The story is the new incarnation of known from other movies, old solutions. North Korean spy (Park Sung-Woong) will commit suicide by proxy, rather than let agents of the South Korean NIS capture him. The superior of the deceased agent, Colonel Moon Sang-Chul (Cho Seon-Ha) pulls his children from the criminal labor camp. He proposes teenage son, of the disgraced spy, Ri Myung- Hoon'owi (T.O.P) to, after intense training, go south as the "technician" (assassin) and finished what his father could not accomplish, while his sister Hye-In (Kim You-Jung) pretty much ends as a hostage.
Myung-Hoon disguises himself as a high school student and gradually befriends bullied student Hye-In (Han Ye-Ri), who aspires to become a professional dancer. However, to ensure the safety of his sister and to return home safely, Myung-Hoon must eliminate the other "technician" (Jeong Ho-Bin) who works for the opposite faction of the government, and ultimately deal with the betrayal of Colonel Moon Sang-Chul.
Following in the footsteps of Secretly Greatly (2013), hoping to repeat its great commercial success, Park Hong-Soo adapts the same idea of casting "pretty boy" in the role of a North Korean spy. While Secretly Greatly (2013) uses the whole scheme to create gags and ridicule ultra-consumptionist (yet strongly hierarchical) Korean society, Park Hong-Soo goes towards romanticism and wounded masculinity, seasoned with tears and melodrama. Fortunately, he don'w exaggerate with all this, so the movie does not end up as dull production about lonely and damaged teenager, but on the other hand, he could not overcome the predictability of the plot and "genericness" of characters.
Fault for predictability lies not with the actors. Employment in the role of Hye-In, Han Ye-Ri,was a very good idea (helped by the fact that she is a well-trained dancer) because of her unusual appearance and refreshing acting (she does not belong to the beautiful actresses, and yet she has a unique charm that makes her pleasant to watch), provide a good counterbalance to the reserved and brooding, acting presented by T.O.P. The rest of the older actors presents a solid act, but Yoon Je-Moon deserves special attention thanks to playing role of, rare in his career, positive hero. As for T.O.P, without any major problems, he manages to play the role of an emotionally wounded teenager without exaggeration and with the appropriate degree of sensitivity, and is complemented by the charisma he emanates. He not only pleasant to the eye, but additionally pleasant to the ear.
The Commitment (2013) is a movie decently made movie, without any major defects, but unfortunately it too closely sticks to the canon. There are a lot of interesting, and somewhat innovative elements that appealed to me (very good choreographed fights, nicely balanced romantic thread of Hye-In and Myung- Hoon), there is something missing in this movie. The story is the sum of standard solutions, and because of that nothing really surprise the viewer. It was slightly disappointing experience for me, after a good beginning, it all ended in a way that I've seen so many times.
In summary, this is a movie that is quite fun to watch (and listen, thanks to T.O.P), but this is not a movie that is in any way exceptional. Good for anyone who likes action movies, and likes to look at pretty faces.
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I waited a while to watch this and it didn't disappoint.
I found myself watching through my hands in parts, close to sobbing in others... the story grips you from the beginning.
You feel everything he feels - the loss for his sister, the growing feelings for his friends and comrades, and the other actors don't fail to get across their emotions either.
9/10 because -nothing- is perfect right?
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Anyway, not to make this too long. TOP did a phenomenal job, this is the first time in his acting career that he's played a complex character and I was pleasantly surprised how well he did. This film is VERY action packed and by the climax of the story I was on the edge of my seat cheering for him. I will also say that this is a tear-jerker with a body count! I lost track of the deaths at 8! Overall I give it a 10 out of 10.
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For me this movie was of one that I call "one-breath movie". Waited for such a long time, as T.O.P fan I wasn't disappointed even a little bit. But I will try to make a review as ordinary viewer.
The story, in fact, is not a unique one. And even though this movie is a thriller I wouldn't consider it as a thriller only. Neither it is the story about war between North and South. I've seen it as a story of one ordinary boy, the same age as me and my peers. An ordinary boy, that would love to enjoy his life to the fullest like a normal teenager. Yet, because of circumstances he has to fight and to kill just to protect his sister and to return to normal life. The other story I got attracted to is of Hye In's life (Myung Hoon's classmate). The problem of bullying in school is highly discussed in Asian countries. Yet, the girl did nothing wrong and just wanted to have friends and to achieve her dreams.
The story of these two lonely souls is somewhat touching but in the end people only discussing action scenes.
Talking about action - Seunghyun did a great job, filming all fighting scenes without the help dubbing actor. If you watch the making of Alumni you can see how hard the filming was, not mentioning that he got a serious injury, yet, continued filming.
Maybe I'm too TOP-stanned but this movie was really perfect for me. You won't see love scenes or some sweet moments but I would strictly recommend it, and It really does worth your time. As for me I will rewatch it until I remember all lines by heart.
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I've watched similar movies such as Secretly, Greatly, and I was initially worried that it would be a bit too similar, but after watching it, I thought this movie had a great story line of it's own.
