Secret Reunion

B-

Directed by Hun Jang

The talented Song Kang Ho stars alongside Kang Dong Won in Hun Jang's "Secret Reunion", an unlikely buddy movie between a North Korean spy and a South Korean intelligence agent.

Song plays Lee Han-gyu, an intense intelligence officer who is fired after his attempt at bringing in Song Ji Won and his fellow North Korean assassin turns into a bloodbath. The story picks up six years later with Lee still out of the police force, running a business that tracks down runaway mailorder brides and brings them back to the Korean husbands. While on the job, Lee fortuitously runs into Song Ji Won who, unable to return home, is working at a mine. Lee, believing Song does not recognize him, recruits him to his agency and begins his own investigation of Song.

"Secret Reunion's" premise isn't exactly groundbreaking but where Jang goes with it after the basics of the plot have been set up is quite interesting. What at first appears to be a spy vs. spy poitboiler turns into a buddy movie that plays up the chemistry (platonic, of course) of leads Song and Kang. I thought Jang's decision to depart from the heaviness of the politically charged subject matter and go a different route altogether was a welcome change and it certainly played well to the audience at the showing we attended.
As fun as it is in places, howeber, "Secret Reunion" never really succeeds in getting off the ground and oftentimes feels disjointed. Jang has difficulty keeping all of his narrative balls in the air at once and the various major plotlines don't always entertwine as they should. The film is also a bit lenghty and could have used a fair bit of editing.
I'd like to take a minute here to talk about the Round Faced One, Song Kang Ho himself. I truly think that Song is one of the most exciting actors working in Asia at the moment and he's one of only a handful of actors who I will pay to watch in any movie, no matter how potentially crappy. Song is better than anyone at playing roles that demand both comic timing and serious acting chops at the same time, as evidenced by his star turns in "The Host" and "Memories of Murder". Song's particular brand of physical acting is also noteworthy and, I would argue, underappreciated. A fight scene featuring Song is always an event in and of itself. It never features clean punches or kicks and often ends up with Song receiving as much abuse as he dishes out. It's always a lot of fun to watch but it takes a certain amount of skill to make what are eseentially scripted battles look so madcap. I should probably stop fawning over the guy but he's a joy to watch and he has the ability to turn even mediocre films like "Secret Reunion" into entertaining fare.