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When you have two actors who can give new meaning to the term Bromance, do you really binge watch a rom-com for the weekend?
Released in August 2017, Midnight Runners stars Park Seo Joon and Kang Ha Neul (Moon Lovers) as police cadets who witness a kidnapping on their night out. While trying to use everything they have learned in school, they face reality (Korean movie reality) of Process and paperwork involved. Frustrated they decide to secretly lead the investigation while in school.
To be honest, I was wary of watching Midnight Runners. Korean Movies, especially related to kidnappings can either go really dark and depressing. or just leave you with more questions than answers. Midnight Runners had the right mix of humor and suspense without overdoing either. I loved watching every moment of it.
While the story could have been a hit and miss, director Kim Joo-hwan elevated a simple suspense comedy to being much more. The pace of storytelling never lost its humor not did we forget the seriousness of the crimes. Park Seo Joon and Kim Ha Nuel had amazing comic timing, not to mention their banter throughout the movie, including the serious interrogation of one of guys from the crime ring had me laughing out loud.
Spoilers Ahead!
Plot: Park Ki-joon (Park Seo Joon) joins the police academy without any other motivation than it's free. He is more of the brawn in the duo, though I would not really characterize him as a dumb jock. Park Seo Joon has previously been able to bring more character into a simple 'dumb-jock' role
We now come to the brain in the team, Kang Hee-yeol (Kim Ha Neul) who joins the police academy with the sole purpose of being unique. He comes across a health and neat freak and the two can't be any more different. They start off on the wrong foot, but after a piggyback ride that helps them enter the academy the two become besties.
On a night out, they follow a girl (Seriously! They are police cadets and they follow her through the dark streets. Still can't digest this bit) to get her number and witness her getting kidnap. Though they put their best effort to run after the car, the story wouldn't really even start. After a few attempts at following protocol, they take matters into their own hands and start an investigation that leads the middle of a organ trafficking ring.
After a night of witnessing a kidnapping, going to a ear cleaning clinic (yes, apparently that is a thing) and being chased by an entire crime gang they are forced to go back to school the next day on their seniors' order. They face the hard reality of investigations and they decide to continue the investigation themselves. Which leads to probably the best training scenes I have seen in 2017. :D
While the climax fight between our duo and the gang is amateurish at best, the ending leaves us feeling lighthearted and satisfied for staying through 1 hour of the movie.
Midnight Runners is a must watch and hope to get a sequel of this.
I give it a 4/5.
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