‘Smugglers Review: Female Oyster Divers Make Satisfying Action Heroes In Funky Korean Caper
When Korea was closed off to the outside world in the 1970s, its people relied on black market traders for everything from American cigarettes to Ritz crackers. Although this illegal import racket is operated mostly by men, it would not be possible without half a dozen exceptionally talented women, expert divers known as haenyeo , who hunt their prey from the sea. At least, that's the new premise of female power, as evidenced by warlord Ryo Sung Wan (Battleship Island) in his stylishly retro crime epic Smugglers.
With Lalo Shifri's (composer Jang Ki-ha) playful style and polyester pants with collars wider than those worn in a Charlie's Angels costume contest, the film looks like a lost relic of the dark ages, but it has genre dynamics. in the future In the first scenes, divers make a living by extracting oysters from the bottom of the ocean, at least until factories started dumping toxic waste into the water. For Korean audiences, haenyeo represents a dying tradition, and the characters find it easier to accept the abandoned decision; to facilitate boxing.
Almost in the blink of an eye, women shed their ragged clothes and start dressing like American TV stars. The opening cut, presented in split screen, gives the audience a taste of their success. Then someone alerts the customs officials and the oregano is stopped. While her friends spend the next two years in prison, Jeonja (Kim Hye Soo, now wearing a feathered wig) moves to Seoul, where her petty flirtations attract smuggling sergeant Kwon (Zo In Sung).
Kwon is ruthless but cute, which may explain why he forgives Chunja for threatening to cut her throat; their competitors. To save his scroll, Chungya suggests that he and Kwon work together and recommends a secret location in the Kunchon region where he enters. Since she and the other women are the only ones eligible for the job, this gives her an advantage. But first, he must defeat five divers, including Jin Suk's (Yum Jung-ah) best friend, who curses his name.
Ryo and co-writers Kim Yoon Yoon and Choi Cha Won build much of the film's plot around loyalty and betrayal, creating double and triple mistakes that require the director to go back in time and recreate certain scenes. Guy Ritchie can do it. "Smugglers" has a great style, but it's not flashy enough to make the story difficult to understand. However, at over two hours long, there is almost no excuse for sei haenyeon to get sick. Only two are truly memorable, such that a devastating shark attack lacks the desired emotional impact, though it does add an extra layer of menace to the film's ultimate immersion.
Ryu's Escape from Mogadishu Choi Yong-hwan's live-action widescreen Smugglers suddenly loses its cartoonish tone (with the characters' overt gestures to indicate criminal complicity) and becomes tense. the last two rolls. Caught between three powerful men: Kwon, customs officer Jang Chun (Kim Jung Soo), and local gangster Do Ri (Park Jung Min), Hyun Yo hatches a simple plan to turn them all against each other.
In this plan, the selmer's actions come to the fore as he leads a surprisingly brutal and skillful clash between Ryo Kwon and a small army of rivals; Episode honoring John Woo and Ryo's mentor Park Chang Woo. As exciting as this episode is, it can't match the film's underwater climax, which is second only to Thunder in terms of big water scenes. Earlier, the "smugglers" demonstrated a clever trick used by women to swim side by side. It's every man for himself in Bad Boys, and the sense of teamwork within clearly favors the women.
