Demon Dancer: Sua/Nara - Review

I find trailers to be a confusing sell on a movie sometimes, a complete miss on what is good about a film, or sometimes a plot dump that almost renders the film redundant. Demon Dancer: Sua/Nara teeters on the edge of that for me, with the trailer focusing more on the story than the impressive action, and revealing the huge twist at the end of the film. All that to say, if you’re interested in this live action, anime inspired action story about demonic possession, grief and fractured memories, do not watch the trailer. If you have, remove it from your memory like Sua does.

Who is Sua? Good question, and one I don’t know if I can fully answer either. Sua (Jiyeon Han) begins on a makeshift operating table, with a man trying to cut the demon out of her. However, that demon, Nara (Anita Korosi) is a little too strong for him, kicking off the action of the film with a long fight sequence. The fight is quite a beefy one, spanning multiple floors and dozens of goons for Sua/Nara to fight. Sua is a ballerina, allowing her body to be manipulated quite effectively by Nara to turn her into a very formidable force against the gentlemen who are attempting to stop her. We’re not made privy to why they would like to stop her, or who they are working for initially, which builds significant intrigue as more and more try to stop her. Eventually, Sua succumbs to the beating, lying limp in a closed elevator. Nara comforts her, willing some memories back to Sua, attempting to give her the strength she needs to finish the job.

Initially, I was unsure about the storytelling style of the film, as it felt completely fragmented and hard to follow, until the pieces started to align and the fragments of the memories made perfect sense. While they don’t all equally entertain, or feel like as big a clue as others, the overall style worked for me. I questioned my understanding of Sua earlier in this review because even though we are given context to her story, it is a little surface level, not really allowing you to connect completely. The vignettes into the emotional truth of the film are played out well, but unfortunately I wasn’t exactly moved by the performances. The main cast felt a little wooden to me in their delivery, less so in action scenes, where they were able to express bold and loud feelings, more in the subtle emotional scenes of grief and love. It is hard to critique the writing of these scenes because of my issues with the cast, but I feel there is an element of the lack of subtlety in the DNA of the material.

What I can’t criticise is the action in the film, which is choreographed and filmed really well. The editing is a little choppy at times, not letting you feel some of the hits, but when it gets it right, the action is top tier. The film was sold to me based on an impressive stunt that takes place on a real moving elevator. An impressive feat for sure, but not one that really outshined the work done in the opening scene. I thought that the elements of Sua’s ballerina background being incorporated into her fight style were really smooth and made it more realistic when there is a literal demon possessing her to fight hordes of well trained fighters.

The VFX of the film do give me pause, because technically they are implemented and comped into the film pretty well. They don’t look horrible, but the styling of them kind of comes out of nowhere. The energy swords and bows appear without much explanation, and look like the manifestation of a 14 year old’s dream. I tried to research the VFX company and see their process but I found very little, which concerns me to their origin. The fight scenes are hard to deny, with genuine human craft and talent behind them, I hope this sentiment was extended to the VFX of the film.

The visual language is up and down for me, quite like the fight scene on that elevator. They opt for some first person action scenes at times, which are clearly shot on a different camera and stand out majorly against the main look. While some of the action through this view looks good, it takes you out of the flow of the scene as you jump back and forth in quality. Equally, the flashbacks are inconsistent with their look, some with a hazy and saturated tone that cheapens the feel of the film, and others with sophisticated and dramatic lighting that feel like they’re pulled right from a Blade Runner film.

While I had my issues with Demon Dancer: Sua/Nara, it was also a pretty impressive film overall. With such high octane action and a genuinely creative approach to storytelling, it is hard to deny the merits of this film. I do have my concerns about the VFX possibly having some AI intervention, but without solid proof, I will tip my hat to that as well. It is exciting to see such a unique and well crafted film existing without the massive budgets of Hollywood studios. This film gives me hope for larger stories that don’t need all the budget in the world to make their vision happen.

Demon Dancer: Sua/Nara is being released in the US this December in theatres, and streaming later in the month.