Here’s a slick li’l slice o’ Hell. This is what happens when you like Heat for the shootout … and that’s it. This is what happens when you think Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy has no hero. This is what happens when you know exactly the film you want to make but forget why you wanted to be a filmmaker in the first place. Hunt is an international spy thriller so deep into itself you’ll wonder why you, the audience, came here in the first place.
Look, you guys go ahead and do your movie thing, don’t mind us. Indeed by the end of the film, I had noted a lot of blood and a lot of well-shot action, but I didn’t give a rat’s ass what had happened in the film. It was is if it all took place on an adjacent screen … like you’re at a basketball game but more into another game on the small television you brought with you. But there was no other game; the film just happened regardless of who was paying attention.
The film opens with an exciting thwarted assassination attempt. South Korean CIA (KCIA) and the CIA work together to put down an entire team of bad guys with coordinated excitement and bullets galore. Ok, we’re off and running! Let’s go!
At this point, the movie took me at my adrenaline and leaped right into the main plot about a mole in the KCIA and another assassination plot.
Umm, movie, you want to introduce any characters or anything?
Dammit, man! There’s no time for that! Don’t you see we have a bomb to diffuse and a mole to catch?
I couldn’t even tell you who was the main character in this film. I’m not sure it mattered. I felt like I was thrust into the middle of an episode of “Mission: Impossible.” There’s plenty of action and motivation here, but I cannot tell you what’s really going on. Mostly, this film needs Korean Jack Ryan, stat! It doesn’t even have BTS Jack Ryan.
Hunt is a great film for examining individual scenes for how films are made, but an awful film for how films are received. In my estimation, the receiving is more important than the production. Hence, Hunt is watchable for the action, but fairly intolerable for lack of character or dialogue development.
KCIA went searching for a mole
One undermining South Korean control
It did worse than dare
For now I don’t care
Which was probably the ultimate goal
Not Rated, 131 Minutes
Director: Lee Jung-jae
Writer: Jo Seung-Hee
Genre: The Spy Who Loved Kimchi
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Style over substance
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Substance over style
