On Oct. 26, 1979, South Korean president Park Chung-hee was assassinated by the chief of the Korean Central Intelligence Company — a coup that ended the autocrat’s 16-year grip on a rustic that has wrestled with corruption and scandal ever since. The still-mysterious circumstances of that inside job (which impressed 2005’s “The President’s Final Bang”) offers “Squid Game” star Lee Jung-jae ample license to hatch all types of untamed conspiracies in Cannes-selected directorial debut “Hunt,” a twisty, action-packed political thriller — one which retains you guessing even because it spirals into ever-crazier realms — about renegade brokers, shifting agendas and a nutty plot in opposition to Park’s successor.
“Hunt” takes place 4 years after Park’s loss of life, in 1983, as rival safety chiefs attempt to outmaneuver each other with the putative objective of defending the brand new chief. Since a KCIA chief killed the earlier prexy, nonetheless, it’s believable that an insider may attempt to off his substitute — and since this man’s rotten as nicely (Google “Gwangju Bloodbath”), that makes the film’s allegiances particularly tough to untangle. Who ought to we think about to be the film’s hero: the particular person scheming to unseat this despot or the one risking his life to save lots of him?
Audiences needn’t know a lot about South Korean historical past to understand what follows, aside from to belief that the nation’s energy shifts are typically stunning and soap-operatic after they come, which helps to justify the complicated snare of double- and triple-crosses forward. Issues begin conventionally sufficient, as a gaggle of extremely educated operatives make a primary try on the Korean president’s life throughout a go to to Washington, D.C., however by the top, they’ve escalated to such a level that just about anybody is able to something.
A significant worldwide star following his main position in Netflix’s hit “Squid Game” collection, Lee proves surprisingly adept behind the digital camera, particularly relating to staging high-intensity shootouts, at the same time as he performs one of many movie’s KCIA chiefs, KCIA international unit head Park Pyong-ho. (“Squid Game” followers needs to be delighted to search out collection baddie Heo Sung-tae right here as nicely, enjoying a shifty agent.) Launching the lengthy however lightning-paced movie with a jolt of adrenaline, Lee establishes early mutual suspicions between his character and KCIA’s home chief, Kim Jung-do (Jung Woo-sung, the great man in cult kimchi Western “The Good, the Unhealthy, the Bizarre”).
Like Korea’s reply to playbook-be-damned “24” hero Jack Bauer, these two prime spies use torture, homicide and extra as instruments of the commerce. Early on, a North Korean asylum seeker warns that there’s a mole in the KCIA, code identify “Donglim,” main every agent to suspect the opposite. Whoever he’s, this traitor’s presence places key operations in severe jeopardy: A dozen brokers are executed in a lethal ambush, whereas plans to extract the defector backfire spectacularly, ensuing in a visceral automobile chase/shootout.
The cat-and-mouse dynamics of “Hunt” aren’t almost as satisfying as its motion set-pieces, which Lee and his staff pull off with appreciable ability. The motion is slick and rapid with out feeling overly stylized. Eschewing slo-mo and show-offy choreography in favor of extra immersive eyewitness blocking, Lee channels American maestro Michael Mann, ensuing in gun battles the place robust guys stride into hazard with out a lot as flinching whereas high-caliber bullets slam by metal round them.
Of the 2 brokers, Lee is the extra likable, giving off traditional Jimmy Stewart vibes (from any of the Hitchcock movies in which he performs the falsely accused fall man) as Kim begins to query whether or not he could possibly be the mole. The eventual reveal of Donglim’s id isn’t almost as simple as anybody may need anticipated, although saying extra may spoil the shock of a finale that spins everybody’s motives thus far round, even the American agent (Derek Chouinard) preserving tabs from the sidelines has been implicated in the insanity. The previous couple of scenes are so ludicrous as to be laughable, however that doesn’t sabotage the enjoyable, permitting Lee to entertain, at the same time as “Hunt” cynically makes its case that in Korea, there may be no such factor as a peaceable revolution, nor a clear switch of energy.
