Along With the Gods: The Last 49 Days (2018) <Netflix>
IMDB: In the afterlife, one guardian helps a man through his trials, while his two colleagues help a former guardian on earth.
TLB: The first film (above) closes with our Guardian trio sent to ascend some old man into the afterlife. Apparently many other guardians tried, but were cast out by a house god (Ma Dong-seok, Wong of Dr. Strange films). Grandpa is hanging on with his grandson, and the house god is protecting them. Also, we pick up from the last film in that the 'vengeful spirit' was the younger brother from the first film who died badly, and the captain who had been fighting him the first film is now assigned to bring that person through the hells as well. Surpise of surprises, despite being a vengeful spirit, this one is also a 'paragon' and would be the last sould needed for the guardians to earn their re-incarnation.
Half the film is following the second brother and the captain through hell and the associated trials. There is a good bit of dialogue where the brother is less concerned about being re-incarnated and more interested at picking away at the captain, his background and his motivations/struggles. For the two asst's and the house god, a deal is reached to wait for the kid to go to school before taking grandpa = this is the other half of the film that we alternate with. Likewise, the house god engages the guardians in dialogue, dropping hints about the history of all involved. SPOILER: Turns out the house god used to be a guardian like them, and he knew the history of all 3 of our guardians. For the asst's, their memory was wiped after dying so they don't know how, why, or when they died; but the captain knows it all and hasn't been telling them any of it.
We have good crossover connection between captain-brother in that we find both had issues with their brothers in life. House god fills in all the history for the two asst's to expose that a thousand years ago on the outter edges of a kingdom the male ass't was a fierce invading warrior and the female was an orphan caring for others but of the invaded tribe.
I won't share much more of the story, but it was unexpectedly good. Still good CGI and action, but the dominant factor of the film is the characters, the telling of their stories, and how it all folds together at the end, to include Yeomra (King of the Underworld) being an unexpected character. Yeomra even has a twist mid-credits at the end, which sheds even MORE light on the interwoven lives - not to set up any further films, but it isn't expected and really does put a solid knot to tying up the loose ends.
Final: 8.5/10 yes, better than the first primarily for the depth it brings after building on the first.
