Confidential Assignment
Director: Kim Sung-hoon
Year: 2017
Rating: 6.5
Tell me if you have heard this plot before.
Two cops are assigned to work together who have nothing in common, who have
very different approaches to their job, who don't like each other but over
time they grudgingly realize they have to work together, then a grudging
respect for another, then a grudging friendship and finally risking their
lives for one another. No? Probably not more than fifty times. That is what
we have here where you could write the plot outline yourself. But nevertheless,
this is fairly entertaining because of good performances, solid production
values and some excellent action sequences. The rub is that one of the cops
is a North Korean super cop while the other is a bit of a South Korean schlep.
So you have the political divide as well though this was done in Hong Kong
films going back to the 1990's when they would team up a Hong Kong cop and
Mainland cop. Like those, this one is a mix of action, comedy and a jigger
of pathos.
These sorts of films are made in Korea
whenever the two countries are attempting a reconcilement as is happening
now. A similar film of re-approachment was As One in 2012 about the uniting
of the two ping pong teams based on a real event. On the other hand when
the two countries are at each other's throats you get a film like Shiri or
The Presidents' Last Bang which portrays the North as villains. It is a fascinating
dynamic. For the most part - though not entirely - the North is given respect
here. At one point the two men get into an argument about which country is
better and it is basically a draw. Though being equally poor doesn't strike
me as a great argument.
But the trouble begins in the North where
the government has created a set of $100 plates that can make counterfeit
bills that cannot be detected. In fact, North Korea has a history of doing
this - though I understand that Kim told Trump that they have never done
this and that Trump accepted his word. Also no labor camps, starvation and
executions by canon ball - all denied and all believed. Hollywood should
make a film in which our CIA teams up with their Security apparatus to get
the goods on the Canadians. And Donald and Kim give each other a big hug
in the end. Putin is smiling in the background.
A renegade North Korean army unit decides
that they want to join the free market and breaks into the facility and steals
the plates leaving everyone for dead except Lim (Hyun Bin) who blames himself
for screwing up - which he did - you never give up your guns because the
bad guys have a hostage - never - rule number 1 with psychos. So he is assigned
to go south and find the head villain (Kim Joo-hyuk) and since they need
the co-operation of the South he is partnered with the whiny, a little corrupt,
a little cowardly Kang (Yoo Hae-jin). This is done on purpose because the
Big Boys don't really want the North Koreans to find these bad guys. But
hey, you know how this ends. And though predictable it is reasonably satisfying.
Yoo Hae-jin gets somewhat annoying as the
film progresses as he complains about everything but Hyun Bin is terrific
though being a North Korean he doesn't get to show much emotion. His physical
abilities and stunts (pretty sure not doubled) are eye-popping. The film
sags a bit in the middle when Kang brings Lim home to meet the family and
the goofy comedy misses its mark as often as it hits it but the final 40
minutes is just one great action set piece and saved the film for me.