Starring: Sol Kyung-gu, Jung Woo-sung, Han Hyo-joo
Directors: Jo Ui-seok, Kim Byung-seo
Category: IIB (Korean)
There is nothing inherently wrong about retelling a familiar story. After all, few bemoan the almost 30 screen adaptations of Alexandre Dumas' that are out there. Given the amount of sequels, prequels, remakes, reboots and adaptations that are flooding cinemas, we should remember it's really the half-hearted, opportunistic attempts among them that make people weary and sceptical.
All that pessimism surrounding the perceived creative bankruptcy in world cinema can temporarily recede with new South Korean film which turns out to be a perfectly sustained and thoroughly superior remake of the 2007 Hong Kong crime-drama-thriller At least those of us who shook our heads involuntarily and vigorously at Song Hae-sung's 2010 remake of John Woo's 1986 classic can comfort ourselves with the realisation that originality can be, god forbid, at least a tad overrated.
Produced by Johnnie To Kei-fung's Milkyway Image company and directed by Yau Nai-hoi from a screenplay he wrote with frequent collaborator Au Kin-yee, was a decent film charting the dogged pursuit of a crack police surveillance team - with Simon Yam Tat-wah as its leader and Kate Tsui Tsz-shan as the rookie - to track down a seasoned gang of armed robbers orchestrated by Tony Leung Ka-fai.
In , that central trio of characters are now, respectively, veteran detective Hwang (Sol Kyung-gu), rookie cop Ha Yoon-ju (Han Hyo-joo) - who is blessed with the astonishing ability to accurately remember every person in her surroundings - and the elusive criminal mastermind James (Jung Woo-sung), who seems to be growing increasingly murderous as he prepares to wrap up the customary one last job before leaving town for good.
