Special Delivery
Director: Park Dae-min
Year: 2022
Rating: 7.0
Country: Korea
This kickstarts
right from the beginning and only slows down to feed the cat. I have a liking
for tough females in films and they don't get much tougher than Eun-ha (Park
So-dam). Tough as nails or make that a nail gun. Korea has gone to the top
of my list in recent years for female action films - just recently, I have
seen Ballerina, Brave Citizen, Code Name: Jackal, Coin Locker Girl, Girl
Scout, Jung-E, Okay Madam, The Pirates, Revolver and Slate. Admittedly. I
look for these films but it is nice being able to find them. In my younger
days I looked towards Hong Kong for these films - what they termed Girls
with Guns as well as many martial arts film - but those sorts of films have
gone down to a dribble. Japan had their share in the 1960s and 70s, but that
too has nearly disappeared. Hollywood has caught up to some degree, but they
rarely have the visceral action and nihilism of these Korean films. This
one hit all my rough edges. No time for a romance or much of a backstory.
Just get to it.
Eun-ha delivers packages. Think Transporter
except there are no rules. She will deliver anything or anyone for the right
amount of money. She was the only one of her family who escaped from North
Korea, covered in blood and was picked up by her current boss (Kim Euh-sung).
North Koreans in South Korean films are practically immune from feeling pain
but good at giving it. But she has a soft spot for cats and kids as it turns
out. I do as well for cats. Kids not so much. In a near opening scene, she
is hired to take two men to the port and is immediately chased by three cars
filled with gangsters. Her passengers are gangsters as well. But it is a
job she agreed to, so you go through with it. It is a wild and precise chase
through the streets and alleys of Seoul. Some great driving by the stunt
folks. It sets the pace for the rest of the film.
The next delivery takes up the remainder
of the film and turns brutal and relentless. Sounds simple enough. Pick up
a man and his son and deliver them to a ship. But the man is part of a giant
baseball bribery scheme that has now hit the papers. He takes a bag of money
from the head of the operation as well as a key to the bank account worth
millions. The head is a cop, a very nasty one. The man doesn't make it to
the car, but his young son does and the chase is on. With the resources of
the cops and gangsters he keeps tracking them down. She only has a screwdriver.
And that is enough in a darkened room. The actress Park So-dam is great in
this as her special delivery is a large body count.
