Lebanon, 1986. In Lebanon in 1986, a South Korean diplomat who had recently been posted there is abducted and despite the state’s concerted efforts to trace his whereabouts or even the identity of his abductors. The case goes cold for over a year without any ransom demands made until one evening when Min-joon, an Iranian regional diplomat at the Foreign Ministry receives a phone call that appears to be from the missing diplomat. As an opportunity to get his dream placement in United States, Min-joon agrees to pay the ransom and bring the hostage home safely. However, this puts him in danger from the moment he steps on Lebanese soil after disembarking from a plane and only one person comes across his mind Korean taxi driver Pan-soo who has lived there for years and may or may not be as trustworthy as he seems like to Min-joon.
Watching movies on TV, or the film industry making films out of real life events is not something new. This movie has been inspired by an incident that took place in the 80s which was a difficult period for Koreans both locally and apparently internationally as well. However, he adds some fun to his narrative making it take the shape of an action-adventure comedy film.
Nevertheless, this tale is both dramatic and involves a lot of dangerous criminal activities; however, it looks different from other similar films since its approach is perspective oriented. Most of the comedy comes from these changing dynamics between Min-joon and Pan-soo, two main characters, which are also aided by their respective acting performances. Ha Jung Woo who plays Min-joon here and Ju Ji-hoon play off each other in comedic scenes too thus showing they can act well together because it shows how much they were able to co-operate when featuring along with Gods parts in previous works.
The rest of the story’s drama hangs on how their relationship continues to evolve. It is one of the more intriguing parts of the plot, and it gets some extra help from its strong actors. Kim even brings in his Tunnel co-star Ha Jung-woo and Kingdom‘s Ju Ji-hoon among others who do not disappoint. Unlike Min-joon, Pan-soo undergoes no significant transformation and often disappears for long periods, but even in these appearances, Ju Ji-hoon never fails to make an impact.
The same can be said about the narrative. It also wants to continue even though it has just ended, which shows in its runtime of 132 minutes. Also, if audience is too quick to dismiss China for injecting unwanted nationalism into some of its works, the same accusation should be leveled against South Korea for doing the same in their films that tend to kill the pace of a story by being outdated like this and other moments such as these.
Although “Ransomed” is somewhat long it still succeeds in being a rather enjoyable effort from Kim Seong-hun, characterized by thrilling action scenes and an excellent pair of protagonists that more than compensate for the film’s shortcomings through their pleasingly comedic repartee.
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