Secretly Greatly

"Secretly, Greatly" tells a captivating story of three young man, trained to be killing machines, sent to South Korea as spies and assimilate into the local society. While they await further instruction from the party, they forge a friendship with the local community.

The first half of the film is comedic, with the lead character acting foolish and funny. However, right from the start, the viewers know he is just pretending to be stupid, as he makes many mental calculations on all possible permutations of events in his head. Such a double life requires a lot of dedication and perseverance.

The second half of the film turns into a adrenaline fuelled action film, with much brutal fist fights and valiant defiance of orders. It is presented so well, that it keeps people captivated with the three men's psychological struggle and physical struggle. They manage to take down tens of tough guys in fist fights normally is unrealistic and even annoyingly silly, but in "Secretly, Greatly" their seemingly omnipotent fists provide something for viewers to marvel at. Maybe it is because they are not just fighting for the sake of fighting, but fighting for survival, both physically and ideologically against a tyrannical regime.

The interspersed subplot about the idiot's longing for his mother is very touching. In the three men's native country, people are brainwashed to believe that the party is way more important than their blood family. Hence there is a constant deep seated struggle; and their longings could never be fulfilled. The plot is profoundly powerful towards the end of the film, when everything culminates to an emotional and action climax.

"Secretly, Greatly" is a great gem that deserves to be seen. I enjoyed watching it tremendously.

It's difficult to live Normally in some countries.

This movie feels like 2 movies. The first part is a comedy about N Korean spies in S Korea. The second part is a protracted martial arts fighting show. The second part felt over long. The movie would have been better if it was shorter and more focused. A Kim Soo Hyun vehicle and the contrast between the idiot and the spy is quite good. This movie doesn't have the broad appeal to go past Koreans and die hard fans of Korean movies.

This movie is on another level of perfection, and I am not exaggerating. I watched this with no expectation because I only did that for the main actor, Kim Soo-hyun, who is my favorite Korean actor. But it turns out to be one of the best movies I've ever watched.

It first started funnily, with the dumb things they do and such. I think their comic acts are quite entertaining. And then, when something comes up, they begin to reveal their true self, as North Korean spies. And from that the movie begins to change with more of actions involved. And as someone who isn't really fond of action movies aside from Hollywood movies, I find the actions in this movie impressive. The actions are well-made and enthralling, it doesn't look bad at all.

But what makes the movie beautiful is the message implied in the whole movie. We have to watch it from the beginning until the end to understand it, but sometimes the little things in life are those that matter.

Recommending it for everyone. It's worth the watch.

p.s sorry for the bad English, not my first language =)

to be honest I never cried that much for a movie. this movie is outstanding. At the beginning the movie could appear long but when you get to the middle, you are just in it. All the action is really good. A lot of people said it was long, but not for me. I strongly recommend it. seriously. really inspiring. I cry every time I think of the movie. Watch the movie till the End! Kim Soo Hyun was srly the best. He has really good acting skills. It gave me goosebumps. The story line is a bit complicate at the beginning but at the End you understand everything. If you are very emotional, this movie is for you (might need tissu boxes)! Well watch the movie till the End. seriously it's really good:)