The Soul is mystery thriller movie written and directed by Wei-Hao Cheng and starring Chen Chang, Janine Chun-Ning Chang, Anke Sun, Christopher Ming-Shun Lee, Baijia Zhang and Hui-Min Lin, alongside other cast members.
It’s a great day when you get a movie that makes you question whether what you’re witnessing is supernatural or has scientific backing. The Soul is that movie and more. It’s not always that you find a thriller that has no heavy dialogues or intense action sequences. Yet this movie, without any of those things, is a gripping treat to watch from start to finish.
The Soul follows Prosecutor Liang and his wife Bao, who try to figure out a complicated mystery when multi-millionaire Wang Shih-Tsung is brutally murdered.
The plot might sound like just another thriller or horror, but The Soul is anything but. The murder mystery in itself is quite the rollercoaster ride and starts off grisly and scary. Shih-Tsung is brutally bludgeoned to death apparently by his own son in the middle of the night. However, as Liang digs deeper, more and more intricate details start to pop up.
These alleys and paths make for a very engaging and gripping tale. You, like Liang, start to wonder whether there is anything supernatural here. However, our lead investigators are not convinced. Always the sceptic, they try to find scientific reasons behind what’s going on. And most of the time, they succeed in their quest as well. At other times, both them and us wrack our brains to figure out what the heck is going on.
The biggest takeaway from the movie is that The Soul does not want to give us concrete ideas. Rather, the movie is more interested to provide intrusive thoughts – little nudges here and there that make us go off in one direction and then the next. Additionally, the movie tries very little to pump adrenaline into the mix. If anything, it’s these thoughts that successfully keep you at the edge of your seat. The characters are calm and quiet and the events, although gruesome, are quite subtle and never in your face.
Apart from the murder mystery, there’s also an underlying dramatic and emotional angle that keeps The Soul interesting and, well, gives it a heart and soul. The lead characters’ hardships and problems are difficult to witness and compounded with the stress of the case, you wonder how Liang is keeping up with it all. However, the character is sharp as ever and is always above everything.
The Soul is also extremely gruesome to watch and blood gets splattered everywhere and people just casually fall to their death while we see it all up close. It’s great to watch, but can be scary given the context. However, if you’re easily disgusted by blood and gore, this probably wouldn’t be the best bet for you.
Summing up: The Soul
The Soul is the perfect horror/thriller to watch right now if you’re in the mood for something creepy. The movie is great with its plots and its pacing, although people who like fast-paced movies might not find it as interesting. However, it is packed to the brim with interesting stuff that will keep you on the edge.
The Soul is streaming on Netflix.
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