December 28, 2017 – This is a different kind of monster movie. Yes, it has giant monsters stomping on Seoul, South Korea, but the real monster is a person with a self-destructive personality.

The story begins years ago when a giant monster, like Godzilla, suddenly appears in Seoul, South Korea, then, just as suddenly disappears, only to reappear years later, in the present day. At the same time, Gloria (played by Anne Hathaway of “Interstellar”) after being dumped by her boyfriend, Tim (Dan Stevens of “The Fifth Estate”) decides to move back to the town where she grew up.

Gloria meets Oscar (Jason Sudeikis of “Masterminds”) who offers her a job at his bar. Things get really weird after some all night drinking binges at the bar. Gloria sees news stories about a giant monster appearing and disappearing in Seoul, South Korea. She notices that the monster always appears at the same time she is walking in a local park. She suspects there is a connection between her movements and the movements of the creature.

Gloria conducts an experiment which proves there is a mysterious connection between her and the giant monster of Seoul, but only at a specific time of day and at a specific geographical location. It is as if she controls the creatures movements. She demonstrates this to Oscar and a couple of other astonished friends one morning at the park.

It turns out that this crazy phenomena is not just connected to Gloria. It is connected to Oscar, too, and it also seems to have its origins in something that happened to them years ago when they were students at the same nearby school. It also seems to be connected to lightning.

Oscar begins to threaten to kill people in Seoul unless Gloria does exactly what he wants her to do. Oscar can make a giant robot appear in Seoul, the same way that Gloria can conjure a monster. Oscar is willing to cause death and property damage on a massive scale to get what he wants, and Gloria does not know how to stop him. Oscar has become a monster.

Jason Sudeikis is scary good in this movie. The understated way he becomes increasingly malevolent, unhinged and controlling is very creepy. Anne Hathaway also gives a fine performance in this film as a party girl who becomes a heroine. She has never been a responsible person, but she has to become responsible in order to stop Oscar. A couple of other actors also appear in this movie, Austin Stowell (“Bridge of Spies”) and Tim Blake Nelson (“Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk”). Unfortunately, the screenplay does not give them much to do.

This is a totally unbelievable movie, but it is entertaining and it is a pretty good character study of the two main characters. This film rates a B.

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