Summary:The 1920s. Korea has fallen under Japanese rule. Lee Jung-chool (Song Kang-ho), a Korean police captain in the Japanese police force, is given a special mission to infiltrate the armed resistance fighting for Korean independence. He approaches Kim Woo-jin (Gong Yoo), a leader of the resistance. These two men who stand on opposite sides ofThe 1920s. Korea has fallen under Japanese rule. Lee Jung-chool (Song Kang-ho), a Korean police captain in the Japanese police force, is given a special mission to infiltrate the armed resistance fighting for Korean independence. He approaches Kim Woo-jin (Gong Yoo), a leader of the resistance. These two men who stand on opposite sides of their historical era, each knowing the identity and intentions of the other, become close without revealing their inner thoughts. Meanwhile intel is being leaked on both sides, and no one knows who the informants are. Members of the resistance meet in Shanghai to obtain explosives that will be used to destroy facilities of the Japanese Headquarters in Seoul, while the Japanese police follow them and gather in Shanghai. The pursued and the pursuers are locked in an operation where each side uses the other. Meanwhile, a train carrying explosives passes the border and heads towards Seoul. [CJ Entertainment]…Expand
The director Kim Jee-Woon (I Saw the Devil is his best) and now famous cinematographer Kim Ji-yong (Parasite) produced very high production values in this period action movie. Performances, costumes and script are solid. It's a little long. fun fact, 1 in 5 South Koreans is named Kim. 1The director Kim Jee-Woon (I Saw the Devil is his best) and now famous cinematographer Kim Ji-yong (Parasite) produced very high production values in this period action movie. Performances, costumes and script are solid. It's a little long. fun fact, 1 in 5 South Koreans is named Kim. 1 in 5 named Lee and 1 in 10 named Park.…Expand
This is quite a gripping and tense watch, certainly not one for the particularly squeamish though, it has to be said. It doesn't appear especially violent (moreso than many other action films) in the first half of the film but there are torture related scenes in the 2nd half of it, which IThis is quite a gripping and tense watch, certainly not one for the particularly squeamish though, it has to be said. It doesn't appear especially violent (moreso than many other action films) in the first half of the film but there are torture related scenes in the 2nd half of it, which I found a bit hard to watch once or twice. Still, its a relatively atmospheric watch, with some good cinematography - I particularly liked the long scene set in a train, which adds a bit of a 'Murder on the Orient Express' feel to it. I thought the plot pace was good - at times its really quite fast paced and I was quite engrossed in it and at others it was more low key and I was left wondering when something might happen, what the next twist in the plot may be. As a spy film, its certainly good. There's a good use of music at times, not very often but when it does feature, it isn't over the top of distracting and the performances are decent too, so I'd recommend it.…Expand