Deliver Us From Evil

It's the expression that will get to you. Yoo-Min is all alone. Her mother is gone and she's looking out a window at a very bleak future. Her sad little face is a killer. You'll want the army of minions surrounding her decimated and the bloodier the methods used the better. John Wick wanted revenge for his dead dog and his wrecked car. His Korean counterpart has a far more personal reason for his revenge mission and because of that Deliver Us From Evil becomes compulsive watching.

In-Nam's (Hwang Jung-min) been having a ropey ol' time of it lately. His coming retirement and his chance to drink himself to death has been robbed from him by the news that a face from his past has died and that Yoo-Min (Park So-yi), the child they had together, has gone missing. He heads from Korea to Thailand to sort things out but his mission is compromised when Ray (Lee Jung-jae), the brother of a man he killed follows him looking for revenge. Oh did I not mention In-Nam is a hitman? A really good hitman? No one stands a chance against him. Apart from Ray. Ray has issues. Serious issues. On his journey he meets Yui (Park Jung-min ), a transgender sex worker who helps him find an in to the seedy world of child trafficking. Her help is in exchange for money for surgery but soon enough the inexorable pull of the underworld sucks everyone in.

Damn. This was a cracker. The story is pure 80's throwback but the execution is far from it. There isn't as much action as you'd expect from the trailers but when it comes it's seriously effective and exceedingly whinge inducing, a kind of an edged weapon ballet if you will. Narrow hallways, garages, even the insides of cars become gladiatorial arenas and you'll feel every jab, stab and slice. Our hero, In-Nam is an unabashed killer who uses whiskey and beer to chase away the souls he's stolen and now finally, at the end of his bloodletting days he's found a reason for being, a way to redeem himself, a connection to a proper life and he's not letting it go. 

Compare the face he makes when offered a little hug an hour or so into the film, with his dead eyed stare from our first meeting with him. It's a hell of a character arc and Hwang Jung-min nails it without ever making it feel forced. Lee Jung-jae as Ray, is the flipside of the killer coin. His reasons for revenge are personal too and it's only his love of the kill that separates them from each other. In-Man does it because he has to. Ray does it because he loves to see their expression change. He's a chilling creation and when both meet sparks literally fly. They provide the muscle but it's Yui and Yoo-Min that give the film it's slivers of humanity, especially in the upsetting final third when the film's two intertwining plot lines finally clash. 

There's quite a bit going on in the film but director Hong Won-chan, who also wrote the brilliant 'The Yellow Sea', keeps it moving forward without every letting it get confusing. He keeps everything looking good too, none of that choppy nonsense so beloved of Hollywood, here we get long takes and a clear geography of who's doing what to who. Asian action cinema is always the high water mark that America can't quite ever seem to reach.

Deliver Us From Evil is streaming now. It's really worth your time. Remember bad guy Lee Jung-jae's face too. I've a feeling he'll be popping up in blockbusters soon enough.