Alice Oscura – Featured Writer
Hitman: Agent Jun is a Korean action comedy directed by Choi Won-sub and starring Kwon Sang-woo (My Tutor Friend, Stairway to Heaven). Kwon stars as Secret Agent Jun, an orphan recruited by agency known as Shield…no, not Marvel folks! His lifelong aspiration of wanting to become a comic book artist is put on hold until he stages his own death one day in order to pursue his dream. Hilarious antics ensue after a drunken night that threatens to derail his current life and expose his past.
This movie had me in stitches from beginning to end. You do not find many films that manage an almost perfect balance between comedy, drama, and action at the same time. The choreography of the fighting sequences was particularly good, and it is almost nonstop action and antics from start to finish.
I think what makes the magic of the film is the fact that Agent Jun was an extremely good hitman, but he ended being kind of a failure in trying to achieve his dream. And yet when his secret past, aspiration and real life collide, he becomes a successful comic book artist because of his past and then his past literally shows up to kill him. It is a brilliant circle plot and paved the way for a whole bunch of crazy likable characters.
It is fun without being over-the-top silly and it manages to keep up the fast pace throughout the whole movie so that the audience is never bored. The acting is not superb but, Kwon manages to balance the nurturing side of Jun as a father even when he is forced to turn on the butt kicking skills to protect his family. It is a vastly different style of slapstick comedy to that of Jackie Chan which is quite a refreshing change. There is an excellent dynamic between the lead characters and Kwon is not only handsome but charismatic, whilst the humor is well executed. You are caught laughing for quite awhile afterwards and you are left with a nice, cheery feel-good kind of buzz.
The animation in between was excellent and reminded me of a graphic novel come to life. If they turned this into an graphic novel series, I would definitely follow it.
The audience is definitely going to enjoy this one and I think that it has re-watchability, especially when you just need some good laughs with some action sprinkled in for good measure. I have realised over time, that some of the movies and series coming out of South Korea are actually surprisingly good and enjoyable to watch. So, do not be intimidated by having to read subtitles, because you do not want to miss out on all the good stuff that foreign Cinema has to offer the world.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10
For my review of Enter the Fat Dragon you can click here. And for more reviews you can follow Redmangoreviews on Facebook here.
Dark Alice has an old soul and a curious mind. I believe that anyone can be a hero and that the good guys should always win! I dislike cruelty to animals and think that they have far superior qualities to humans. My motto is there is no future without the past. I also have a weird penchant for Paranormal TV shows even though the slightest sound makes me jump.
I enjoy writing reviews and throwing in fun facts to pique the readers’ curiosity. My ultimate goal in life would be to become a published writer one day. You can find me as Dark Alice Reviews on Facebook, my Instagram is alice_oscura and my Twitter handle is @lise_veliz2. For more on me you can click here.