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"Trust doesn't exist in this business"
Humint combined spies from North and South Korea, Russian mobsters, and sprinkled in a good helping of romantic angst and human greed. The pace of the story faltered at times, but managed to finish with a banger of an ending.
Director Cho (Rok) carries a terrible guilt regarding the fate of his North Korean informant who had been trafficked to a different country. His boss only cares about the drugs coming across their border, not the unfortunate women tortured as sex slaves. Cho seems to play ball when he’s assigned to a post in Vladivostok in order to make the drug connection between Russian mobsters and North Korean agents. This time, however, he has no intention of letting anything happen to the informant working for him. A North Korean agent is in town to investigate the disappearances of a number of women and Captain Park has a connection to Cho’s informant.
The number one reason I watched this film was for Zo In Sung. He works infrequently and I enjoy his acting. It feels like he’s played this character before, but he does it so well, that I’m okay with it. Shin Sae Kyeong gave a strong performance as Cho’s informant, Chae Seon Hwa . I was pleased to see her character fight for her own future with whatever she had available. Park Jeong Min, as the conflicted lovesick Captain Park Geon, gave a good performance though his super spy could have used a better poker face at times. Park Hae Joon as the evil Hwang Chi Sung can always be counted on to bring the maniacal menace.
Humint’s story and pacing languished in places with character motivations only skimming the surface of the murky waters they swam in. Where the film excelled were the fight scenes which ranged from hand-to-hand, knives, guns, even the kitchen sink. The fights were sparse for much of the film and then in the last half hour director Ryu Seung Wan brought the mayhem. It’s the first film I’ve seen with such excellent, deadly snow donuts. I will say, the gun fights near the very end of the film went over the top for me and I probably shouldn’t have laughed when I did. Sometimes, too much is too much. Fair warning, the body count was high.
Humint was flawed but entertaining. My first inclination was to give it a 7.5, but I bumped it up to an 8.0 for Zo and a competent female lead…and maybe the snow donuts.
"Since everyone's on the same team, we should probably raise the Korean Unification flag!"
2 April 2026
Trigger warnings: Drugs, prostitution, torture, gruesome deaths.
Director Cho (Rok) carries a terrible guilt regarding the fate of his North Korean informant who had been trafficked to a different country. His boss only cares about the drugs coming across their border, not the unfortunate women tortured as sex slaves. Cho seems to play ball when he’s assigned to a post in Vladivostok in order to make the drug connection between Russian mobsters and North Korean agents. This time, however, he has no intention of letting anything happen to the informant working for him. A North Korean agent is in town to investigate the disappearances of a number of women and Captain Park has a connection to Cho’s informant.
The number one reason I watched this film was for Zo In Sung. He works infrequently and I enjoy his acting. It feels like he’s played this character before, but he does it so well, that I’m okay with it. Shin Sae Kyeong gave a strong performance as Cho’s informant, Chae Seon Hwa . I was pleased to see her character fight for her own future with whatever she had available. Park Jeong Min, as the conflicted lovesick Captain Park Geon, gave a good performance though his super spy could have used a better poker face at times. Park Hae Joon as the evil Hwang Chi Sung can always be counted on to bring the maniacal menace.
Humint’s story and pacing languished in places with character motivations only skimming the surface of the murky waters they swam in. Where the film excelled were the fight scenes which ranged from hand-to-hand, knives, guns, even the kitchen sink. The fights were sparse for much of the film and then in the last half hour director Ryu Seung Wan brought the mayhem. It’s the first film I’ve seen with such excellent, deadly snow donuts. I will say, the gun fights near the very end of the film went over the top for me and I probably shouldn’t have laughed when I did. Sometimes, too much is too much. Fair warning, the body count was high.
Humint was flawed but entertaining. My first inclination was to give it a 7.5, but I bumped it up to an 8.0 for Zo and a competent female lead…and maybe the snow donuts.
"Since everyone's on the same team, we should probably raise the Korean Unification flag!"
2 April 2026
Trigger warnings: Drugs, prostitution, torture, gruesome deaths.
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