Mission Possible

As I stumbled upon the 2021 South Korean action crime comedy "Mi-Syeon Pa-Seo-Beul" (aka "Mission: Possible") here late in 2022, of course I opted to sit down and watch it without ever having heard about it. Given my fascination with Asian cinema, and this being a movie that I hadn't already seen, then there was no doubt about me sitting down to watch it.

And I have to say that the movie's cover alone and its title made it all the more appealing and interesting.

Director Kim Hyeong-Joo managed to put togethe a rather enjoyable and entertaining movie, as it contained good elements from the various genres of movies. And the storyline in the movie was well-written and nicely brought to life on the screen.

There are some pretty good laughs throughout the course of the movie, and the action sequences are quite nicely choreographed and executed on the screen, which makes this movie all the more enjoyable to watch.

The acting performances in the movie were good, and they had two rather nicely talented leading performers in Kim Young-kwang (playing Woo Su-Han) and Sun-Bin Lee (playing Yoo-Da Hee).

I was genuinely entertained by this movie and it is something that I will warmly recommend, especially if you enjoy Asian action comedies.

My rating of "Mi-Syeon Pa-Seo-Beul" lands on a six out of ten stars.

This is a well balanced action movie, with humor, great acting, and highly interesting/ well choreographed fighting scenes.

The story line has some fun twists and turns, a few surprises, and plenty of chuckles.

Kim Young-Kwang is perfect for this role! His facial expressions alone could carry his acting...full of a myriad of circumstances. T. Cruise could learn a lot from him. His best role yet!

Lee Sun-bin carries her own action with beauty and finesse. The secondary characters just add to the story in the way they are supposed to, supportive but not overbearing.

One of my favorite films!

This bit of fluff starts off seeming irredeemably silly, with a mistaken-identity pairing for a confusing spy mission. One might be tempted (as I was) to look elsewhere within the first 30, or so, minutes. That first impression of a poor Jackie Chan action comedy wannabe lingers for a while, but, as counselors might say to troubled teens, it gets better.

About halfway in, the inane plot and odd pair of protagonists start to make more sense. Even better, some really good fight choreography and stunt work join the proceedings, greatly reducing the gap between this one and any of Jackie's templates. Overall, nothing memorable, but still an amusing diversion that finishes much stronger than its shaky start portends.

One of the things I like about this movie is the comedy doesn't interfere with the action. It's not slap-stick humor either. Also, a few of the action scenes are bloody, whether it's knife-play or gun-play. I'm surprised South Korea produced such a movie in the action-comedy genre, but it's a welcome surprise. Just as typical action-comedy films from South Korea, the two leads are bad-asses. But, it gets hinted at from the very beginning, so it's not like it's thrown into the audiences face unrealistically, half-way or even toward the end, like Extreme Job did.

This film essentially begins with the discovery by Chinese intelligence that some weapons intended to be secretly shipped to North Korea had been stolen by some gun smugglers and sent to South Korea instead. Recognizing the impossibility of correcting the situation--and fearing that the South Korean government might hold them responsible for this illegal transfer of goods--Chinese authorities decide to send an agent to South Korea to correct the situation. At least, that's what they hope South Korean officials believe when everything falls apart, as it is certain to happen. So, rather than send one of their best agents, they select a young female trainee under the name of "Yoo Da-hee" (Lee Sun-bin) on this suicidal mission instead. For her part, Yoo Da-hee is unaware of the actual dangers and, upon arriving in Seoul, makes contact with her handler for assistance. What she doesn't realize is that, rather than meeting another Chinese agent, she mistakenly makes contact with an inept private detective named "Woo Su-han" (Kim Young-kwang) who has absolutely no clue about anything. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this film turned out to be a better action-comedy than I initially expected. Admittedly, I would have preferred a bit more comedy here and there but, even so, I enjoyed this film for the most part, and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.