Fair points.Cliché executed excellently is infinitely more enjoyable than unique/interesting executed poorly.
Another thing the movie does well is how well Korean culture is represented. Whoever was in charge of character and environmental design clearly was a Korean themselves, or someone who understood the culture really well. The casual clothing, the foods they eat, and not to mention the on-point depiction of Seoul, were all superb.
That goes for the monster designs as well! They are all straight out of Korean Folklore. Saja in particular caught my attention. Officially known as Jeosung Saja, in Korena folklore they are the grim reapers who takes people's spirits to the afterlife, where they are judged to be sent to hell or paradise based on their past deeds. They are depicted as loyal servant to King yama (a deity found in multiple Asian culture), and often are cynical and brutally honest with the meaning of life. They really aren't evil per se, just kinda scary to encounter
But here, they pretty much threw away all that, and gave one of them a humanizing background, which was interesting. Also they are straight up demons instead of being servants to Yama.
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