toskomst

...except that it only cost a fraction to make, that it was made by filmmakers who seem to still believe that movies should be fun, and that it employs every cliché in the spy movie playbook, including probably some not yet invented.

The movie stars the veteran Sol Kyung-gu as Ji Kang-in, one of these rugged agents whose standard operating procedure indeed seems ruthless. He has a pre-credits teaser in Hong Kong at his disposal to prove his worth looking for a double agent and leaving bodies everywhere.

If I attempted to write a plot summary, I would most likely be writing well into next year, so let's say that the action shifts to Shenyang in northeast China four years later. The former Seoul prosecutor Han Ji-hoon (Park Hae-soo) comes to the city now representing NIS - South Koreas answer to CIA - to check out a supposed information leak. Is there a mole in agent Ji's team? Agent Ji sure hasn't found the one he been looking for himself.

The banter between Sol Kyung-gu and Park Hae-soo as polar opposites makes for some good fun in between a lot of shooting and a lot of plot. The movie's politics is equally offensive to everyone, from the North Koreans to the Japanese, while the Chinese apparently couldn't care less as the Shenyang police is mostly nowhere in sight despite all the gunfights going on in broad nightlight.

The idea of Shenyang as a hotbed for spies is a bit like Istanbul in "From Russia With Love", so maybe this is what the 1960s Cold War spy thrillers have developed into for the 2020s?

It's fast-paced fun, anyway, full of blood and guts. But it's not a movie to think too deeply about.

The main character in "Hard Hit" is taking the kids to school one morning - a boy and a girl - when he gets a restricted call. The unknown caller informs him that a bomb has been placed under his seat. It will explode if he leaves the car.

This is all you need for 90+ minutes of frantic action, I guess, and the unknown caller soon supplies a demand and an explosive argument for making our hero do just like Toto. That is hold the line.

The reliable supporting actor Jo Woo-jin tackles his first lead role playing an ordinary bank employee who gets pinned behind the wheel. His rapport with Lee Jae-in, playing his daughter, provides a human element in all the frenzy. He's understandably desperate. I mean, I would be too, if I had to handle at least two phone calls simultaneously while at the same time calm the kids down and actually drive the car.

It's a saddening reminder of COVID-era realities, by the way, to see beaches and intercity highways in Busan all but deserted with no CGI enhancements needed.

The movie is a remake of an excellent Spanish thriller, "El Desconocido" (2015), starring Luis Tosar in one of his best roles. The Korean version follows the original unusually closely, to such an extent that all they've really done is to translate it to the Korean idiom. And both movies surely owe something to "Speed" (1994) and Dennis Hopper's scheme as the bad guy.

Anyway. The movie keeps the pace up, and it never feels as if the entire plot actually takes place inside or in the immediate vicinity of the hero's car. The unknown caller is online most of the time (those familiar to K-movies and K-dramas will undoubtedly recognize the voice right away), and the Koreans do love their phones and gadgets.

The flow may get a little lost with subtitles, I imagine, but this movie worked for me, built around its ingenious plot. So fasten the seatbelt. Or then again, thinking of the unfortunate hero, maybe better not.

PS: The Korean title refers to a "Restricted Call" as opposed to the meaningless English title, and in everday slang, it's also known as a "black call". Shouldn't miss a chance to show off...