MIles-11

While this film's "two movies in one" structure has a lot of potential, it is probably the main reason the movie doesn't come off better. It spreads itself too thin, and ends up being only sporadically effective. The present-days police story segments are rather bland; the investigative process isn't handled with much (for lack of a better word) flair, and Detective Oh, other than unexplored hints of "cop on the edge" syndrome, isn't much more than a handsome tough guy. Time that could've been used on character or plot, or excised completely to keep up the pace, is used on well-executed but pointless action scenes involving apprehending characters whose involvement is only tangential. The flashback scenes fare somewhat better as they aren't something we've seen a million times, and are also responsible for the film's highlight, an escape from a prison camp. It also seems to be the part the director was most interested in, given how much flashier it is than anything before or after it. One wishes that Bae had taken as much care with scenes in offices and cars as he did with scenes about people being cut down. Unfortunately, the flashbacks overall are too rushed to really flesh out the characters, and tend to wallow in slightly excessive melodrama, which isn't helped by the not-bad but utterly generic score. The resolution is actually fairly surprising, and could've been quite dramatic. Unfortunately, the director's poor choices in use of screen time makes what could've been a very satisfying and emotional resolution fairly flat. The final scene also pushes credibility too far in the name of melodrama, making it seem ridiculous. That's not to say it's a terrible movie. Only a few parts stand out as really hitting the wrong notes. However, in this case the whole is less than the sum of its parts, because they aren't assembled properly. It's an ambitious project and a good try at something different, but it just didn't quite work for me as a whole either viscerally or emotionally.

There's a stretch of about ten minutes in the first act of this film during which it looks like it's going to try to present a realistic picture of corruption in business, which could've been pretty interesting. Unfortunately, it quickly degenerates into standard, sloppy, and worst of all boring "thriller" material. This is the kind of movie that feels like it's at least 1/3 padding; Charlize Theron in particular has almost no reason to be in the movie other than to provide "emotional" moments that I think are supposed to be some kind of "character development." All the pointless go-nowhere scenes aren't helped by the general lack of interesting dialogue or (despite a decent cast that is mostly solid) performances. Worst of all, Mark Wahlberg gives a bland performance with an annoying accent, and portrays one of the most unsympathetic and uninteresting protagonists in recent memory. Some crime films present a flawed hero, who does bad things but has a good heart; some get by with an amoral criminal who has an interesting outlook or is fascinatingly skilled. Here Wahlberg plays a loser of seemingly sub-average intelligence who is barely any better than the people he's running from and always seems to be on the verge of falling asleep, making it impossible to care about the "man on the run" aspect of the film. And, of course, the ending is anti-climactic and ridiculously pat. It's the last nail in the movie's coffin. Avoid this one.

That's the only thing I can think of that would explain the overwhelmingly good review for this bland film. As a "thriller," it's a failure; there's virtually no mystery or suspense at any time. As a true and insightful account of actual events it also fails, as the portrayals of all the characters are very, very shallow. The acting is bland (and the accents on the leads are silly; I think I'd rather watch a Russian-made version of this film) and the detective's development doesn't go much further than "he really wants to catch the killer, and it's stressful for him." The other major characters aren't really developed at all. It is somewhat interesting to see how investigations were conducted in the former USSR and how they were affected by the bureaucracy (assuming this is at all accurate; and actually, it doesn't add up to much more than "you're off the case!" "You're off YOUR case, Chief!" with fake Russian accents) but otherwise this film, while never particularly dull, doesn't have much to recommend it.