My latest Korean movie is Yadang: The Snitch, a huge box-office success that has won rave reviews from both critics and filmmakers. Maybe this crime thriller doesn’t have the last ounce of craftsmanship that you see from the country’s best movies, but it does have plot twists galore if you see it at the AMC Grapevine Mills this weekend.
The snitch of the title is Lee Kang-su (Kang Ha-neul), who goes to prison for meth possession and is recruited by prosecutor Ku Gwan-hee (Yoo Hae-jin) to gather information on his cellmate who’s running a drug ring from the inside. The operation is so successful that they become partners after Lee’s release, with the ex-con brokering drug deals and then leading both sellers and buyers into Ku’s traps. Alas, when they arrest a presidential candidate’s meth-head son (Ryu Kyung-soo) just before the election, his dad buys off Ku with a promise of a plum position in the country’s judiciary. Thus, Ku hires some gangsters to run over Lee with a car, inject him full of meth — in his face, no less — and set him on fire. Turns out you only have to do that to him once to royally piss him off.
The raffishly handsome Kang is best known for playing a prominent role on Season 2 of Squid Game, and his star power does much to carry the film, as Lee gives a smug grin to rival prosecutors after Ku steals their cases from them and takes credit for their work. Then, too, he’s convincingly desperate after his myriad injuries, when he locks himself in a friend’s storage room to force himself to get clean.
Screenwriter Kim Hyo-seok (who’s not to be confused with the boy-band singer with the same name) weaves an intricate web of double- and triple-crosses. Lee finds allies among the many people whom Ku has screwed over, including a wrongly imprisoned narcotics detective (Park Hae-joon), a disgraced movie star (Chae Won-bin), and an ex-meth queenpin (Kim Geum-soon) who’s now reduced to grilling fish at a roadside stand. With all the plots and counterplots and everybody eavesdropping on everyone else, it’s hard to tell which betrayals are real and which are just for show. They’re led by Ku, who has the morals of a pirate and happily takes bribes without ever staying bought. All this action is made clear despite a breakneck pace by director Hwang Byeong-guk, who previously acted in The Veteran and 12.12: The Day. The way Lee and his allies finally take down Ku and his protectors is richly satisfying. Then, too, the South Korean voters reject the presidential candidate when his criminal ties and actions are exposed. You see? Some voters actually do that.
Yadang: The Snitch
Starring Kang Ha-neul and Yoo Hae-jin. Directed by Hwang Byeong-guk. Written by Kim Hyo-seok. Not rated.