The cast were fantastic- this was my first time watching a movie with TOP in it and his character was really well played.
The interactions between characters, and the fantastic fight scenes made this a very enjoyable movie to watch. I highly recommend it!
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This review may contain spoilers
I'll tell you how to make a better movie:Kill all your cast in a blast in the first scene, that 5 sec would drown this train wreck!
If the writer himself can't empathize with his character, how can I? And to cover up the piss poor writing, the director thought 'Lets just shoot TOP, the fangirls will cover up the rest!' And that's my friend is the formula to make the worst action thriller (What! WHY?!) ever!
I can't give you any sane reason to watch it. There is none!
I watched it because I was hoping to watch sides of TOP that I haven't seen before. Do take it literally cause I did mean his physical parts.
*Spoiler* I failed!
So why did I gave it a four?
Bcs the subs are bad and the cinematography was nice. It's not rocket science, with my understanding of korean I get what they are saying most of the time. The actors are fine, but there's no use of 8GB ram if ur processor is pentium 4.
All hail the downvotes! I'm going to watch 'Secret Bigbang' to refresh my mind.
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The MC, Tee Woo/Myung Hoon, whatever MDL has it as, was /extremely/ boring. His actor didn't help. He expressed almost no emotion, and, no offense to you T.O.P lovers, didn't seem very... connected with the character himself. I didn't cry at the emotional parts, but rather, I was waiting for all this drama to go away and everyone to die.
The other actors were okay, I guess. I dunno, I didn't feel connected to /anyone/ during the entire movie.
The story is pretty meh. I just watch Secretly, Greatly, so maybe I'm comparing too much, but it wasn't a very interesting one.
Since it's a movie, I can't blame it's rushed-ness, but it was pretty rushed, and maybe if the writers didn't try to cram so much stuff into it, it would've been a little less confusing.
I looked at it objectively, and this movie really wasn't very good, imo. Maybe if you want some background noise with gunshots that hurt your ears and loud action it'll be good.
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Simple and entertaining
I highly recommend this action/thriller movie.The story isn't overly complicated but it's engaging and entertaining.
It follows a young North Korean man who is forced to become a secret agent and carry out the mission his father started in order to secure a better life for himself and his sister. He goes undercover as a high school student in South Korea with a list of people he needs to eliminate. As he navigates his new life, he finds himself torn between protecting a bullied girl in his class and fulfilling his mission.
Enjoy the movie without spoilers.
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As soon as the movie started I was jittered, as to what's gonna happen next. And everything just discloses with a subtle bang of action sequence.
●STORY
This movie is about the power struggle happening in North Korea which involves the agents working in S.Korea. After the father is killed by the S. Korean security team, his teen son Ri Myung hoon" (Seung Hyun Choi) and daughter "Ri Hye-in" (Yoo-Jeong Kim) are sent to a North Korean detention camp as punishment for their father failed mission. But in reality, Ri Myung Hoon is lured in to become voluntarily become an agent and assassinate North Korean spies working in the south. He is given the identity of a high schooler where he becomes the target of bullies and after becoming seatmates with Lee Hye In. He worries for her as she shares the same name as his sister.
●PLOT VIEW
You might want o to compare it with any other North Korean spy movie, just go ahead but what you will miss is a great action-packed performance and the emotions of the young teenage agent. The storyline is similar to many other spy movies based on North Korea but the premise of high school and the ML attachment with a classmate, and even though there's never any romance per se, there is genuine chemistry. The story keeps progressing with the involvement of his sister and gives an enormous amount of ML sentiment.
I genuinely felt bad, these spies are also serving their country but what they get I in return abandonment, why is N.Korea so cruel. I literally got tears at the scene of refugees coming to S.Korea. But on the other hand, what is more, hurtful is these refugees creating problems in the host countries.
●ACTING
T.O.P as Ri Myung hoon is an excellent choice for the role with a vibe of a ruffian, and a slender muscled build for a swift agent.
His actions were precise and emotions astute.
All the other supporting cast were outstanding as well. Lee Hye In and Ri Hye In both give strong support to the ML.
●MUSIC
The music was good as per the scenes.
●REWATCH
I would definitely rewatch this for its amazing action.
●APPRECIATION
the action sequence was done was precise. the action director definitely deserves applause for it. the whole mood of the movie, the lighting in the scenes was had a withered vibe giving the emotion of ML Indirectly.
●RECOMMENDATION
For everyone who loves actions movies. As soon as the movie started I was jittered, as to what's gonna happen next. And everything just discloses with a subtle bang of action sequence.
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Owes Me!
For starters, T.O.P was one of my first bias's when I entered the World of K-Pop, so when I stumbled upon this in the middle of the night I of course had to watch! If you like watching bullets fly and puddles of blood, you've come to the right place. South Korea sure knows how to highlight the dirty work North Korea does lol The ending almost made me throw my computer but it's all good over here! It's not as hardcore as I expected (given the theme) but overall I was on the edge of my seat and thoroughly enjoyed it all.Enjoy...
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