REVIEW: ‘Revelations (2025)’ Is An Unbalanced Lesson In Morality

Revelations (2025) reminds us that writer/director Yeon Sang-ho is no stranger to using his work to criticize organized religion and issues of hypocrisy and morality. His animated feature The Fake and the hit Kdrama series Hellbound cover these topics with aplomb, never shying away from digging deep. In his latest feature film, Yeon uses religion to explore the complicated morality that comes with using God to justify immortal actions. Unfortunately, the exploration is mired by its awkward balancing act between storylines.

At the heart of Revelations (2025) are three characters: Pastor Sung Min-chan (Ryu Jun-yeol), Kwon Yang-rae (Shin Min-jae), and the newly-appointed Detective Lee Yeon-hui (Shin Hyun-been). All three are haunted by various things, with Sung and Lee both fueled by a level of self-righteousness that guides their actions. Sung, in particular, wholly believes in the might of God, seeing signs of the Lord’s influence in everything around him. These images and how Sung uses them to justify his actions guide the thesis of the film.

A similar thread of thought guides Kwon and Lee’s actions, though they are spared the bulk of Yeon’s derisive lens. Some internal voice guides both characters. While it’s unclear how Kwon’s inner voice fully manifests, for Lee, it manifests as her dead sister, prodding her to seek revenge against Kwon for the crimes he committed against her.

The mystery proves less compelling than its characters, well, maybe one character.

After a perfectly tense buildup and opening, with it unclear who is predator and prey, all three are pulled into each other’s trajectory when Kwon, fresh out of prison, presumably kidnaps a child from Pastor Sung’s church. At first, Pastor Sung thinks the kidnapped child is his and stalks Kwon to his home. Things take a hard turn when the two confront each other, but a vision of Jesus appears, granting the overly passionate Pastor some relief. However, under the basis of “God has a plan,” that relief is short-lived.

In a longer-form narrative format, Yeon Sang-ho’s writing has burned brighter. There’s more time to cultivate the ideas and themes, flesh out the characters, and fill in the gaps. In Revelations (2025), even with the longer runtime, the narrative twists and bends glaringly, with some characters faring better than others in justifying their existence in the plot. The conflict between Pastor Sung, the representative—in theory—of righteousness, and the criminal Kwon makes for an intriguing display of moral dilemma. Detective Lee’s storyline pales comparatively.

Part of this is due to the utilization and execution of flashbacks. As a storytelling device, it’s not awful. It paints a reason for her inclusion in the story and the connection to Kwon, even if the argument could be made to remove her character completely. For someone who needs to be saved or who needs a revelation of their own, Lee’s story arc makes sense. However, Shin Hyun-been is not given much else to work with until her particular plot sides off into a discussion on mental illness.

The discussion of mental illness has become more pertinent in South Korea over the past decade, with the topic appearing more frequently in K-dramas and films. Yeon Sang-ho’s mention of it in Revelations (2025) is timely, especially in relation to organized religion, but it distracts more than adds to an already busy story. In a film where he could afford to trim the fat, this particular segue featuring Detective Lee would have been better served for the most intriguing character of the film—Pastor Sung.

Ryu Jun-yeol shines as the morally compromised Pastor Sung in Revelations (2025).

Ryu Jun-yeol absolutely luxuriates in every second he’s given as the morally declining Pastor Sung. Every nuance of emotion flickers across his face, with each new revelation bringing to the surface another layer that the man has been hiding beneath his holy facade. There’s no question that Pastor Sung believes everything he’s experiencing is God’s mission to him, and Ryu sells every second of it.

It’s a shame that Pastor Sung’s transition into unholy terror wasn’t delivered more smoothly in the story. Some gaps that would have better explained what was going on on paper are glossed over. However, Ryu’s completely committed performance allows for some forgiveness here—not much, but some. Once Revelations (2025) pivots back to its more typical detective storyline, he is all but forgotten until the end.

Tapping into his horror background, Revelations’ (2025) visuals add to each character’s inner workings. It is unfortunate that the film is only available on streaming. Whether it’s the face of Jesus projected across a cliffside, clouds forming in the shape of angels, or the steady, eerie lurking of a ghostly figure, the images are evocative of each person’s inner turmoil. When not concocting visual magic, the action sequences in the film’s latter half are a reminder of how good a shaky cam can be in evoking frenetic energy and tension.

Yeon Sang-ho’s Revelations (2025) is, by and large, an okay film. Much of the film’s heavy lifting is delivered by its performances and visuals, with the story being too busy at points or underwhelming at others. There’s a lack of balance that begs the question of whether the film would have been better served as a short series instead, giving Yeon more time with the story. As it stands, it leaves something to be desired.

Revelations (2025) streams exclusively on Netflix March 21.