportunity knocks and the profits are through the roof! But it turns out the effects of that bite take a nasty turn a short while later, and now they find themselves having to fend off a town of the undead.

Director Min-jae Lee delivers a rather charming comedy, full of signature Korean humor. Unfortunately, that’s about all it ends up being. Aside from a few twists and bends on zombie tropes, this was just too…light. Even scenes that should have been bloodbaths ended up having zero. The violence is cartoonish, and while some of it is entertaining it ended up feeling like nothing bust missed opportunities, one scene after another. I may have been too occupied with what I wanted the movie to be, which was a quirky horror-comedy than to appreciate what it was. I got the quirk, and a silly love story and I liked it…I just missed the horror. The movie is wide open for more adventures for The Odd Family, and I’d probably go along.

Unfortunately, there’s no word yet on a North American release of The Odd Family: Zombie on Sale, but keep on the lookout!

2.5 OUT OF 5 STARS