A Company Man (2012) - A Review

 

A Company Man is an excellent action movie!

A Company Man is an action movie released in South Korea in 2012 and stars So Ji-sub, Lee Mi-yeon, Kwak Do-won, Jeon Guk-hwan, Kim Dong-jun, Han Bo-bae, and Lee Geung-young. The movie was written and directed by Lim Sang-Yoon, with Jae-Min Shin as action coordinator.

Ji Hyeong-do, played by So Ji-sub. He is an expert assassin not to be messed with!

In A Company Man, So Ji-sub plays Ji Hyeong-do, an expert assassin rising up the ranks at his company. His superior, Kwon Jong-tae (played by Kwak Do-won) treats Hyeong-do rather rudely, so Hyeong-do usually answers him with, "I'm sorry, sir". Their top boss, Chairman Jeon, (played by Jeon Guk-hwan) has very high hopes and expectations for Hyeong-do. It seems Hyeong-do is enjoying his life; his boss likes him and most everyone at the company respect him. It turns out, he is thinking of quitting. He asks a former colleague, Ban Ji-hoon (played by Lee Geung-young) what he should do. Ji-hoon say whether Hyeong-do quits or stays at his job, he will always be a company man...

One day, Hyeong-do is on an assignment with a young temp, Ra Hoon (played by Kim Dong-jun), who tells him about his plans for the money he is making working these types of jobs. After Ra Hoon successfully eliminates his targets, Hyeong-do takes him out. Before Hyeong-do eliminates him,though, Ra Hoon asks a favor of him. Hyeong-do obliges and goes to Ra Hoon's house to give his mother all the money he was saving up. Hyeong-do becomes smitten with Yu Mi-yeon (played by Lee Mi-yeon), and can't stop thinking about her...

Hyeong-do's crush on Mi-yeon causes him to become careless on an assignment. Hyeong-do and Mi-yeon begin to have a romantic relationship, and Hyeong-do finally seems to be happy. Later on, Hyeong-do does not do what is asked of him by the company, and the police are suspicious of him since he was seen with Ra Hoon before he committed the murders; and this causes Hyeong-do to become the next target of the company he works for. Things go terribly wrong, and Hyeong-do becomes determined to take the whole company down.

Ji Hyeong-do and Yu Mi-yeon get along really well.

A Company Man is a dark thriller that examines South Korean work culture through the life of a hitman. You see Hyeong-do struggle with being so good and dependable as an employee that his boss loves him, his co-workers respect him, and he is rising up the ranks. The problem is that he wants to leave the job, and after finding love with Mi-yeon, wants to start a new life with her. This is all very interesting, and you hope he is able to live his life the way he wants to as you are watching it. There is a lot more to the plot and story that I'm leaving out, as I do not want to spoil the whole movie, but let's just say, things get complicated. So Ji-sub plays Ji Hyeong-do in an understated manner, so when he finally smiles... or snaps, it means something. Really great performance from him. Lee Mi-yeon plays Yu Mi-yeon as a humble, yet almost angelic woman who's had a somewhat tough life. You can see why Hyeong-do falls for her. Also a great performance from Lee Mi-yeon. Kwak Do-won as Hyeong-do's direct superior is excellent as an absolute jerk who you hope gets his butt kicked at the end of the movie. I hated that guy!

The action in A Company Man is hard-hitting and explosive.

The action in A Company Man is really good. There is a lot of gunplay in this one, and it is really wild. Let's just say, a certain area gets wrecked with all the bullets flying around. There are two or three fight scenes, and they are good as well. So Ji-sub handles himself well in the fight scenes, and is totally believable as being a highly skilled hitman. The fight scenes are not Hong Kong style, I would say they are more Korean style (duh). The camera work and editing are a bit similar to the shaky cam fights of stuff like the Bourne Identity movies, but not as terrible as those. You can see things more clearly in A Company Man, but things do get confusing sometimes. Still, the action is great in this, and worth waiting for.

As you can expect, I highly recommend watching A Company Man. This is a very good action movie! It may not re-invent the action movie genre, but it does the action very well. The actors put in great performances, especially So Ji-sub and  Lee Mi-yeon. I thought the ending was very well done, and it may make you emotional. Watch A Company Man and wallow in the darkness (and I mean that in a good way).

Reviewed by David Williams