Mixed-genre adventure “Dr. Cheon and the Lost Talisman” is a strong start for the next big franchise you’ll hope for. (2025)

Back in October 2023, Well Go USA released director/co-writer Kim Seong-sik’s action/adventure fantasy thriller Dr. Cheon and the Lost Talisman (천박사 퇴마 연구소: 설경의 비밀) into theaters. Given the influx of theatrical and streaming releases in October, it’s fair to say that a mixed-genre Korean film may not have landed on your radar. Thankfully, with the home release, you’ve got a chance to catch up on Kim’s debut feature and discover for yourself what a delight it is. Action-packed, unexpectedly comedic, and possessing a narrative that only releases pressure while never-letting up on the stakes, Dr. Cheon and the Lost Talisman surprises by engaging you from start to finish.

The grandson of a beloved shaman, Dr. Cheon (Gang Dong-won) has no real interest in the mystical side of his lineage and, instead, sees the people who call upon him for exorcisms as patients in need of psychological and/or emotional assistance, permission, if you will, to make different choices and relieve their symptoms. However, when a mysterious woman, Oh Yoo-kyung (Esom), arrives in his office offering six figures to cure her sister, the job ends up being much different than anticipated. Even worse, it places Cheon on a path to confront his past, fulfill old duties, and make a new choice for the direction of his life.

Kim and fellow first-time co-writer Park Joong-seop provide a story that, on its surface, just seems like your basic “non-believer/scammer goes on an adventure that makes them a believer/re-establishes their faith” outing, and it’s absolutely not. It uses this method to keep Cheon on the same playing field as the audience, at first, until we get further into the film and start to learn more about Cheon’s backstory. This smartly creates opportunities for Cheon to be in circumstances where he might need to engage in behavior that lets the audience learn about his skills through inference or explain things naturally via conversation with his assistant In-bae (Lee Dong-hwi). This is how we, the audience, learn how Cheon views his work, how he approaches his exorcisms, but also how he uses real tools and believes in their functionality, even if he’s never seen them function in that capacity himself. It’s because of this that Cheon carries on like a non-believer and why he proves himself not to be a scammer so quickly. It’s a difficult line to walk and Gang does so with incredible ease, being arrogant in one moment and charming in the next. More impressively, he’s only arrogant to In-bae in how the two approach the work as a master/apprentice-type of relationship. When working with others, he’s respectful, acknowledges where others know more than he, and doesn’t take issue existing in spaces where he’s not the leader.

But what is a hero without a compelling villain? In Dr. Cheon, we have the mysterious Mage (Huh Joon-ho) whose malevolent motives are basic as hell, but his actions and the forms they take are anything but. Kim and Park provide audiences with just enough information to understand what’s going on in terms of intent, power activation, and spells, but don’t over explain anything in the moment. The writing duo trust the audience to come to their film with a little bit of understanding before it makes sense to talk about the rules of the world. Because of this, much of Dr. Cheon lacks unnecessary exposition, choosing to make the characters act and react within a more grounded, realistic setting of experience and knowledge. It’s only us that really require things to be explained, and Kim and Park ensure to make those moments fun, creepy, or, even better, both. A favorite moment is a sequence when Cheon, Yoo-kyung, and their small band of Mage fighters go to seek help from another respected shaman who is believed to be able to communicate with a celestial being. One expects that such a sequence would stand on pretentious ceremony, yet Kim and Park throw us a curveball via a celestial with reasonable attitude, information that sets the Mage on his behind, and information that’s not only usefully expository for past actions, it moves the story forward in the process.

As much fun as the film is, I’m saddened to report that there’s very little to enhance or extend the experience on the home release. There’re the usual Well Go USA previews for other releases and the trailer for Dr. Cheon, but, otherwise, there’s a three-minute montage of the main characters in the film, and that’s it. No look behind the scenes, no exploration of the lore or characters, no gag reel, nothing. The on-disc presentation of the film for both audio and video is the usual high-quality we’ve come to expect from Well Go, so at least that’s a major comfort. The art of home release features on U.S. editions may be shrinking more and more, but we can count on Well Go to deliver a good looking and sounding experience for our home theaters.

“Surprise” defines Dr. Cheon as it walks a familiar path of this type of story, but does so with a unique and specific style that makes one hopeful for continued adventures. In a landscape of cinema which leans on familiar IP to get butts in seats and sell tickets, there’s a reluctance to take risks. That’s why, when a film like Dr. Cheon or even slacker action comedy Baby Assassins (2021) comes along, each doing something distinctive within a set framework, there’s a desire to see more of it. Running at 98 minutes, there’s not a moment in this story that feels unexplored or unexplained, yet one finds themselves wondering about the next day. If Kim and Park find themselves so inspired, audiences would be lucky to get another Dr. Cheon adventure.

Dr. Cheon and the Lost Talisman Special Features:

• Character Bios (2:55)
• Trailer
• Three (3) Well Go USA Previews

Available on Blu-ray and digital February 27^th, 2024.

For more information, head to the official Well Go USA Dr. Cheon and the Lost Talisman webpage.

Final Score: 3.5 out of 5.

Categories: Films To Watch, Home Release, Recommendation

Tags: action, Cho Yi Hyun, CJ ENM, CJ ENM Studios, comedy, crime, Dr. Cheon and the Lost Talisman, Esom, fantasy, , foreign film, Gang Dong-won, home release, home video, horror, Huh Joon-ho, 천박사 퇴마 연구소: 설경의 비밀, Jisoo, Kim Jong-soo, Kim Seong-sik, Korea, Korean, Lee Dong-hwi, Lee Jung-eun, mystery, Park Joong-seop, Park Jung Min, Park Myung Hoon, Park Soi, Semicolon Studio, thriller, Well Go USA