O Suspeito

This one is an improvement over similarly themed "The Commitment" and "Secretly Greatly". I'll not spoil anything. For those, who are looking for a non-stop "spy thriller action ride", this one is a must watch. The movie never stops anywhere.

Overall rating of 6.9 is really low for this cleverly written and directed movie. Also, the performances of the actors are really good, specially "Gong Yoo".

Like other top South Korean movies, screenplay was top-notch, also the direction is great in 'conversation between characters' as well as in car chase and other action scenes.

For me this is a really underrated South Korean flick.

The Suspect is the type of espionage thriller that starts very good but as usually happens with Asian movies, loses a lot of time with personal dramas and love / hate relations among enemies. The first half of the movie is so fast that it is almost impossible to follow (specially with subtitles). A dissident North Korean highly trained spy called Ji Dong-cheol; working as a chauffeur for an important industrial and political person, witness his boss assassination by a people of the South Korean Secret Service.

Ji Dong-cheol is able to fight the killers, so before dying, his boss gives him a pair of lenses with some secret information (the Mc Guffin).

Of course, Secret Service blames Ji Dong-cheol for the assassination and and start chasing him all over Seoul unsuccessfully. A retired Special Forces, is summoned to capture Ji Dong-cheol; but there is some old history between them.

The first half of the movie, the action is NON-STOP; however during the second half, personal past issues of the main characters are explained via flash backs or dialog; slowing down the action (and the main story line too much). There is still plenty of action and violence filmed in a way only Hong Kong or Korean movies can; but the interest decays.

It is common for Asian movies to include some over-dramatic moments but in this case, the pace changes too much and the events depicted are not that believable or properly developed.

In brief; a decent Korean action thriller with could have benefited for a 20 or 30 minutes trimming or with better written script and a director capable of handling drama without boring.

This is a solid action/thriller that should engage and entertain fans of Korean action cinema, Don't expect it to have the staying power of films like Cold Eyes or The Man From Nowhere, but The Suspect is well worth adding to your line-up of films to watch all the same. The story revolve around Ji Dong-cheol (Gong Yoo), a former North Korean super'spy who defected after being betrayed by his superiors and nearly killed. Working in South Korea as a chauffeur for a millionaire CEO, he finds himself framed for murder when his boss is assassinated by masked intruders. Ji goes on the run, being hotly pursued by a relentless government agent, Col. Min, who bears a grudge relating to a previous encounter between the two during an operation in Hong Kong which resulted in Min's being demoted. Also hot on Ji's trail is a female documentary filmmaker (Yoo Da-in) who's working on a project about defectors. Meanwhile, Jin attempts to discover the whereabouts of his missing wife and daughter who may have been killed by his former bosses.

In Short it all adds up to "fine Movie", which means a fun time can be had anyway. The super-charged pace, with its non-stop assassins and fights and intrigue and car crashes, will certainly never bore. Ultimately, The Suspect is a decent Korean spy entry that offers no challenges and leaves no lasting memories.

Pretty much a Korean "Bourne movie". Spies, secrets, double agents, betrayal, vengeance, action, you get it all. Solid performances from all the main cast. The writing is a bit of a B-grade but overall production values are top notch.

I got two main problems with it. First one is the runtime. For such a fast paced action thriller, it's at least half an hour too long.

But the main problem is the camera. It's not the usual slightly shaky style to underline the action. Remember the second Bourne movie? Yeah, well, this is worse. Much worse. In most shots, you won't know what's happening at all. They probably fixed a non-stabilized camera on a kangaroo and let him run amok through the city. My head actually started to hurt while trying to decipher what's going on on the screen all the time. Avoid if you're sensitive to these kind of things. It ruined it for me.

The two stunning set pieces, both involving car chases, are so inspired and teeth-grittingly determined that they make the case for the possibility of individual heroism in a harrowingly venal world.