Smugglers

A smuggling story about betrayal, friendship, and justice

As the title goes, it's a story about smuggling. But more so, it's a story about betrayal, friendship, and justice. The story was well-written and some scenes can be improved but all in all, I can say this is a good watch. Could have been better but definitely not a waste of your time.

Around 30-40 minutes into the movie, I was ready to quit watching. But I can't believe that an all-star-cast will just have a nonsense movie. So I persevered. Around 20-30 minutes after the hour, it gets exciting. As the American saying goes, now we're cooking gas lol. It might be a slow start but it really gave a satisfying ending. We already know that the cast are high-caliber actors and actresses so their performance is to a T. The story is well-made. The first part was a bit slow but it might have been caused by poor English subtitles as well. Good thing I know a Korean or two so I was able to persevere lol.

The slow start also made me not expect any big twists. But fortunately it did. And surprisingly, things turned out really well. The diving scenes were really majestic. And the fighting scenes are good. What more can you expect from Zo In Sung? Though I wished they had made more fighting scenes.

My wish now is to see Yeom Jung Ah and Zo In Sung work together in a project where they interact more, which, unfortunately, this film didn't give.

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A group of women outsmarting corrupt men.

Smugglers is like Ocean’s 8 minus the grand heist. This female-powered action adventure is not really about smugglers but more about how ordinary people found ways to make and share the profit from the illegal activities. It also realistically shows a number of smuggling-related aspects, such as repackaging and corrupt customs officials.

The film is not without flaws, but good character development brings so much more to the table. Kim Hye Soo never disappoints, no matter what character she plays, and pairing up with Yum Jung-ah elevated this movie into something more than simply an action drama. It draws stronger feelings of sisterhood and emotion. Zo In-sung gives his best as a corrupt police officer that you love to hate. In my opinion, the star of this movie is Go Min-Si. Despite being a supporting role, her character really stood out in helping carry the story.

The plots are not very complicated. With one or two twists that are constructed around allegiances and betrayal, they manage to make the audience gasp and anticipate more. The story develops well, with a good balance between comedy, drama, and action. I like that the comedy was well placed and not overdone, and the switch in tone doesn’t make the story look too weird. Kudos to the props team for recreating the unique 70s vibe. The attention to detail never failed to impress me.

All in all, it’s an entertaining movie, and it's always nice to see women outsmarting corrupt men.

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Smuggling is not for everybody

Another one of those Korean films that is impossible to place in a specific genre. The atmosphere is a comedy, and the plot is a thriller, with elements of action, drama, and adventure. The film is at times casual and relaxed, and at times bloody brutal, as if I am watching two movies at the same time. In my opinion, the comedic elements are misused and prevent the viewer from enjoying the seriousness, tension and twists in the plot. The plot has a lot of twists and turns and thus constantly makes the movie more and more interesting.

The actors are very good and special praise and respect should be given to the female actors and stuntmen who spent a large part of the film diving underwater.

I also really like the choice of music. At times, the musical numbers seem forced as if they were selected on a jukebox, but I'll forgive that because I like the style of the music and even wish there was more of it. Actually, now after the movie I'm going to listen to some Korean trot and evergreens from the golden seventies.
And yes, one spoiler, at the end I even noticed some dolphins 😊

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