For many, Kim Seong-hun made one of the best non-serial killer South Korean thriller in “A Hard Day”. While he followed that up with the rather well-made but comparatively underwhelming “Tunnel”, he has since settled for creating a zombie-infested Joseon for Netflix's ultra-popular series “Kingdom”. For his much-awaited return to the big screen, he follows “Escape from Mogadishu” and “The Point Men” in adapting a real-life situation involving Korean diplomats finding themselves in a pickle overseas, for an action adventure feature presentation.
“Ransomed” is released by WellGo USA
Lebanon, 1986. A newly-deployed South Korean diplomat gets kidnapped and despite the government's best efforts, they are unable to find his whereabouts or even who his captives are. Without any ransom demands, the case hits a dead-end for more than a year, when suddenly one evening, Min-joon, a diplomat for the Iranian region in the Ministry of External Affairs, gets a phone call which seems to be from the missing diplomat. Seeing this as a chance to get his dream placement in the United States, Min-joon volunteers to pay the ransom and bring the hostage back home safely. However, danger follows him from the moment he steps out of the plane onto Lebanese soil and the only person he thinks he can turn to is Korean taxi driver Pan-soo, who has been living there for years and who may or may not be quite the trustworthy person Min-joon thinks he is.
Kim Seong-hun takes inspiration from a real-life event, as films of these kind tend to, from the 80s, a tumultuous time for Koreans both domestically and apparently overseas too. However, he gives his narrative a fun action-adventure spin in the guise of a buddy-comedy. Of course, the story is filled with drama and high-stakes action sequences too, but it manages to set itself apart from other productions of its ilk thanks to this approach. It derives the majority of its comedy from the changing dynamic between its two central characters Min-joon and Pan-soo, an angle that is helped by the performances from its two leads. Both Ha Jung-woo, playing Min-joon here, and Ju Ji-hoon share great chemistry, as evident in their previous collaboration on the “Along With the Gods” films as well, and play off each other in the comedic scenes with aplomb.
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This changing dynamic in their relationship also carries the majority of the dramatic weight of the narrative. This is one of the more interesting elements of the storyline and one that once again benefits from its capable stars. Kim enlists actors he has worked with in the past, Ha on “Tunnel” and Ju in “Kingdom” and manages to elicit commendable performances from both. While Pan-soo may not get the impressive arc that Min-joon does, with the character often disappearing for extended periods of time, Ju Ji-hoon still manages to be impactful every time he appears on-screen.
The feature borrows its blockbuster cinematographic choices from Hollywood counterparts, with Morocco standing in for Lebanon, just as it did for Mogadishu in Ryu Seung-wan's hit 2020 feature, making for impressive visuals that show off the production's impressive budget. Director Kim has proven more than capable of executing large-scale action sequences in “Kingdom” and “Ransomed” is no different, with a number of such scenes impressing, culminating in a terrifically shot chase sequence that is thrilling but also guilty of going on for a bit longer than necessary.
The same can in fact also be said of the narrative itself, which seems to want to go on even after a perfectly satisfactory conclusion, making its 132 minutes runtime felt. Additionally, if audiences are too quick to write off Mainland Chinese features for adding unnecessary patriotism in a number of productions from the country, the same criticism should also be aimed at South Korean features of this kind, which tend to add such moments that only work to ruin the momentum of the proceedings and come across rather outdated.
With that said though, and despite its slightly taxing runtime, “Ransomed” ends up being a fairly entertaining endeavour from Kim Seong-hun, filled with exciting action sequences and a fantastic central duo that more than makes up for the feature's shortcomings with their enjoyable double act.
