Sci-fi fans have been spoiled with mind-bending adventures over the years. Films like The Terminator and Inception bent reality with time loops and dreamscapes. While classics like The Matrix pushed the boundaries of what audiences thought was possible. But every once in a while, a film comes along that mixes the usual time travel blueprint with something completely unexpected.
That’s exactly what Alienoid (2022) does. One minute, you’re in a futuristic sci-fi world with robots and aliens. Next, it’s an ancient world filled with masked sorcerers and mystical weapons. It sounds chaotic, but director Choi Dong-hoon somehow makes it work. It’s not every director who can successfully pull off combining two genres. Dong-hoon has done it not once, but twice, just as he did in his previous film, Jeon Woo-chi: The Taoist Wizard.Â
‘Alienoid’s Interspersed Periods Add To Its Intrigue
There has always been something about films that involve time travel. Maybe it’s the thrill of piecing together a story with clues hidden across different timelines, or how it fuels one’s imagination. Either way, Alienoid is no exception. This South Korean science-fiction action film expertly blends two very distinct timelines: the late Goryeo Dynasty ( 1380 A.D.) and the present day (2022). In the present, the film introduces Guard and Thunder, two humanoid robots responsible for imprisoning alien criminals inside human hosts. Meanwhile, back in 14th-century Korea, Taoist sorcerers, warriors, and bandits are all fighting for a legendary divine blade. The blade is rumored to hold immense power. What they don’t realize is that their world is about to collide with an advanced alien civilization.
The film constantly shifts between these two periods, gradually revealing how they’re linked in a way that feels like solving a puzzle in real time. Yi-an, who is a child from the past, is raised in the present by Guard. She’s unaware of her true origins, but as the film progresses, she gradually pieces together her identity. That link is something that only a few films have been able to capture. All in all, it’s truly intriguing the way Alienoid merges these very different settings without losing its momentum. One moment, you’re in an ancient fantasy full of masked Taoists with supernatural powers. The next thing you know, it’s a futuristic world with alien robots and ships. It’s quite impressive how the film manages to mix history with sci-fi so well that it’s easy to forget.
‘Alienoid’ Is A Unique Addition To the Sci-fi-thriller Genre
Time travel movies aren’t exactly rare, and neither are ones rooted in ancient history, but it’s not often you see a film pull off both without overcomplicating things. Alienoid is one of the few good ones, and that’s what makes it stand out. It jumps between modern-day Korea and the late Goryeo Dynasty (1380 A.D.), treating both timelines with equal weight. Unlike most time-travel stories that focus on preventing disasters or changing fate, Alienoid weaves the past and future together so tightly that one can’t exist without the other. A perfect example is how the film introduces Guard and Thunder, two humanoid robots from the future. While that alone sounds like something straight out of a typical sci-fi film, their actions end up affecting a centuries-old battle where a supernatural bounty hunter and ancient warriors unknowingly get pulled into a fight with an alien race.
This combination of history and futurism isn’t something you see too often in sci-fi thrillers. Films like Edge of Tomorrow use time as a tool to reset events or alter outcomes, but Alienoid treats it as something fluid, something that bleeds into every part of the story. The Goryeo-era characters aren’t just passive players; they wield their own form of power through Taoist magic, holding their own against the advanced alien technology of the future. The divine blade they seek is the key that connects both periods, and they don’t even realise it till it’s too late. However, the film doesn’t let one aspect overshadow the other. This simple but effective approach is what makes Alienoid a truly unique addition to sci-fi thrillers and not just another film with a time-travel backdrop. The film does a great job of not just showing how the future affects the past but also how the past shapes the future in ways no one sees coming.
Watch the genre-bending epic yourself, Alienoid is available to stream on Apple TV+.
