Deliver Us from Evil: Final Cut (2020) Review

“Deliver Us from Evil: Final Cut” Theatrical Poster

Director: Hong Won-Chan
Cast: Hwang Jung-Min, Lee Jung-Jae, Park Jung-Min, Park So-Yi, Choi Hee-Seo, Park Myoung-Hoon, Oh Dae-Hwan, Shim Young-Eun, Kim Sung-Gon
Running Time: 108 min.

By Paul Bramhall

Seven years have passed since Korean thespians Lee Jung-jae and Hwang Jung-min starred together in 2013’s New World in which they played sworn brothers, with one a no-nonsense cop deep undercover, and the other a live wire unpredictable gangster. In 2020 they’d reunite for Deliver Us from Evil, the sophomore directorial feature from Hong Won-chan, which gives them an opportunity to swap the character traits that their previous collaboration offered them. This time around Jung-min gets to play a no-nonsense hitman who’s ready to retire in Panama after completing his last job, and Jung-min plays the psychotic yakuza brother of Jung-min’s last job, which sets the pair on a collision course.

A scenario establishing side-plot involves Jung-min’s back story as part of a shadowy agency which gets abruptly disbanded with no support, leading to him escaping to Japan and leaving his girlfriend (played by Choi Hee-seo – Okja, Our Body) behind. Little does he know that at the time she was pregnant. In the succeeding 10 years Hee-seo and her daughter have moved to Bangkok and she’s become a successful businesswoman, which puts her in the sights of a child trafficking ring who kidnap kids for their organs, extorting money from the parents as a bonus side hustle. Thanks to an old connection Jung-min learns both that he has a daughter and that she’s been kidnapped at the same time, which understandably leaves him reeling, and after Hee-seo turns up dead he puts his trip to Panama on hold and heads to Bangkok to rescue the daughter he never knew he had.

The plot of a father heading to Thailand to rescue his daughter recalls Wilson Yip’s Paradox from 2017, however whereas Yip’s tale revolved around the theme of karma, here director Won-chan is satisfied to deliver a loud and violent action flick with no further intent beyond onscreen mayhem. It’s worth noting that the version of Deliver Us from Evil being reviewed here is the Final Cut, which adds an additional 6 minutes of footage to the original theatrical version, and in its native Korea pushed its rating from a 15 to 19+. The extra run time contains some short scenes of added violence, as well as more time with some of the supporting characters that fleshes out the overall story more than the theatrical version.

Having worked on the screenplay’s for Na Hong-jin’s The Chaser and The Yellow Sea amongst others, Hong Won-chan made his directorial debut in 2014 with the thriller meets slasher flick Office. In the 6 years since he’s been off the radar, and it’s unlikely anyone was expecting him to return with an action orientated movie based on his previous credentials. It’s a welcome return though, and Deliver Us from Evil marks the first time for him to direct from his own script. It’s ironic then that for someone who’s primarily known for being a scriptwriter, the story itself feels like the weakest part of the production. At its core Won-chan’s latest is another riff on The Man from Nowhere, which at this point was already 10 years old, and was itself heavily influenced by Taken.

Despite the story not being particularly original, thankfully the location shooting and a pair of scenery chewing performances from Jung-min and Jung-jae more than make up for any short comings. Jung-jae in particular looks like he’s having a ball as a pimped-out yakuza, all loud shirts and oversized sunglasses, and manages to evoke a certain sense of dread whenever he appears similar to Kim Yun-seok’s character in The Yellow Sea. Jung-jae has of course played villain roles before in the likes of The Thieves and Assassination, but nothing as gratuitous and flagrant as what’s on display here, and his performance alone is worth clocking in for.

Special mention should also go to Park Jung-min, who’s easily one of the brightest acting talents working today, following his turns in the likes of Keys to the Heart, Tazza: One Eyed Jack, and Time to Hunt (he notably also had a role in Won-chan’s Office). Here he plays a transgender character working Bangkok’s bar scene to save enough money for gender reassignment surgery, and thanks to his proficiency in Thai is connected with (Hwang) Jung-min to interpret when speaking with the local undesirables. He gives a committed performance, even when ladened with a script that tries a little too hard to exaggerate his femininity, making it sometimes feel unnecessarily forced. Regardless of the script’s shortcomings though, Jung-min shines in the role. 

While the bulk of the plot takes place in Bangkok, the narrative globe trots across Tokyo and Incheon as well (making a good case for it to be the spiritual follow-up to 1973’s Tokyo Seoul Bangkok!), and each location is given its own distinct lensing. The scenes in Japan comprise of largely still and static shots, compared to the constantly prowling movement filled frames of Bangkok. Indeed for the opening assassination scene that takes place in a heavily guarded yakuza abode in Tokyo, you may well be mistaken for thinking you’re about to watch a modern take on the gritty 70’s yakuza flicks which were such a staple of Japanese cinema. That definitely wouldn’t be a bad thing, however Deliver Us from Evil ultimately finds its own direction, and if anything owes more nods to 90’s Hollywood action flicks than any other genre.

When the action does come its suitably intense and backed by a thunderous sound design, with a bass heavy soundtrack that occasionally feels like its going to drown out what’s onscreen. Eschewing the dreaded ‘soft’ sound effects that Korean cinema often goes for in its fight scenes (see City of Violence), here punches land with a satisfyingly deep thud, and are complimented by some stellar camera work. There’s also a refreshing lack of CGI, so when Lee Jung-jae arrives on a tuk tuk with an assault rifle in one hand and a grenade in the other, to see cars flying into the air before crashing back down and actually feel the weight of them feels gloriously refreshing. Deliver Us from Evil also contains possibly the most awesome variation on one of my favorite action tropes – the flying kick through the windshield of a moving vehicle – that I’ve seen this side of the 21^st century.

While the action is fun and frequent, other aspects don’t quite hit the mark. A more fitting title would be ‘The Most Traumatised 9-Year Old Girl in the World’ considering how much she goes though, but in the end it never really feels about the daughter. This is about Hwang Jung-min and Lee Jung-jae going at each other in a hyper-macho flick, with everything else feeling largely inconsequential. With that being said, the conflict between Jung-min and Jung-jae still feels like it should resonate more than it does, but perhaps because Jung-jae is the enemy purely by accident (Jung-min didn’t know the hit was his brother) it doesn’t quite land. Jung-min really just wants to find his daughter, and Jung-jae keeps on inconveniently showing up to try and kill him. It would have worked better if the focus was purely on the 2 leads, rather than their conflict being incidental.

Despite these flaws though, as an unpretentious and energetic action flick that isn’t pretending to be anything other than exactly what you see on the surface, Deliver Us from Evil is undeniably entertaining. It may miss the emotional beats which it seems to half heartedly go for, but to go back to an earlier comparison, most of the 70’s yakuza movies weren’t exactly looking to pull on the heart strings either, and today many of them are considered stone cold classics. It’s unlikely Won-chon’s latest will be considered a classic today or several decades later, but if you want a healthy dose of violent machismo that doesn’t pull its punches and where a violent death is never far away, look no further.  

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 6.5/10