Extreme Job revolves around an interesting premise: a bunch of cartoonish narcs goes undercover at a fried chicken restaurant to stake out a drug syndicate. The plot, which is very similar to Lobster Cop (Chinese, 2018), is rich in comedic potential. Does the film deliver on that front? Certainly. What about the buddy-cop-actioner bits? To an extent. Yet, it doesn't fully squeeze the juice out of the fruit.
For Captain Ko (and his team), nabbing the drug lord is his last chance at redeeming his career. The writing attributes some key traits to each member of the team which makes the scenes at the restaurant extremely hilarious. The fried chicken joint that the cops temporarily take over becomes an overnight sensation. But the gags are replaced with generic action set-pieces in the last half hour.
Bae Se-young's wacky writing (delivers one gag after another in quick succession) in the first few acts, complemented ably the quirky ensemble, is what makes Extreme Job rise above your usual buddy cop flick. It's feel-good movie-making at its best, and director Lee Byeong-heon puts his resources to effective use.
If the action-movie cliches in the final 30 minutes were avoided and instead, overwritten with the same kind of inventiveness that shone brightly in the film's initial portions, Extreme Job would have gotten an extra half-star. No surprises in guessing that it'll be picked up by a Hollywood studio for a remake!
For Captain Ko (and his team), nabbing the drug lord is his last chance at redeeming his career. The writing attributes some key traits to each member of the team which makes the scenes at the restaurant extremely hilarious. The fried chicken joint that the cops temporarily take over becomes an overnight sensation. But the gags are replaced with generic action set-pieces in the last half hour.
Bae Se-young's wacky writing (delivers one gag after another in quick succession) in the first few acts, complemented ably the quirky ensemble, is what makes Extreme Job rise above your usual buddy cop flick. It's feel-good movie-making at its best, and director Lee Byeong-heon puts his resources to effective use.
If the action-movie cliches in the final 30 minutes were avoided and instead, overwritten with the same kind of inventiveness that shone brightly in the film's initial portions, Extreme Job would have gotten an extra half-star. No surprises in guessing that it'll be picked up by a Hollywood studio for a remake!