Confidential Assignment 2: International (2022) Review

“Confidential Assignment 2: International” Theatrical Poster

Director: Lee Suk-Hoon
Cast: Hyun-Bin, Yu Hae-Jin, Lim Yoon-A , Daniel Henney, Jin Sun-Kyu, Jang Young-Nam, Park Hoon, Im Sung-Jae, Yoon Sang-Hwa, Park Min-Ha
Running Time: 129 min.

By Paul Bramhall

In 2016 Yoo Hae-jin and Hyun Bin played a South Korean detective and North Korean agent who team up to track down a rogue North Korean general in Confidential Assignment. Somewhat of a precursor to the trend of movies that portrayed amicable relations between the South and North once president Moon Jae-in would take office just a year later, the production itself was a breezy but slight affair. A pleasant mix of comedy, action, and light drama wrapped up as a commercially leaning crowd pleaser, 6 years later it’s the kind of movie that has most likely slipped the mind of most who watched it (unless I’m only speaking for myself). Needless to say, it’s debatable if anyone was clamouring for a sequel, but in 2022 that’s what we got in the form of Confidential Assignment 2: International (possibly the first and only sequel to take inspiration from the ill-fated 4^th entry in the Men in Black franchise?).

Replacing director Kim Seong-hoon is Lee Seok-hoon, for whom the sequel marks a kind of comeback vehicle. The last time Seok-hoon was in the director’s chair was before the original Confidential Assignment was released, with the 2015 mountain climbing drama The Himalayas. Before that he’d helmed 2014’s Pirates and a handful of romantic comedies, proving himself to be a solid if unremarkable commercial director. If anything, much like the original, solid if unremarkable is also the best way to describe the sequel.

Despite the title indicating the possibility of a globe hopping adventure (even though, if you think about it for more than a few seconds, you realise that’s impossible for Hyun Bin’s North Korean agent), the sequel for the most part plays out in Seoul just like the original. The whole ‘international’ angle mainly comes in the form of an American agent who transforms the twosome of Hae-jin and Hyun Bin into a trio – but can their bromance survive a third wheel? The American agent is played by Daniel Henney, who’s had success onscreen both in Korea (Seducing Mr. Perfect) and in the U.S. (X-Men Origins: Wolverine). The son of an ethnically Korean American adoptee mother and American father with British and Irish roots, Henney was a model who transitioned into acting, only learning Korean once he was in his 20’s.

Its Henney’s agent who we meet in the New York set opening, where we’re also introduced to the villain of the piece played by Jin Sun-kyu (Space Sweepers, Svaha: The Sixth Finger), whose wardrobe and hairstyle makes him look like he just walked off the set of a 70’s taekwon action flick. Like the original’s villain, Sun-kyu is also a North Korean who’s seemingly developed a taste for capitalism, and after the authorities bust a drug deal he finds himself due to be extradited back to Pyongyang. Enter Hyun Bin, who the regime has sent to be his escort. Things go awry though when their vehicle is intercepted on the way to the airport, leading to an impressively staged shootout on the streets that clearly tips its hat to Heat, complete with that distinctly satisfying echo from the machine gun fire. In the aftermath Sun-kyu makes his escape, and heads for Seoul with a billion dollars of stolen funds that was intended for North Korean government.

All of this takes place before the title has even appeared onscreen, with the setup giving the perfect excuse for both Hyun Bin and Henney to keep hot on Sun-kyu’s tail, leading to everyone converging in Seoul where the rest of the plot plays out. It’s also where various events transpire that see the pair team up with Yoo Hae-jin, who after one too many stuff ups has been demoted from major crimes to the cyber-crime complaints desk. Sensing an opportunity to redeem himself, after no one else volunteers themselves to work with Hyun Bin due to the events of the original, Hae-jin puts himself forward, hoping that it’ll present an opportunity to get himself reinstated back into major crimes. The rest follows the usual tropes, as the trio find themselves reluctantly working together, and gradually put aside their differences to take down the bad guy.

Even more so than the original, the sequel feels like a throwaway affair, not unlike the direct to streaming movies of the west like Red Notice and Ghosted. Despite the 6-year gap, there’s practically zero development when it comes to Hae-jin and Hyun Bin’s characters from the pair who we met in the first, and several scenarios simply recycle the same setups from the original. Again Hyun Bin ends up staying with Hae-jin’s family, of whom the original cast all return – Jang Young-nam (Project Wolf Hunting) as the feisty wife, Yoona as his lovestruck sister-in-law (Exit), and Park Min-ha as his now teenage daughter (who notably hasn’t appeared in anything since the original). Only this time Yoona’s obsession with Hyun Bin feels rather tired and stilted, not to mention a little outdated, as her character is given little to do other than record YouTube makeup tutorials, apply makeup to Daniel Henney, and swoon over both of them.

Speaking of outdated, there’s an undeniable pre-John Wick feel to the action, which is likely to divide audiences depending on their preference. Much like The Matrix put an end to the era of muscle-bound action heroes throwing haymakers at each other, so John Wick’s popularisation of the ultra-efficient one-shot kill has largely seen the traditional action movie shootout, where the bad guys are incapable of hitting a single target, become a thing of the past. Confidential Assignment 2 brings this action aesthetic back with a vengeance, with a number of scenes containing bad guys spraying bullets in every direction, but apparently completely incapable of landing a single shot on any of our trio of protagonists. With the exception of the opening New York shootout, the result is that there never really feels like anyone’s in danger, even when bullets are flying.

What is clear is that director Seok-hoon is a fan of The Matrix himself, as the finale features a couple of scenes that aren’t so much inspired by the action classic as they are directly lifted from it. In one sequence the bad guys rescue Sun-kyu, who’s tied to a chair on the upper floor of a skyscraper, by bringing a helicopter to directly hover outside the window, unleashing a hail of gunfire that basically replicates Neo’s same rescue of Morpheus. Anyone who’s seen The Matrix will also undoubtably recognise the slow-motion pillar destruction through a hail of bullets, replicating the same aesthetic that was employed in the famous lobby shootout scene, just minus any acrobatics. 

The biggest issue the sequel has though is the handling of Sun-kyu’s villain. Unlike many recent Korean thrillers, his rogue North Korean agent actually has clearly defined motivations and legitimate reasons for being angry, however a lack of screentime means it’s never effectively conveyed in a convincing manner. His reasons are also largely personal, and don’t really have anything to do with our trio of protagonists, so the revenge factor behind catching the bad guy that drove the originals narrative here feel sourly lacking. It’s basically a trio of comedic good guys that banter along about being Korean through their cultural differences, while trying to catch a bad guy who’s stolen some money. A bit more time on giving the trio of Hae-jin, Hyun Bin, and Henney some motivation to catch him beyond it being their job could have helped to add at least a smidgen of gravitas to their mission.

As it is, Confidential Assignment 2: International achieves much the same as the first. There’s a few genuine laughs to be had, a smattering of decent action (and also some not so decent, including the whole rooftop finale), and functional dramatic beats to keep things moving along. If we were still in the 2010’s I’d probably think more highly of this follow-up, but as a product of 2022 when Korea is cranking out similar genre efforts like The Roundup, Seok-hoon’s return to filmmaking feels more than a little lazy, delivering the bare minimum and not an ounce more.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 5.5/10