ReviewTime to Hunt film review: stylish Netflix Korean thriller explores near-future world of violence and machismo
- Four youths who knock off an underground casino in near-future South Korea become the targets of a deadly assassin in this violent thriller
- Action sequences take the breath away as the bullets fly, but a hugely contrived narrative lets the film down
3/5 stars
Following a last-minute legal dispute that saw the film pulled from its proposed April 10 release date, Yoon Sung-hyun’s science fiction thriller Time to Hunt has now arrived on Netflix in a hail of bullets and unchecked machismo. Set in a near-future dystopian version of South Korea, the film follows four young thugs who become the targets of a deadly assassin after they knock off an underground casino.
Jun-seok (Lee Je-hoon) is released from prison into a decaying police state. The economy has crumbled, and the savings he had ferreted away with his inseparable cronies Ki-hoon (Choi Woo-shik) and Jang-ho (Ahn Jae-hong) are now worthless. Desperate to begin a new life on the sun-kissed shores of Southern Taiwan, the trio approach Sang-soo (Park Jung-min), who works at an illegal gambling den.
They plan and execute a daring heist, grabbing a bag of cash from the safe, as well as the security footage of their crime. Unbeknown to them, the casino is operated by some pretty vicious gangsters, and the footage also includes incriminating evidence of a major deal. As a result, the mysterious Han (Park Hae-soo) is unleashed to hunt them down and retrieve what was stolen. He proves a merciless, unrelenting opponent from whom escape seems unlikely.
Director Yoon’s only previous feature is the 2010 indie Bleak Night, which also centres on a trio of close-knit youths. While that film chronicles the disintegration of their clique, in Time to Hunt they remain loyal to one another, despite an onslaught of external pressures. Be it fear, devotion to one’s family or, in the case of Jang-ho, his inherently flawed masculinity because he failed to complete his military service, their friendship remains intact throughout.
The futuristic setting proves little more than an excuse to indulge Yoon’s moody, apocalyptic aesthetic, suggesting he gained access to a series of bombed-out housing estates first, and wrote his screenplay around them.