Writer: Kim Min-Ho (Screenplay)
Starring: Dong-seok Ma, Ji-Hyo Song, Seong-oh Kim, Min-Jae Kim, Ji-hwan Park
Plot: Dong-Chul and Ji-Soo are a happily married couple. One day, Dong-Chul comes home to find his house in disarray and his wife is missing.
Tagline – Don’t Mess With Me
Runtime: 1 Hour 56 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Brutal
Story: Unstoppable starts as we Dong-Chul (Ma) a fisherman that is always looking for a quick way to make money, which has seen him make mistakes before, his wife Ji-Soo (Song) has always supported him, while encouraging him to stop risking their future, only for his latest attempt sees him potentially leave them homeless.
After the married couple are involved in a minor car accident, Ki-Tae (Seong-oh Kim) a criminal, kidnaps Ji-Soo, offering Dong-Chul money to walk away, a trade for his wife, only he isn’t going to stop at anything to get his wife back, teaming up with his brother Chun-Sik (Park) and a private eye Kwon (Min-Jae Kim) to dive into the criminal underworld.
Thoughts on Unstoppable
Characters – Dong-Chul is a local fisherman, married, living a happy life, away from a previous life, which was more dangerous, he is always looking for a way to make money, which has often left him facing problems at home, when his wife is taken, he uses his connection to search for her, showing that his previous life will make him a man not to be messed with. Ji-Soo is the wife of Dong-Chul, she does try to keep him on the straight and narrow, knowing he can easily fall for draw of money making ideas, she will support him through mistakes, but after their latest argument, she gets kidnapped, with her disappearance being the reason why Dong-Chul love will shine through. Ki-Tae is the criminal that is running a ring where he kidnaps women to repay debts, he is ruthless with his own men and believes money can solve all of his problems. Private Eye Kwon helps Dong-Chul dive into the criminal underworld, where he helps locate the pawns in the bigger game and helps with the connection while coming to learn the truth.
Performances – Dong-seok Ma is brilliant in the leading role, he is an actor that can bring together an action scene in a matter of seconds without looking like someone who wants to fight. Ji-Hyo Song doesn’t just play the helpless victim, we see her shine in the acts of kindness in the opening and her fight for the right thing by the end. Seong0oh Kim shines in the villainous role, with his character being so drawn into himself, he believes he is always in control.
Story – The story here follows a now mild-mannered man that is drawn into becoming like his former self when it comes to searching for his wife that has been kidnapped by a criminal who is driven by money. This story does follow the trends of any action crime story, where an quiet man who knows how to deal with criminals is drawn into a world to try and save his wife from a group of criminals that have taken her, it doesn’t need to re-invent the style, just keep everything together to make the intense moments work. We do have the villain that isn’t as smooth as he believes he is, with nearly every scene with him showing a weakness, be it his own or the people he surrounds himself with, while Dong-Chul as the reluctant hero gets to show us just how important love will be to keep him going.
Crime/Mystery – The crime side of the film shows us just how Ki-Tae operates with, his plans and how he has been getting away with it for years, with Dong-Chul needing to enter this life that he knows more about than Ki-Tae believes.
Settings – The film uses the settings to show how secrets can be operating within the shadows of bigger cities and when we get to any fight scenes, we use the environment to help increase the hard hitting nature of the fights.
Scene of the Movie – Warehouse fight.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The money involved doesn’t seem to translate very well.
Final Thoughts – This is a brutally violent action crime mystery that brings us flushed out characters, strong performances and an intense story.
Overall: Must Watch Crime Thriller.