Midnight Runners

Entertaining buddy-cop action flicks have not been lighting up the screens for some time. In comes Midnight Runners which tweaks the well-trodden formula and the result is one crackerjack of a super-fun thriller. So far this year, no other movies have made me laugh so heartily.

Gi Jun (Park Seo Jun), aka Mr Action, and Kang Hee Yeol (Kang Ha Neul), Mr Germophobe-Bookworm, are two best friends at the Korean National Police University. They accidentally witness a young woman getting abducted and decide to work together to investigate it because they have learnt that time is of the essence in cases like this – even when they get tied up in red tape and find out they could be expelled.

Buddy-cop action thrillers tend to rely heavily on counterpoints to draw the two main characters – one fit, one fat (21 Jump Street), one full of action, one wisecracker (48 Hours), one nuts, one down-to-earth (Lethal Weapon). All three became lucrative franchises so you know the studios don't like to mess with the formula much. Midnight Runners doesn't re-invent the buddy-cop wheel, but tweaks it just a little, making the movie stand out like a bed of roses. It doesn't lean on counterpoints to build camaraderie. They may be opposites in certain ways, but it is the passion for doing what is right that unites them. The screen-time is devoted equally on both of them and no one tries to out- play the other. They are the perfect duo; they are one even though they are not the same. Their chemistry is undoubtedly inflatable and infectious, and they seem like they are having a blast.

Sometimes in my classes I get kids asking me dreaded questions like "What is the point of learning Calculus?" or "Am I going to use any of these stuff in life?". Midnight Runners addresses that in one pivotal scene that had me guffawing in laughter. I enjoyed the scenes of them using what they have learnt to crack the case. Writer-director Kim Joo Hwan even skewers the upper echelons of the police force and iterates the true purpose education itself in a noteworthy scene. How Kim deftly balances the dark crime with a light tone and ponderous moments is a magical act. It helps when you have such winsome characters. I think the best praise I can give it is that I sincerely hope there is a sequel in the works. Make it happen…. please.

The movie was a perfect blend of reality and humor. Most of us we can relate ourselves with the jokes of the movie because those are the simple things which we do in life among close friends, this is the point why the script feels real and lively. The enthusiasm of a young cadet, desperation to get a girl and at the end the commitment shown in the movie is very precisely depicted. Loved it to the core. At the beginning the movie was all humor and fun but amidst that scenario the later is able to draw us into a serious crime fighting zeal with the flow of strong emotions. Apart from that the reality the script is able to associate with the reluctance of bureaucratic measures are precised. Hence a perfect blend of reality and humor.

Did not except this one to be that good. The story started with a comedy, with two friends bonding over their years in police accademy and proceded with mystery solving after they bomped into a case and finally we've got some action and drama as well. So, midnight runners has everything. The story is really good itself and along with the performances, really helped it achieve the entertainment level it needed to be successful. Overall, worth trying.

A wonderful buddy comedy that boasts not just a great central duo, but also an impressive control of tone, as the chemistry between characters work well. If you are looking for good entertainment, but also crave serious stakes and thus action with real weight to it, this is the film to watch.

Script is rather standard, jokes are a bit Asian and manga like. But hey, this is a Korean movie! This is not US action flick. This is heart- warming, fun action-drama about the right choices. And doing them just because you believe. Yes, characters lack depth, yes some non-Asian viewers might not like the humour, the child-like faces. The rest will enjoy a story in which doing the right thing is the most important thing. Instead of showing young people how cool is to have money, even by making them from drugs and crime, it's better to show them that happiness can be much more meaningful when it comes from within ourselves. Decent story- check. Nice camera work - check, fun - check, high-morals - check. Enjoyable - check.