HARBIN
(director/writer: Woo Min-ho; screenwriter: Min-Seong Kim; cinematographer: Hong Kyung-pyo; editor: Kim Man-geun; music: Cho Young-Wuk; cast: Hyun Bin (Ahn Jung-geun), Park Hoon (Mori Tatsuo), Park Jeong-min (Woo Deok-soon), Jeon Yeo-been (Gong Bu-in), Jo Woo-jin (Kim Sang Hyun), Lee Dong-wook (Lee /Well Go USA Entertainment; 2024-S. Korea-in Korean, Japanese with English subtitles)
“A stylish and tense period action thriller.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
A stylish and tense period action thriller. It’s strongly directed by the South Korean filmmaker Woo Min-ho (“The Man Standing Next”/”The Drug King”) and smartly co-written by him and Min-Seong Kim. It makes for a noteworthy historical piece.
The action begins in 1909, four years after the Eulsa Treaty turned the country into a colony of Japan.
Lt General Ahn Jung-geun (Hyun Bin, one of South Korea’s biggest stars) rallies the Independence Army to be “freedom fighters” to regain Korea’s statehood by assassinating the Japanese Prime Minister Ito Hirobumi in a suicide mission. But there’s a mole in the group, and the presence of the bloodthirsty Japanese Captain Mori Tatsuo (Park Hoon) to contend with.
The “freedom fighters” include Ahn’s team of Woo Deok-sun (Jeong-min), Kim Sang-hyun (Woo-jin), and Ms. Gong (Yeo-been).
The film is impressive because of its top-grade production values, its exciting story telling that’s told from the Korean POV (with its many twists and turns), its magnificent visuals by Hong Kong DP Hong Kyung-pyo (including b/w flashbacks), and the superb way Woo Min-ho blends together scenes of brutality with vigorous set pieces on trains. It has the look of a neo-noir film, as its atmosphere is grounded in mystery by its deep shadows and that the characters dress like spies in black trench coats and low-brimmed hats.
It has a brilliant opening act where an exhausted Ahn must explain at a meeting to his army comrades why he failed to execute in a victorious battle 40 days ago Japanese POWs and let them go free and therefore should not be considered a traitor. It remains a good watch throughout, as it’s always provocative, entertaining and informative.
It played at the Toronto Film Festival.
REVIEWED ON 1/2/2025 GRADE: B
dennisschwartzreviews.com