Omniscient Reader: The Prophet is, at best, a visual interpretation inspired by ORV. At worst, its a complete disservice ti the orginial webtoon that is deeply beloved. While adpatations are expected to make changes for the sake of medium and runtime, this film fundamentaly misunderstands the heart of the orignial work. The Prophet feels less like an adaptation and more a soulless fanfic with a big budget and no heart. I am convicned that the directors didnt even read the webtoon thoroughly. Kim Dokja's connection to Three Ways to survive the apocalyse-- the novel that canonically kept him alive. TWSA is not merely a story he reads but it was quite literally the thread that help him together through the public shame and trauma caused by his mother. The story of Yoo Joonghyuk gave him hope and identity during years of bullying and loneliness. In this film, Dokja portrayed as resentful towards TSWA, dismissing the very thing that shaped his life?? This is a major mischaracterzation. Another deeply confusing alteration involves Dokja's relationship with his mother. In the webtoon, their dynamic is one of the most emotionally complex and painful parts of the story IMO. Theres conflic, resentment and guilt. She is a convicted murderer and her actions are directly tied to the social ostraczation and truama KDJ endures. I dont undertsand how you can reduce such a relationship to quiet and caring bond with absolutely no explaination or emotional depth???
KDJ has no bookmark, no 4th wall, no omniscient readers view point??? Then, what's with the title? Perhaps the most baffling is the decision to frame Lee Heewon as KDJ's "favourite character". She is a minor character, nameless in TWSA and definetely not someone that KDJ would consider his favourite, over Yoo Joonghyuk of all characters. His admiration and fixation on YJH is one of the narratives central pillars... YJH is not only a hero to KDJ but a symbol of survival. KDJ models himself after him, literally moments where he would repeadetly chant "I am Yoo Joonghyuk." in moments of despair. He canonically loves YJH, whether he means it platonically or romantically doesn't matter. YJH MATTERS so much to KDJ. Their dynamic has to be the most intimate and one of the emotional cores to the story. Reducing YJH to a mere background character while elevating Heewon without a narrtaive justification or-- sense feels not only arbitrary but disrespectuful to the story. The Prophet seems to borrow only character names from ORV, while disregarding the carefully contructed emotional and thematic threads that the original had. Rather than an adaption, I would call this a misinterpretation. It replaces nuance with surface level drama and well contructed emotional depth with convenient plot points, character truth with... shallow and predictable troupes. It's genertic and cliche. I mean, really, Sanga as a healer? She's far from a healer, she was quick to adapt and she KILLS people for survival not heal. Kim Dokja's mischaracterisation hurts me deeply. He was far from timid like seen in the film, he's not supposed to be nice. He is selfish and manipulative. He scams. He does what he has to do to get through scenarios, in his favour. But now-- he's just a flattened protagonist with none of his original sharpness or inner conflict.
I didnt expect much. But i also did not expect it to be this horrible. This wasnt made for the fans, this wasnt made for the story-- it was made for the poster.
