FANTASIA 2025: ‘Hi-Five’ Introduces A Scrappy, Superpowered Team Up

We are so inundated with the excess of superhero films these days that it takes a lot to offer up something new. We have seen every superhero origin story told again and again, and even when it’s wrapped in new packaging, the beats remain familiar. Sure, some are well made – some are spectacular – but how many of them are offering up something new? Written and directed by Kang Hyoung-chul, Hi-Five tries to deliver something unexpected with an actual ragtag team of superpowered strangers who, despite their differences in class and age, come together to face down an immediate threat to their lives. It mostly works despite some definite rough patches. 

Hi-Five slowly pieces together our main team after an introductory event where the body of an organ donor vanishes, disintegrating into ashes while in a hospital. From there, his organs are transferred to five different recipients, giving each the power and a mysterious tattoo that links them. 

Wan-seo (Lee Jae-in) serves as our main protagonist and the character who brings the rest of the five-member team together. Overwhelmed by her father, who has been suffocating her ever since her heart transplant, Wan-seo is feeling stifled by his refusal to let her live an everyday teenage life, too fearful of her health relapsing. This changes dramatically, however, when she learns one day that she now possesses superhuman strength and speed. Her desire to learn more leads her down a path of finding the other recipients, though the rest of the group have less showstopping displays of power. 

A charismatic group of characters delivers the best moments in Hi-Five.

There’s Park Ji-sung (Ahn Jae-hong), who can summon gusts of wind and butts heads with the wealthy Ki-dong (Yoo Ah-in), who can manipulate electricity. Rounding out their team is Yak-seon (Kim Hee-won), who can heal others, and Seon-nyeo (Ra Mi-ran), who has yet to discover her exact power but brandishes a tattoo, indicating she is one of them. The five of them must work together against a cult leader with the ability to absorb the energy of others who seeks a God-like ascension. 

Hi-Five refuses to adhere to any pre-existing guidelines on what their superhero team should look like. No one is a chiseled, dehydrated athlete, and not all of them are purely virtuous. Instead, their coming together is more of an act of chance, and this kind of shrug of a response to powers – what else can they do with them other than use them for some sort of good? That they come from different walks of life and of various ages only adds to the humor. They’re truly a group of misfits who don’t fit together yet find a found family in one another regardless. 

However, strong characters and an intriguing central conceit aren’t enough to elevate Hi-Five to the necessary heights. There’s definite charm, and the actors all imbue their characters with an essential amount of warmth and intrigue to make them watchable, but the narrative itself and the direction lack. For such an offbeat take on the superhero genre, the film needed a director with a stronger sense of style. 

Bland direction hampers what would otherwise be a charming superhero flick.

The film is bland in its direction, hampered by unsatisfying effects when showing off a character’s new skill. Wan-seo’s speed and strength carry no weight or urgency for the majority of Hi-Five, despite the immense power she possesses. There’s one signature stand-out scene where we see four of our five characters racing through the streets while being pursued. While the special effects are still on the rudimentary side, it works because it forces the four characters to work together and figure out how to use their powers in tandem, rather than simply allowing Wan-seo’s speed to get them out of trouble. 

Any scene where the group works together stands out because it delivers on the promise of the feature—a superhero story. Albeit a very unlikely one. The clash of personalities, styles, and strengths works in the film’s favor, adding to its abundance of silly charm. There are no real stakes here because everything is so heightened and cartoonish that it instantly defuses the tension with its bloodless consequences. 

The dull start, due to the numerous introductions required, strikes an unfortunately somber tone, but revs up once the team is in place. While Hi-Five struggles to deliver on its immense promise, it, at the very least, offers us something fresh in the genre. If only a stronger filmmaker had thought of it first. 

Hi-Five played as a part of the 2025 Fantasia International Film Festival.