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August 2, 2014

Movie Review: The Suspect (2013, Blu-ray)

Reviewed By: Jimmy D.

I am at a point when I hear a film is coming out of Korea that I know it will be like all the other films that came out in the same genre. Sometimes it is a bad thing, but with the Suspect it is a good thing. What the Suspect lacks in originality, it makes up for in familiarity in a good way. The story opens with Ji who is trying to start a new life in the South. He is a driver but is pretty much to himself. That all changes when a chairman of a corporation is killed, it seems this chairman was helping Ji try to find someone. Now as you can guess Ji is the prime suspect of the murder. The Suspect is mainly the innocent man on the run sort of film, but the familiarity with this theme really works in the film's favor. You get some really good action sequences, some very good acting and a compelling film that really keeps the viewer on the edge of the proverbial chair. Beside the main character you have a good cast of characters that make this film have substance and really click.

The Suspect really tells two stories, the one about the murder and the other of Jia's innocence. This film does seem to be a little too long at over two plus hours, I feel this film would have been really more effective at say 100 minutes. The pacing of the film was really good, but I feel there are so many scenes that start off with promise and just go in circles. Thus the film could have trimmed at least a half hour off. I felt this film did lack emotion, and that this film has some fight scenes that feel edited and choppy. These flaws aside, I did enjoy the fight scenes enough to mildly recommend them, though the close-ups did take away from the action. I did love the chase scenes, and I loved that the car chase really felt like it was important.

 As a whole I really did have a good time watching Well Go USA's The Suspect, it was not perfect and it did go a little too long but it was good enough for a one time and done watch.

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