“Extreme Job” Korean Theatrical Poster
Director: Lee Byeong-Hun
Cast: Ryoo Seung-Ryong, Lee Ha-Nee, Jin Seon-Kyu, Lee Dong-Hwi, Gong Myung, Shin Ha-Kyun, Oh Jung-Se, Kim Eui-Sung, Yang Hyun-Min
Running Time: 111 min.
By Martin Sandison
In the last few years Korean action comedies have really come into there own, with films such as Confidential Assignment and Unstoppable proving the well-established tropes in the genre can be given a fresh and innovative twist. While more comedic and thrill-a-minute than action, Asian smash hit Extreme Job is the icing on the cake, a movie so relentlessly entertaining it threatens to gobsmack even the most jaded of viewers. It’s also guaranteed to make every viewer with a fried chicken prediliction salivate constantly and immediately seek out a Korean chicken joint.
A bunch of detectives are trying to bust a big gang, and find a Korean chicken joint across the road from where the gang operate: it’s the perfect place to observe them. Unfortunately, they soon realise they will have to keep the restaurant in business to maintain their cover. Lo and behold the place becomes a phenomenon due to an accidental glaze they use on the chicken. The question remains, should they quit the force and become millionares, or solve the case?
A set up that is primed for constant jokery, and the film delivers on this. The bunch, led by Ryoo Seung-Ryoung (Seven Years of Night) are on constant fire with their delivery of the laughs and physical comedy. Ryoo strikes just the right balance of world-weariness, deadpan demanour and conflict between with his cohorts. A superb love story subplot that plays out between Jang (Lee Ha-Nee, Fabricated City) and Ma (Jin Seon-Kyu, The Outlaws) encapsulates whats great about the film: humour, but with just the right dose of pathos and brilliantly drawn characters. The will-they-wont-they narrative device is served with just the right amount of knowing winks, with scriptwriter and director Lee Byeong-Hun playing all the right angles to engage the brain and heart of the viewer. This is the kind of film the end of this decade needs: one that is playful yet deep, humorous and referential yet intelligent. This balance of the form is what informs the best films of this decade, be it a low budget hybrid blowout like Nightshooters or a higher budget superhero movie (that went against the grain) like Deadpool.
Director Lee Byeong-Hun previously directed mostly comedy dramas such as last years What a Man Wants, and has been growing in stature. His ability to wring laughs out of every situation in Extreme Job speaks of a filmmaker coming in to his own, and that’s not mentioning his direction of actors, all of whom grow in to and inhabit their characters superbly. The addition of action into his repertoire may have been a risk, and it’s one he pulls off. Lead villain Lee Moo-Bae (Shin Ha-Kyun, The Villainess), who does a wonderful job chewing scenery and being a bad ass, gets his right hand woman Sun-Hee (Jang Jin-Hee, The Dude In Me) to do his fighting, and her form, execution and deadliness as she kicks all sorts of ass leaps of the screen. Unforunately there’s not a huge amount of action until the end, but boy does that ending deliver.
In an inspired comedic touch, as our heroes face off against the baddies, two characters discuss the relative fighting skills of each, and the film intercuts between the conversation and the action. My favourite is Ma’s judo abilities, as he keeps singling out one baddie until he stretches out his arm to be thrown again. The actors action chops, while not in the league of someone like Lee Byung-Hun, are given a good showcase, props to the choreographer. A little gripe I have is Jang looks the least convincing, with her conviction not selling the moves. Clever editing and angles can only disguise so much. She faces off with Sun-Hee, and it’s not really convincing after Sun-Hees martial arts prowess that she would be taken down so easily. While slightly disappointing, this doesn’t detract from how entertaining the film is.
The geek in me was delighted come the end of the movie to see a reference to my favourite film of all time, John Woo’s masterpiece A Better Tomorrow, the deepest action film ever made, with Leslie Cheung’s theme song playing, and a shot reference to A Better Tomorrow 2. Korean filmmakers love for classic Hong Kong movies gladdens my heart, and as Ryoo Seung-Wan (Veteran) said when I asked him if he was influenced by Hong Kong movies a long time ago, “When I was growing up I thought there was only Hong Kong movies”.
As we all have noted, Korean cinema has faded a little in the last years, with Asian countries like Taiwan and Indonesia on the rise, the latter, especially when it comes to the action genre. However, a movie like Extreme Job reminds us of the vitality of Korean output, and their willingness to bend genre and come out with something fresh and exciting. The film is constantly engaging and hilarious, with humour that transcends national boundaries and elicits howls of laughter, alongside awe-inspiring visuals and action. There are still a lot of these movies I need to see, and like classic Hong Kong cinema it’s a treasure trove of delights that allows me to smile inside, safe in the knowledge my days and nights in the years to come will be full of cinematic trascendence.
Martin Sandison’s Rating: 8.5/10
I just want to say Im completely offended that this article isn’t about Scott Adkins.
Your review has my curiosity Mr. S! This was on the cinema here a few months ago, and I decided to skip it based on the assumption it looked like another middling mid-budget effort that was riffing on the success of ‘Veteran’ (the fight set amongst the containers featured in the trailer, which looks lifted wholesale, definitely didn’t help). Happy to be proved wrong though!
Terrific write-up, Martin! This movie was actually totally off my radar – at first glance, the marketing and posters and such made it look like kind of a broad, rubberfaced comedy to me. I had no idea there was action to be had in it. I’ll definitely be giving this a shot now!
I got through watching this one recently thanks to the Korean Blu-ray, and would second Martin’s review. It would make an entertaining double-bill with ‘Veteran’, since both movies essentially stick to the same template (a team of likeable underdog cops vs. a superior enemy), however my fear of ‘Extreme Job’ being derogative of Ryoo Seung-wan’s 2015 caper was thankfully unfounded. Nice homanges to ‘A Better Tomorrow’ (as Martin mentioned) and more recent Korean blockbusters like ‘Train to Busan’ as well, although I worry that Shin Ha-kyun is starting to get typecast as a villain in these types of productions, following similar turns in the likes of ‘The Villainess’ and ‘Big Match’.
YesAsia had it on sale, and I’m glad that I watched Extreme Job. Even as a vegetarian, those chicken cooking scenes were hard not to appreciate.
The cast were all great. Usually in these types of films, there’s someone really annoying but that definitely wasn’t the case here. The comedy and action were well balanced out, and I was never bored and waiting for someone to get punched.
I liked Lee Ha Nee and laughed how her character was nicknamed after a certain Tony Jaa film. She wasn’t the best screen fighter, but I think she showed potential.
I hear there’s a Hollywood remake being planned, and I don’t have high hopes for it unless it’s directed by someone like Edgar Wright. I’m afraid they’ll just throw a bunch of SNL alumni and Kevin Hart together to make something annoying.