Review | Confidential Assignment 2: International movie review – Hyun Bin, Yoo Hae-jin meet Daniel Henney in entertaining sequel to 2017 buddy cop comedy hit
- Yoo Haejin plays family-man South Korean cop Jin-tae and Hyun Bin stern North Korean agent Cheol-ryung as they pursue a North Korean drugs syndicate
- An FBI agent, Jack, played by Daniel Henney, is added to the mix and Jin-tae’s sister, played by Im Yoon-ah, has the hots for him, not Cheol-ryung, now
3/5 stars
Hyun Bin and Yoo Hae-jin reprise their roles as national rivals turned crime-fighting colleagues, as they look to smash a North Korean drug syndicate. This time out, the stakes are higher than ever as their manhunt goes global, and Daniel Henney’s FBI agent shows up in Seoul, hot on the heels of Jin Seon-jyu’s ruthless crime lord, who gave his team the slip in New York.
The mismatched buddy cop movie is a tried and tested staple of the action genre, and incoming director Lee (The Pirates) wisely pushes the playful competitiveness and distrust between his protagonists to the forefront, while letting their procedural duties take a back seat.
The dynamic between Hyun’s stern, yet devilishly handsome North Korean agent Cheol-ryung and Yoo’s schlubby family-man cop Jin-tae remains the film’s most meaningful relationship.
Their rekindled bromance is given an extra kick, however, by the arrival of federal agent Jack (Henney), whose model good looks and sophisticated Western charm are even more threatening than their live-wire quarry.