Another movie crossed out from my bucket list is ‘Extreme Jobs‘ (2019) which surely offers some interesting story line that’s rich in humor and action scenes.
Just a little bit behind ‘The Admiral: Roaring Currents‘ (2014), this movie is currently the 2nd highest-grossing film in South Korea with more than 16 million admissions. If that isn’t enough to remove all your doubts about this film, then you should check out the top caliber cast and my quick review of the film below!
Actors &
Characters
Ryu Seung Ryong as Chief Go
Lee Ha Nui (Honey Lee) as Detective Jang
Lee Dong Hwi as Detective Young Ho
Jin Seon Kyu as Detective Ma
Gong Myung as Detective Jae Hoon
T
he S
tory
A team of clumsy detectives decides to start a chicken restaurant for an undercover drug-bust operation. All thanks to Chief Go’s retirement fund, they were able to buy the place and watch their suspects 24/7 from across them. What they didn’t foresee, though, is the surge of customers coming in for fried chicken. Hence, the team gets busy formulating the best chicken recipe, which ends up being a hit in town, giving them an even bigger trouble as they get busy serving customers. With their undercover operation almost forgotten, the team somehow gets divided, but gladly ends up doing a compromise: make their famous friend chicken overpriced, so people will lose interest.
However, in the middle of trying to lure away the public from their chicken restaurant, they meet mysterious investors who want to actually make a food chain out of their measly restaurant that first started out as nothing but an undercover. The team later finds out though there’s something even bigger going on in their other branches–something related to gangster looking cooks and staff and regular customers throwing away untouched chicken-filled boxes.
R
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I first wanted to watch the film because of Gong Myung and wasn’t really that invested in it mainly because the title ‘Extreme Jobs’ felt like it came out from some Hollywood comedy film about cops or something along those lines and I wasn’t really a fan of those kinds of movies with dumb and dumber & without much deep sense to it.
After it got released though, I heard so many good reviews about the film, including the fact that it’s a top grossing one. Any top grossing film should be good, so I started to pick up on the hype and when subs came out, I was probably one of the first people to download. Anyway, I was in a noisy kitchen with sizzling pans and people chattering when I watched this so it was difficult to really internalize how entertained I was back then. So, right now I’ll try to pick up on it and give you a little something about the film.
I want to say that I feel very attached to ‘Extreme Jobs’ especially after finding out that Lee Byeong Heon directed this film. LBH also directed the movie ‘Twenty’ (2014), which left quite an impression on me. It’s humor didn’t leave me dry and I even teared up while guffawing where I was sat while watching his past work.
How LBH always made sure his comedy is pure slapstick from ‘Twenty’ to ‘Extreme Jobs’ made it easy for viewers to watch what should have been serious business (gang business, stakeouts, undercover missions, drug syndicate, etc). It kept me entertained though there are some dragging parts throughout the film. It doesn’t let itself stray towards the grey and would always want to surprise you with something really shocking towards the end (spoiler!).
Plot-wise, I think that the turns of the movie are really interesting. From crazy, clumsy but dedicated and honest cops trying to get a shot at catching big-time criminals, you think there will be nothing even more interesting than those petty officers acting like dumb and dumber, but just wait because there’s more in store for you. That includes an impromptu chicken restaurant that they bought as part of their undercover while spying their neighbor suspects. Everything was going fine until something goes wrong: customers keep flocking in and cops are suddenly frying chicken and selling maekju. Worst? What used to be a forgotten chicken restaurant becomes almost a tourist attraction before their careers even go downhill into the gutter.
Plot twist-wise, I wasn’t really expecting anything big, but throughout two-thirds of the film, my jaw dropped because these impulsive dumb and dumber squad is in fact a league of bad ass. You won’t believe that for now, but imagine yourself signing up for something explosive later in the film.
As for the actors, I want to give Ryu Seung Ryong a deep bow for nailing his role in this movie just like how superbly he did his characters for movie like Psychokinesis and Miracle in Cell No.7. There’s also Honey Lee who is starting to grow on me. She looked so natural as an ass-kicking lady cop that I forgot she was a former beauty queen. The other members of the dumb and dumber cast were also pretty good. I forgot who is who, but the one who turned out to be a good cook was really funny. Then there was Gong Myung who brought subtle humor with his cuteness as a very innocent-looking, passionate rookie cop, who turns out to be just as crazy as everyone else.
With these comments put aside, in a nutshell I want to say that ‘Extreme Jobs’ deserves the blockbuster status as it truly delivers what it promised from the get-go: extreme entertainment. However, personally, I want to say that I don’t find it as spectacular as other films I’ve already seen. Maybe it isn’t my total cup of tea, but that it has surprised me and made my time worthwhile.
Rating
Not the best, but you won’t want to miss such a fine masterpiece from Lee Byeong Heon that’s filled with so much humor you’ll just have a really good time.
Rating this movie, I’ll give it 4.5 out of 5.0.
Trailer
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