Special delivery

A specialist driver winds up lumbered with a kid who is being chased by gangsters who want a key fob off of him which will give them access to loads of money. This South Korean movie mixes odd couple dramatics and comedy in with some high-octane car chase action. It definitely is surer of footing with the latter material, as the story-line is pretty basic, with stereotypical characters and plot developments. The action scenes, however, are rather good, with some nice touches added here and there to make them memorable. The South Korean setting is nice as always too. These types of movies often have generic stories to be fair, so none of that is exactly a deal-breaker here and my advice would be to check it out if you appreciate either car movies or South Korean cinema in general.

This movie is a combination of Baby Driver (2017) and Extraction (2020), but not as good. However, The protagonist's act is awesome and like other korean movies, the action is pretty good. So you might wanna give it a try if you've got nothing else to watch, just remember that you can enjoy it even though it's not a masterpiece.

This movie took me by surprise when I watched it on a bus in The Philippines on a two-hour ride from city to city. A young woman drives real fast at night with some passengers who don't know what they're getting into. That beginning hooked me right from the get-go, that's for sure! From there, we segue to some bad men needing something from somebody or that somebody will get hurt. Also, a little boy is involved. And the young woman's superior. And her friend. And a cat of hers. Anyway, this was quite a thrill ride of a Korean film with English subtitles provided. Nice to find out two of the players were in the Oscar-winning Parasite. I really liked this one. So that's a recommendation of Teuksong, or Special Delivery as I knew it as.

This barrelling action thriller has been billed as a Korean Fast and Furious, but takes a swift handbrake turn into something considerably darker and more introspective. Park So-dam, fresh off her staggering performance in the Academy award winning Parasite, is superb as Eun-ha. She's badass. With some well choreographed set pieces and strong performances, Special Delivery is a perfect popcorn action film for an evening of entertainment. Written and directed by Park Dae-min, this thrilling action film proves that even when you take a basic story that we've seen a hundred times, Asia (especially Korea) just does it better than the West. Yes, a lot of the story beats are the same - corrupt cops, a protagonist who has to care for a child that they didn't want to look after, fast cars - but what sets it apart from its American peers is that the performances and set pieces feel genuinely more adrenaline inducing and engaging.

It's been a while since I saw Transporter, but I think the comparisons are there and can be made. Of course this is a slick piece of ... action and it is also quite funny. The Jesus and Moses quote is something that will get a laugh out of you. At least - and there are other bangers too. Also the stunts are off the hook. No pun intended.

Having a female driver also gives this a special touch - and boy is she good. The boy is also really good. The kid actor that is. But don't be fooled, just because there is a boy and a cat in this, it doesn't mean the movie pulls its punches. No sir - quite the opposite we get some really brutal scenes. Even with characters we probably sympathize with ... that's why this will keep you guessing until the end. And probably way after that - especially because of that scene ... how do you break free from that, right? Whatever that means and you will only know once you've seen the movie.

Korean cinema shows us once again, that is able to rival Hollywood ... in more than one sense.