极限职业

Lee Byeong-heon’s EXTREME JOB has vigoratingly set a new record for the second-most-watched film in Korea of all time (14.53 million moviegoers), only trailing behind Kim Han-min’s epic war saga THE ADMIRAL: ROARING CURRENTS (2014), clocking at a 17.6 million admission.

A raucous cop comedy, EXTREME JOB rib-ticklingly introduces us a seemingly inept narcotic squad, led by Captain Ko (Ryu), who is stuck in the same rank for two long without much distinction in the track record, with loyalsubordinates Ma (Jin), Young-ho (Lee Dong-hwi), Jang (Lee Hanee), the only female member and a tenderfoot Jae-hoon (Gong). In the opening action, the quintet bungles the apprehension of a drug dealer, much due to the consideration of economical reason than their expertise (they rappel down the building but don’t want to break the window glass, as the team’s budget is piddling and been squandered by the gamble habit of Ma), and after coming in for reprimand from their superior and the teasing from a high-flying fellow squad, they rally and stake out in a local chicken restaurant in front of the lair of drug kingpin Moo-bae (Shin).

When the restaurant owner decides to retire his stagnant business, they instinctively purchase the place instead, and miraculously pick up the slack courtesy to Ma’s secret family recipe of the sauce, their fried chicken becomes an unexpected sensation, and this lucrative sideline soon hogs most of their time and overtakes their main surveillance mission (although the feeling of becoming rich is quite a change to Ko), until Moo-bae’s men show interest in branching out their chicken franchise (as a front for drug transaction though), when the crunch arrives, the quintet must show their true colors to the lofty vocation, and it turns out, their ostensible ineptness is also a front, there is no slouch in Captain Ko’s team.

Evocative of the heyday of Hong Kong cinema, especially when Leslie Cheung’s theme song of John Woo’s A BETTER TOMORROW (1986) swells during the pitched battle in a container port, the film boasts slick and mano-to-mano combat skills that underscore the impact of every punch and the pertinacity of the spirit (Ko gains his nickname “zombie” not for nothing). Although largely confined to a boilerplate mode, Lee Byeong-heon and writer Bae Se-young’s script is adorned consistently with profuse humor to enthrall both domestic and international audience, and conscientiously restricts gore and vulgarity to the minimum.

A cracking cast contributes predominately to the movie’s unrivaled success, each of the quintet is a deadpan comedian extraordinaire, with Jin Seon-kyu’s crew-cut detective Ma making the most of how to unleash his petty grudge in the most persistent way, if he happens to be a judo expert, its receiving end can only take the lumps resignedly.

It is telling that the same story has also spawned a Chinese comedy LOBSTER COP (2018), directed by Li Xinyun, which is received with brickbats and cannot hold a candle to its Korean cousin, that largely speaks volumes of the two nations’ diametrical cinema soils of today, and it is no wonder only one of which is able to nurture a globally fêted knockout like PARASITE (2019) into conception.

referential entries: Lee Sang-geun’s EXIT (2019, 7.1/10); John Woo’s ONCE A THIEF (1991, 6.5/10).