DR. CHEON AND THE LOST TALISMAN - Mark Reviews Movies

Dr. Cheon and the Lost Talisman, Well Go USA

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Review by Mark Dujsik | October 5, 2023

A potentially fascinating character receives short shrift in Dr. Cheon and the Lost Talisman. Here's a man who should believe in ghosts, considering that his grandfather was a town shaman of some renown and had at least one encounter with the supernatural, but Dr. Cheon (Gang Dong-won) doesn't. His methods are more scientific and, more importantly, phony.

The setup here initially revolves around Cheon's independent business as an on-call exorcist, saving people from malevolent spirits with his assistant/tech guru In-bae (Lee Dong-hwi). The truth, though, is that Cheon is more a con artist, using some old-fashioned deduction to discover what's really ailing the people convinced they're being haunted and some newfangled trickery to convince them that he has banished the spirit from their lives. He charges a good amount of money, but in Cheon's mind, it's nothing compared to what an exploitative charlatan would take from them.

The movie, based on an online cartoon, is fairly entertaining when it's just about Cheon, his methods, and his philosophy on the supernatural and how people are so willing to believe in it. After a brief prologue shows us that this story can't and won't remain grounded in matters of real world for long, there's a sequence of Cheon "exorcising" a cemetery totem that a wealthy family has put up as decoration in their yard. While In-bae uses a remote control to cue some loud noises and other practical effects, Cheon figures out that the real problems involve a couple of parents who are worried about their daughter growing up and a wife that doesn't appreciate her husband spending a lot of money on what she sees as useless trinkets.

There's a sense of fun in these opening moments, with director Kim Seong-sik and Gang giving us a decent, rationally-minded hero who has seen what belief in the supernatural can do—as both his grandfather and older brother died under mysterious circumstances while involved in some alleged encounter with a ghost—but doesn't see a way to convince some people that there's a logical explanation for just about everything. Cheon carries his own trinket of the unknown in a little bell, once his grandfather's, that he wears around his wrist. There's nothing inside it, and according to legend, it will only ring if a spirit is present.

Obviously, it's not difficult to see where Park Joong-seop's screenplay is headed, but it is deflating how quickly it arrives there, only to leave Cheon and everything the character is established to be behind as soon as it happens. Cheon is contacted again, this time by Yoo-kyung (Esom), a young woman who is convinced her younger sister (played by Park Soi) has been possessed by an evil spirit. Just as Cheon is trying to analyze the sisters' situation and calm the anxiety of the little girl, that bell rings when he shakes it. This is the real deal.

The rest of the plot has Cheon, ghost-seeing Yoo-kyung, In-bae, and antiques dealer Mr. Hwang (Kim Jong-soo) looking for the source of the ghost, encountering a bunch of other people possessed in a similar way, and searching for the talisman, written on paper, that can put an end to the demon and its ways. Some of it comes in the form of action sequences, which are cleverly amusing in the way random people become threats once they're possessed. The big one happens in a town, where a burly possessed man's temporary defeat only has Cheon dealing with a landscaper and his tools. It's a dynamic idea, at least, although the dimness of the sequence and the sudden reliance on action feel disappointing after the movie teases us with the early character work.

Most of it amounts, though, to the equivalent of a scavenger hunt, as the team travels across the country in the hope of finding the hideout of a wicked mage (played by Huh Joon-ho), who himself is possessed by or just is the malevolent presence causing all of these problems. He keeps ghosts—as well as severed fingers—trapped in bamboo canisters, unleashing them to stop Cheon and the rest.

Some help comes from a psychic (played by Park Jeong-min), who has the ability to communicate with a conveniently cooperative fairy (played by Jisoo). If the action (including a car chase with the big guy using hooks and chains to follow his targets) overwhelms the second act, the third act becomes a series of visual effects sequences, serving some mystical ends that may look bright and shiny but aren't quite explained—despite how much exposition this screenplay doles out to get the characters from one plot point to the next, instead of exploring Cheon or how any of this newfound evidence of the supernatural affects him.

This is the case of a story initially driven by characters, ideas, and humor that becomes a bland exercise in action and effects. Dr. Cheon and the Lost Talisman hints at further adventures for this character, of course, but by the end, one wonders if there's anywhere for him to go from here that isn't just more of the same.

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