To me, this movie is perfection.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

Blistering performances.

Movie: The Suspect (15)Rating: 4/5Gong Yoo is a skilled and matured actor, and I witnessed this in TRAIN TO BUSAN, SILENCED and THE AGE OF SHADOWS. I was so impressed with him that I ended up being a fan of him. I searched for more of his action films, and came across THE SUSPECT. A film with a decent screenplay, visuals and action scenes, this one definitely guarantees a watch.THE SUSPECT comes with bunch loads of surprises. These are quite effective as well. The story being a fine one and the screenplay being a decent one holds you, along with the action sequences being the best thing about the film. One thing that is disappointing for sure is that the film doesn't have a proper execution in certain portions. The film's pace could've been better in the between when it begins to slow down. Certain sequences are deftly handled, while many are just executed in an unimpressive way. I can understand that the director would've tried his best, but he has not been successful in gripping the viewer completely. Some scenes look similar to many popular South Korean action films.But these flaws flaws don't trouble you for long as the film lets go of the grip only occasionally. Once it regains, particularly in the second hour, it entertains fully with its terrific action scenes, cinematography and performances, heading towards a clapworthy climax. I was so overjoyed that I rewinded and replayed the ending scene. Here the director succeeds to a great extent.Gong Yoo is excellent, and that needs not to be told. He looks even better and manly here. Park Hee-soon is terrific, and his character is quite likable to a certain extent, just like that of Gong Yoo. Yoo Da-in is just fine, and even though she overdoes her part in a few scenes, her act is a decent one.THE SUSPECT may not be the best South Korean film, but with its stunning action, visuals and of course, its leading man, deserves to be seen at least once. I liked the action a lot, and I'll be watching it again.

Ji Dong-Cheol is a South Korean agent working undercover in North Korea. He is now suspected of being a double agent and the South Korean government want him eliminated. They send in their top counter-spy, an old adversary of Ji Dong-Cheol's. He now has to stay alive and prove his innocence.Had the potential to be an intriguing John Le Carre-style spy thriller. However, the plot is overwrought and ultimately uses style to cover up its lack of substance. Some of the acting is pretty woeful too. The Colonel was massively over-acted, to the point that even John Wayne would have found the performance over the top. Lead performance by Yoo Gong is fine though.On the plus side, some great action sequences, but that is pretty much what the director was aiming for all along - the style-over- substance approach.

If you're a fan of over-the-top action movies of the 80s à la Arnie, with tons of fistfights, endless car chases, truly evil villains and implausible plot twists, then the past decade has been pretty boring for you. Hollywood has substituted fights with CGI and silly but funny spy flicks with interchangeable boring superheroes, Hongkong martial arts legends have aged beyond being able to convincingly deliver hard-hitting blows, and Bollywood action movies aren't for everyone because of the singing. Korea however still delivers pretty solid and technically brilliant action entertainment which keeps the CGI on a level with the acting. 'The Suspect' is probably the best recent example. If there was an international award for most insane car chase, it deserves it - twice, in fact, for a game of chicken where nobody chickens out, and the creative use of a pedestrian stairway. I haven't seen this many demolished cop cars since 'Gator'. It would also deserve the international award for the vilest villain, complete with satanic snickering, and the bad-assest agent, who is introduced pulling a beyond-belief stunt straight out of James Bond. Star Gong Yoo performed most of the stunts himself and studied Systema for the fight scenes, making them far better than anything coming out of Hongkong lately. 'The Suspect' is also likely to be the most heavily edited film I've ever seen, feeling like a non-stop two-hour roller-coaster ride - keep a good distance from the screen or you'll feel dizzy. The hero is of almost superhuman abilities, survives a thousand gunshots and stab wounds, and is of course motivated by revenge - so better don't expect much of a story. But for sheer action romp fun, 'The Suspect' can't be topped by anything Hollywood turned out of late.

The Suspect is the type of espionage thriller that starts very good but as usually happens with Asian movies, loses a lot of time with personal dramas and love / hate relations among enemies. The first half of the movie is so fast that it is almost impossible to follow (specially with subtitles). A dissident North Korean highly trained spy called Ji Dong-cheol; working as a chauffeur for an important industrial and political person, witness his boss assassination by a people of the South Korean Secret Service. Ji Dong-cheol is able to fight the killers, so before dying, his boss gives him a pair of lenses with some secret information (the Mc Guffin).Of course, Secret Service blames Ji Dong-cheol for the assassination and and start chasing him all over Seoul unsuccessfully. A retired Special Forces, is summoned to capture Ji Dong-cheol; but there is some old history between them.The first half of the movie, the action is NON-STOP; however during the second half, personal past issues of the main characters are explained via flash backs or dialog; slowing down the action (and the main story line too much). There is still plenty of action and violence filmed in a way only Hong Kong or Korean movies can; but the interest decays. It is common for Asian movies to include some over-dramatic moments but in this case, the pace changes too much and the events depicted are not that believable or properly developed.In brief; a decent Korean action thriller with could have benefited for a 20 or 30 minutes trimming or with better written script and a director capable of handling drama without boring.