Gongjak (2018) Reviews

• Great movie with excellent cinematography

  Ginsengjin2018-09-26

  Gongjak or The Spy Gone North is a spy thriller that looks at the complex political world of North and South Korea and relations during the late 1990's. It is a mix of history and fiction in telling the story of a South Korean spy agent who goes to North Korea under the guise of a businessman through China in order to infiltrate North Korea in search of information about the nuclear program. The movie's biggest strength is in the cinematography portraying the different locales of China, South Korea, and North Korea in its story telling and in the acting pulling in a cast of well established Korean actors. The camera work and soundtrack is also excellent which work together perfectly in creating high tension key points in the story and providing the movie with excellent pacing. The story is for the most part is more straight forward than what I expected from a spy thriller. It gets more political after the second half of the movie which is expected due to the nature of story between North and South Korea and it adds a level of complexity. What the movie doesn't do well is explain the motivation that drives the actions of supporting characters. The main character's actions were easy to understand but it was a little bit frustrating not understanding the driving cause of some of the other key characters. The movie ends with a clear message that will polarize viewers based on their political standing but it does so in an interesting way through the relationship between characters which does tie up the movie fairly well. My biggest critique of this film is that it's too predictable for a spy thriller but it does do a great job narrating the journey.

• 2019-2-6

  aboiement2019-02-08

  This is so good that I watched it again right after I finished watching the 1st time. Also, I got so many questions after 1st watch, but those were all cleared after the 2nd watch even though I'm not familiar with Korea's history. Politicians are supposed to serve people, to do things for people, but it seems most of them forgot what they were here for after few years, and are afraid of losing power and money. Is the situation better nowadays? I don't know, and there are still many bad politicians everywhere. Still a long way to go. What we can do is to do our best. Maybe we need to try harder to have faith and keep doing the right things, and we will meet some people doing the same things one day even they are hostile. That could change the world. Highly, highly recommend this one.

• Manipulating election

  teohky2018-09-22

  They really take manipulating election to the next level by paying the North for a fireworks

• Worth to see...

  leonidasstathopoulos2019-05-07

  Another excellent movie to discover today Strong characters, interesting plot, a movie based in good acting and not in bullets and fighting action

• Some surprises. Defies conventional wisdom

  manugw2019-05-19

  A treatment of the never ending problem between North and South Korea, Two economic systems. Two countries that act as proxies of the superpowers and coldly face off to maintain influence in the region. Action suspense plot with unexpected political consequences.