20140222: Action Review--A Company Man

A Company Man

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. South Korean live action feature length film, 2012, NR, 96 minutes, action, drama, thriller.  Spoken word is in Korean; subtitles in English.
2. IMDB: 6.6/10.0 from 1,332 audience ratings. Aspect, 2.35.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No score yet,' 49% liked it from 110 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.8/5.0 from 74,170 audience ratings.
5. Written and directed by: Sang-yoon Lim.
6. Starring: So-ji Sub as Hyeong-do, Lee Mi-Yeon as Su-Yeon.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Hyeong-do is assigned to terminate a man.  The man asks that he give a certain woman some money.  He does this.  The woman is someone who he knew from earlier in his life, who used to be a singer.


2. He finds her, gives her the money, and meets with her now and then.  He puts off killing the man, but later is cornered into doing it.


3. He grows closer to the woman, and helps her buy a small shop.  He encourages her to sing again.  He decides to resign at a meeting.  His company sends two others to escort him to the meeting.  They were also assigned to kill him.


4. Throughout much of the film, he consults a disgraced former operative that the company let live for some unclear reason.   He confides in this man.  He decides to take the singer and her two children to a 'safe' place. 


5. How well does that work?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Professional assassin develops a conscience at great expense.
2. Four stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 8/10 Good.


2. Sound: 8/10 The subtitles seemed to be good.  Incidental music and foley were folded in nicely.


3. Acting: 9/10 I liked the principal actors very much.


4. Screenplay: 8/10 Reasonable story, well told.  Loved the final revenge phase.