Ever since the film “KPop Demon Hunters” dropped on Netflix in August, it seems like everyone and their mothers are losing their minds over it. Instantaneously, the fictional band “Huntr/x” (pronounced “Huntrix”) became one of the biggest K-pop groups of all time. The movie is somehow still shattering the charts. One of the band’s songs, “Golden,” has been #1 on the UK Singles Chart for the last 5 weeks, and also peaked on the Billboard Hot 100. Literally so many people have been doing that damn Soda Pop dance as if it’s the new Macarena.
To begin tearing it apart, the storyline is nothing special; it’s actually quite boring. A K-pop girl group sings for their fans by day, and nonchalantly hunts demons by night. It sounds like the plot could potentially be okay, but it’s just another one of those “superhero saves the day” plots, which is so overdone. We have seen this in every superhero movie ever, just not with as much singing and aura farming.
Just because there’s music in literally every scene doesn’t mean it’s automatically good. The music just does not do it for me. On the other hand, Devon Ryan, a sophomore at AHS who has a strong passion for film, has positive opinions about the music in the movie. “I love it [the music] so so so much, it’s amazing and everyone should be listening,” Ryan said. “It’s a very big ‘Netflix and chill’ kind of vibe.”
Don’t get me wrong, I am most definitely the type of person who falls for consumerism. If something becomes mainstream for a few weeks, I’ll be the first to tap in: I even copped some labubus while at a gift shop on ExEd. However, I seriously can not give in to this movie. All of the jokes are airballs, the characters are oddly sexualized for a cartoon movie for kids…and after about halfway through, it starts to feel like every scene is just being repeated. Sing songs, fight demons, repeat.
What was really surprising was how hyped the entire AHS football team is about the movie; junior, Charlie Deavers, even claims it’s the best movie of all time. Dylan Mika, a star senior on the team, has recently been known for his obsession with the movie. All of the songs are on his playlists, his favorite being ‘Strategy.’
KPop Demon Hunters was “Amazing, just really delightful, and just really gets the blood pumpin,” Mika said.
The football team has also been listening to songs like ‘Golden’ and ‘Soda Pop’ at their practices, even having dance parties to the songs, according to one of the football team managers, Eleanor Carroll.
“It really fosters a positive team dynamic and gives all of the players a chance to have fun with each other in the moments where they aren’t locked in during practice,” said Carroll
At the end of the day, KPop Demon Hunters isn’t the absolute worst movie of all time, but it sure doesn’t deserve to have broken Netflix records. It’s overplayed, overhyped, and not worth all of the discussion.
