RANSOMED Review
South Korea has produced a number of high-profile action films in recent years, and RANSOMED is one of them. Most of them are based on cops vs. cops. bad people in the city Supposedly based on true events, this film takes us to Lebanon in the 1980s. It also has more twists and turns without sacrificing the action component.
As factional wars rage in Lebanon, a group kidnaps a Korean diplomat and holds him for over a year, eventually demanding a $5 million ransom. Foreign Service colleague Min-joon (Ha Jung-woo) volunteers for the dangerous job of delivering the money and recovering the hostage, despite being a knight of the table without an army to prepare for possible difficulties in achieving the rescue. . . Corrupt cops are waiting to catch you at the airport and confiscate your money. He runs away without giving himself time to find his connection. Luckily (maybe not), Pan-su (Ju Ji-hoon) finds a Korean waiting for a taxi. They quickly get away from the police, setting up the first of many chase scenes to come. His supposed secret arrival soon becomes one of Liberace's worst-kept secrets since emerging from his rich, glittering wardrobe.
Pan-su reluctantly agrees to take her to the exchange after being offered a much higher than expected metered taxi fare, more than the driver and unlicensed. They must pass the second faction's checkpoint and continue to evade the paramilitary police. Meanwhile, another well-armed terrorist group knows they are coming and takes the real kidnappers hostage before they reach the exchange point. The rest of the film sees Min-joo wandering through uncharted territory, alternately aided, harmed, or threatened by the aforementioned players as he tries to complete his mission.
No one is perfectly good. Not all competing interests are bad. Our hero is not noble either. He accepted the move partly out of patriotism, but more because it seemed the only way to get the coveted promotion to another employee. Korean adults who must approve and finance these efforts are more concerned with politics, public relations, and costs than with a commitment to the survival of their members. In addition to this advantage, the political position of either party is rarely judged or even mentioned. All the contestants in Lebanon are chasing the big payday while the other teams are fighting for the money. It's like a game show with a high death toll among gun racers. Suspense is the main element, with some elements of comic relief, especially from Pan-su.
The chases, shootouts and explosions are perfectly executed by director Kim Seong-hun and his stunt team. Kim's biography is not long, but it is mainly acting on television and on the big screen. This experience shows that. The film was shot on location in Morocco, highlighting the scale of the massive conflict's destruction and heightening the excitement level of the action sequences. The pacing seems shorter than the 132 minute running time. Perhaps most admirably, they don't turn that white-collar star into Rambo. He relies heavily on the kindness of strangers, even if some are not particularly trustworthy.
RANSOMED, with English subtitles in English, Korean and Arabic, will begin streaming digitally exclusively on Well Go USA Entertainment on Friday, February 2nd.
RATING: 2.5 stars
