RANSOMED - Mark Reviews Movies

Ransomed, Well Go USA

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Review by Mark Dujsik | August 3, 2023

Ransomed is "inspired by" a true story, likely because the official details of the actual abduction of a South Korean diplomat are classified for another two decades and, more importantly, because the real tale almost certainly wasn't as elaborate and action-filled as this dramatization. The resulting movie is one that feels just a bit too unfocused and at odds with itself to convey the relatively simple story it's trying to tell.

In Beirut in 1986, a Korean diplomat is taken at gunpoint during the civil war that has erupted in that city in Lebanon. Twenty months later and with the government giving up any hope of retrieving their official, Min-joon (Ha Jung-woo), another diplomat for the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, receives a mysterious phone call before the leaving the office for the night.

It's just a series of tapping sounds, but Min-joon translates it as a secret code being communicated directly by the abducted official. He's still alive, and Min-joon's office decides to put together a secret rescue mission, behind the backs of the rest of the government in case anything—or everything—goes wrong. The ambitious Min-joon volunteers to lead the effort, partly because it's his duty but also because it's his best chance of receiving a post in the United Kingdom or the United States.

There are, of course, a lot of complications that add to the complexity of this mission. At home, there's in-fighting between the ministry and Korea's intelligence branch. Min-joon must enlist the aid of foreign assets to arrange arbitration with the abductors. Lebanese officials will certainly take note of and detain a foreign national carrying several million dollars with him, and warring factions have claimed various areas of the city and established checkpoints for anyone traveling within it.

The screenplay, written by Kim Jung-yeon and Yeo Jung-mi, is admirable in its level of detailing just how tricky this mission is, both in terms of pragmatism and politics, but as soon as Min-joon arrives in Beirut and convinces local Korean cab driver Pan-soo (Ju Ji-hoon) to help him navigate the city, the plotting takes over entirely. There's little sense of these characters, beyond the fact that both men are hustlers in different ways, while the backdrop of a divided Lebanon becomes more about providing a series of suspense and action sequences than anything else.

Director Kim Seong-hun orchestrates those scenes with some skill and over-the-top spectacle, but this also means the tone of the movie becomes occasionally jarring. It's not just the action that sometimes veers into intentional or accidental comedy, though. The mismatched pairing of Min-joon and Pan-soo, which becomes the main focus, feels more aligned with something out of an unlikely-buddy comedy.

Looking at Ransomed as a reality-based and action-oriented movie, it's competent enough. That approach, though, ultimately deflates the severity of and everything else happening around this rescue mission.

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