The Suspect

The Suspect (Yong-Eui-Ja) (2013)

Runtime: 137 minutes

Directed by: Won Shin-Yun

Starring: Gong Yoo, Park Hee-Soon, Jo Sung-Ha, Yoo Da-In, Kim Sung-Kyun

From: Several South Korean companies

I saw this movie last night. I do not say as much about it below as I normally do. It's sadly a “meh” movie. I can say that it's the sort of thing that borrows a really dumb moment from Quantum of Solace involving parachutes. Need I say more?

As this will expire from Netflix Instant in a few days, this ended up being the South Korean movie I am watching this month. If only I would have enjoyed this more. Many people have compared this to a Jason Bourne movie; truth be told, as of now I still actually haven't SEEN a Jason Bourne movie. The whole “shaky-cam” thing of the Paul Greengrass ones have always turned me off. However, sometime later in the year, I plan on diving into the series and hopefully it's not something I regret doing. Sad to say, this movie also has shaky-cam, and I was not a fan of that. Hopefully the Bourne movies have better storytelling, where things aren't so muddled or confused.

The plot: a special agent from North Korea (Ji) defects to the South; that naturally get the North upset. Plus, Ji is hunting down those who did great harm to his immediate family. There's more but that's the gist. While there's plenty of action to be seen, the way that it's shot is a real downer for me as that made it less enjoyable. I already griped about the storytelling... while there are still exciting moments and even moments that made me laugh, overall I am meh about this. I was hoping for better, even though I had heard mixed things about this from here and elsewhere.

I'd normally have more to say but I think I summed things up pretty well so I'll leave it at that. I enjoy movies from South Korea in general but of course they also have movies that I feel let down by.