User reviews

The South Korean film Shiri marks the very first time I've seen a South Korean film, and was the last one which I saw Song Kang-ho play a role of an intelligence agent, and a supporting one at that. Fast forward till today, he is already an established actor who has taken on various roles in different genres, some times heroic, other times confused, some buffoony even. But one thing's for sure is the actor's charisma which defies any typecasting.

Here he plays Agent Lee Han-kyu of the National Intelligence Service, a bumbling one who's stagnated in his career which has them on the constant move and pitting their skills against the more cunning North Korean counterparts, who have infiltrated the South in order to carry out assassination orders by the North Korean leader on the many defectors from the communist state. Opening the film is a tense action sequence complete with high speed pursuits and spy versus spy stuff, with a group of sleeper cell assassins being activated through coded websites to take out Kim Jung-Il's second cousin, whose book published in the South is deemed as blasphemous.

Kang Dong-won plays Ji-won, a relatively new North Korean spy member who goes on that fateful mission under the watchful eyes of veteran assassin nicknamed Shadow (Jeon Gook-hwan), and because of his soft-hearted nature, he gets branded a traitor of the state for not willing to deliver killing blows to the enemies, and hence becomes a wanted man in his own country. And the mission proves to be a turning point for Agent Lee as well, with him being made the scapegoat of the botched operation and having to leave the agency in disgrace.

This pivotal event brings us forward 6 years later, where Lee is now a private investigator who specializes in finding runaway foreign brides, and the other being a foreman in a construction site. Soon the two once-adversaries meet, and strangely enough, the film then converts into a light comedy, since the both decide to lead a symbiotic relationship together, each wanting to be able to dish out some dirt on the other, so that they can redeem themselves and go back to the life they once knew. For Lee, it's the prospect of wanting to smash the sleeper cell that Ji-won belongs to in order to claim substantial reward money, and Ji-won to become the mole for the North Koreans since he's living in Lee's house and working as his PI agency employee, and to utilize Lee's experience to find his comrade-in-arms who disappeared since the botched mission, but little does both man know they no longer have active ties to their past.

Much of the mirth comers from each trying to second guess the other, and both actors put on fine performances as adversaries who will eventually find that inevitable path to friendship and trust. While Song Kang-ho is effervescent in his role of Lee in being bumbling but without being stupid, Kang Dong-won holds his own against his rival as the man whose good looks betrays the deadly skills he possesses in dispatching opponents, and fleshes out the more emotional of the two characters with aplomb. Their shared chemistry is what makes it believable that they have the potential to buddy up, although of course writer-director Jang Hun has other plans in order to spice up the plot in the final act to leave you guessing just who will be pushed over the edge based on their friendship, keeping in mind both potentially face treason for putting up the other silently.

All in, The Secret Reunion contains solid action sequences with themes on uneasy friendship and brotherhood, boosted by fine performances from the cast. The narrative may feel a little bit of sag in the middle act though, but ultimately, it gets the job done and its themes through.

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 love the movie concept how it shows the brotherhood and Partnership in it. It is likely impossible to think about a bonding between North Korean Spy and South Korean NSI agent, however I amazed by the way this movie beautifully shown this. Not only about agent spy things but also family bondings, relationship, longings for their family are shown. The actions are amazing and comedy scenes are few but these are enough to make anyone laugh. I can say, it is combination of spy agent, comedy movie.

Secret Reunion is a reminder that geographic distance alone is never a cultural barrier. One could even get away with calling this spy/thriller/buddy with a dash of comedy formulaic. Maybe it is. I might just be fooled by the foreign language, but Secret Reunion Is not just familiar, but fresh. The film hinges on the relationship between two opposing intelligence agents. Both have been abandoned by country and separated from family. Kang-ho Song plays the damaged bumbling South Korean field agent. I enjoyed his performance more than anything in this film. I cannot logically justify this, but this is the third film were he felt like a Korean Humphrey Boggart. Yes this is crazy, but how could I better articulate this man's natural charisma? Dong-won Kang has a tougher roll as the desperate emotional despondent North Korean operative. His character was just written uninteresting, but he holds his own while interacting Song. Perhaps a weakness of the film is that I enjoy it when these two simply coexisting more than when they are chasing each other. I guess something has to justify the action sequences. Nothing surprising here, except possibly the institution of foreign brides to western audiences. A sociologist might find its portrayal interesting, I just enjoyed how it forced Song to reach for moral justifications. Otherwise, the story is cookie cutter and wraps up so unrealistically clean you would think Reunion briefly teleported to Hollywood. But hey, Casablanca was made by recipe, so I can give this movie half a pass. It is hard to completely recommend a benign spy film. I think those who have previously other Korean smash hits will dig Secret Reunion. Song's performance provides just enough to outshine the truly mediocre. Just please don't ignore this endorsement because of the insane Boggart comparison.

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

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.

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.

Nice scenario, about spying and relationship between South and North Korea. Not a spy movie though, human-oriented instead.

Not really exciting compared to other South Korean masterpieces. But entertaining and appealing.

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).

Loved this movie A very feel good movie with full of entertainment ,you will not feel bore in whole movie,have soo many elements Drama,action,witty,realistic loved chemistry between gang dong-woo & song kang hu both act Awesome

This movie jumps from high-speed action to slapstick comedy to fun thriller to heartfelt drama-and it does not do so smoothly at all. I feel like it was trying to do too much at the same time, so it ends up feeling disjointed and it's tough to fully get sucked into the film. That said, the actor leads are very enjoyable, and I enjoy their begrudging friendship.

I think there were two movies inside this movie, but neither movie was well developed.