Ui-hyeong-je

Bromantic thriller involving sleeper agents tasked with silencing North Korean defectors. Well-made but mostly by the numbers plot enlivened by Korean favorite Song Kang-Ho (The Host, Memories of Murder) acting among weaker supporting characters. Some nice action scenes with co-lead Kang Dong-won keep things moving at a brisk enough pace. Story doesn't aim very high and wraps with a finish that's a little too tidy, despite the two hour runtime.

Forgettable but ultimately fun, probably for Korean thriller fans only. Jang Hoon also directed the similarly competent Korean War drama The Front Line (2011).

Song Kang Ho movies are generally good because he is so watchable. He has a good enough rapport with younger actor Gang Dong Won who looks tortured enough as N Korean agent with a heart. It's watchable to see how they bond and come to help each other. As always with these North South movies there is a bond of reconciliation. The plot is quite clear and neartly constructed if predictable. I liked the tone is fairly comic and doesn't take itself too seriously.

It's a watchable movie especially for Korean film fans. From the beginning, you know where it is going, yet good to watch. A mixture of Thriller, Action and Drama. Not going deep into the political outer cover, this is a movie about the brotherly affection between two lonely souls, from South and North Korea.

I watched this film in theaters at AMC with some of my relatives, and I must say it was pretty entertaining. Now did it beat my expectations? That I would have to say no, but I still enjoyed this film and was worth watching it on the big screen. I don't really like the actor Kang-ho Song he seems to play the same obnoxious and very uncool character in just about every movie he is in so far but I must say he fit right in with his character. He plays a agent of the National Intelligence Service. Kang Dong-won did a alright job playing the North Korean spy although he was more of a way to get younger teens to go watch the movie. Lot of the entertainment comes from both character acting all buddy buddy at first just so they can dig at one another for information, and also enjoyed there awkward bonding later on. This isn't one of those groundbreaking movies from Korea or anything, but it was well worth the time to watch.

7.8/10

I really enjoyed this one. It has good action, some funny scenes, and a decent plot, but what sets it apart for me is the heartwarming friendship that eventually grows between the two main caharacters, even though they are initially enemies. Way too many Korean crime, thriller, and action movies, while well-written, tend to be all gloom and doom, which gets really emotionally tiring for me after a while, so I really appreciate this one for not going that route. Don't get me wrong, there's graphic violence in this one at times, but even so, it is unmistakenly a feel good movie. Highly recommended.