Bi-gong-sik-jak-jeon

No pun intended - Korean movies. You have to love them. Of course not all will have the same amount of quality, but if they get a cinematic release in Europe (around the world), you can guess that they are more likely than not a winner .. a good one of sorts. And I can clearly say that the movie is well done (like the puns I use - another one in the previous sentence).

That all being said, this is based on a true story. Not sure how much of it actually happened the way it is being shown - but a little creative license goes a long way. The actors are really good - so good that you may not mind when the movie is a bit convenient and coincidences happen that seem way too far stretched (again do not know the real story, so maybe some of the stuff happened like that anyway).

Still the movie has high drama and the suspense works really good. You are on the edge of your seat - car chases, shootouts and twists and turns! Some you may be able to guess ... others not so much. I really loved it ... and I didn't mind the melodrama or clcihes it did dish out ... they make sense in the overall arc and theme of the movie.

When a Korean diplomat is kidnapped in war-torn Lebanon, his government is conflicted about paying his ransom demand. It falls to "Min-joon" (Ha Jung-woo) to travel there and execute quite a complex plan to extricate their citizen and stay one step ahead of the warlords and the authorities who all want a share of his rather valuable luggage! Luckily, his airport-escaping antics find him in the back of the taxi driven by "Pan-soo" (Ju Ji-hoon). Now this fellow just happens to be a Korean ex-pat, he's also a slightly dubious character who can think on his feet, and who has had dealings with their government in the past. What now ensues is quite an engaging series of adventures as the pair face more and more perilous tasks trying to stay alive and rescue "Mr Oh"! It is too long, and at times it drags a little - but director Seong Hun Kim manages to create one of the more authentic looking desert adventures featuring loads of gunfire, some rabid dogs, a fun car chase down an alleyway and I found this to be way more watchable than some more recent, bigger budget, action films with Hollywood stars atop them. It's a fun watch this, with a good dynamic between the two men on their quest; the script is occasionally quite funny and the whole thing has a sort of light-heartedness to it that I quite enjoyed. Based on a true story, too - who'd be an emissary?

I cringed a lot while watching this movie. As someone who has family members who lived and experienced the Civil War of Lebanon, this movie was written/depicted in a very bad way. I think they just wanted to base a story on the kidnapping case without any regard for the historical aspect of the Lebanese Civil War. I think this is really insensitive and had someone taken the Korean historical War and written an inaccurate spin on it, it would have been extremely offensive. This movie is and would be to every Lebanese.

First of all the movie wasn't even filmed in Lebanon. And BTW Lebanon looked much prettier during the Civil War than it does today, the country wasn't as ruined back then as it is today. Yet it shows Lebanon as a totally ruined desert. And there wasn't even any Lebanese-speaking actor besides one I think, the accent was far off from what a Lebanese accent. It's a shame really but I guess that was why the film wasn't filmed in Lebanon because it would probably have caused problems for the production team if they didn't get their facts straight about what happened during the Civil War.

But I guess I may have enjoyed the movie more had it not been for the fact that I'm Lebanese and actually know about what the Civil War was like.

In my review of the movie "Ransomed" from a Lebanese perspective, I found it disheartening that despite the story being set in Lebanon during the 1980s civil war, the film was shot in Morocco. The landscape, including scenes like the airplane landing, lacked authenticity, making it challenging for me, as a Lebanese viewer, to connect with the narrative. The discrepancy extended to actors, houses, and language pronunciation, diverting from the genuine Lebanese experience.

While I empathize with the historical event of the Korean diplomat's kidnapping in Lebanon, it was unfortunate to witness a portrayal that deviated from our reality. As a Lebanese, I believe it's crucial to honor history accurately, even when showcasing it through cinematic lenses.

Indeed the action is very entertaining--oh those tight streets but it's the imaginative creative problem solving and personal interactions which put this a step ahead of other such films. The frosting on the cake though is the show of loyalty and care of the civil servants who stand in solidarity in the hallway as they offer their salaries to pay the ransom while the so called "leaders' are willing to treat every life as expendable--except their own of course. One wonders how anyone manages to live in countries destroyed by war and overrun by gangs. Have to ask where all the guns and ammo come from as there seems to be an endless supply. The answer to that are not very pleasant.