Spending weekend or a day off without leaving home is not a big problem if you have a good resource of movies and drama to watch. Whatever show it is, that will be great if you start making your own list of good movies or drama series to watch. Have you watched Hitman: Agent Jun? This one is a Korean film released on January 22 2020.

Its title may sound scary, and you may also link the title with such grotesque scenes of hitting and killing. There are such scenes in the movie, but it doesn’t frighten you for a little bit. With a pinch of comedy here and there, the action-intense movie feels lighter to watch. Not too serious, not too boring either. Therefore, this movie is recommended to be your kind of your ice-breaking film.

Written by Choi Won-sub and Shin Joong-ryul and directed by the very own scriptwriter (Choi Won-sub), a bunch of well-known actors and actresses are casted to participate in the film Hitman: Agent Jun. With good casting and especially, the actors and actresses’ nice skills, no wonder that this film won the heart of many!

 

The Casts and Characters

In Hitman: Agent Jun movie, here are the casts:

  • Kwon Sang-woo as Kim Bong-joon (Agent Jun)/Kim Hyung-sook

This 1976-born actor has been acting since 1999. Hitman: Agent Jun is one of his latest movies. Aside from movies, he is also acting for drama series; some of them are Temptation (2014), Medical Top Team (2013), and his latest drama Delayed Justice which is aired on SBS on 2020.

  • Jung Joon-ho as Duk Gyoo (coach)

Compared to Sang-woo, this actor started earlier paving his way to stardom. Born in 1970, he has acted on many movies and many recognized drama series. One of his recent appearances on drama series is on True Beauty, SKY Castle, and Backstreet Rookie. Hitman: Agent Jun is his latest movie.

  • Hwang Woo-seul-hye as Mina

Born as Hwang Jin-hee, this actress has played in numerous movies and drama series as well. Drinking Solo and Crash Landing on You are two of her appearance on drama series.

  • Lee Yi-kyung as Chul

Lee Yi-kyung has been constantly taking on roles since his appearance on Heartstrings in 2011. Most dramas he acted in were appreciated highly not only in Korea, but also worldwide; such as Descendants of the Sun, Secret Healer, Go Back Couple, and these two-part comedy drama series: Welcome to Waikiki and Welcome to Waikiki 2.

  • Lee Ji-won as Kim Ga-young

This 2006-born actress made her debut from a movie entitled How to Steal a Dog in 2014. Feeling not enough with only movies, she spread her wings to act on drama series as well although her first role in drama series is not a full-one. Rather, she only appeared on an episode of The Producers, a drama starring Cha Tae-hyun, Gong Hyo-jin, Kim Soo-hyun, and IU. Hitman: Agent Jun is her sixth appearance on a movie.

 

The Synopsis of Hitman: Agent Jun

The story of this movie revolves around Kim Bong-joon, an agent who was scouted, raised, and trained to be a special agent joining an anti-terror team called ‘The Shield’. The Shield itself is a team of special agents who work for the NIS (Korean Intelligence Agency). Joon, being left by his athlete parents after an accident, was scouted by the agency after knowing that he has a stern physical. However, this was against his dream of being a comic writer/cartoonist.

While he grows as an agent, he paves his way being the ace of the team. He is always in charge for tricky missions and thanks to his amazing skill; NIS never fails to have the mission done successfully. But still, the childhood dream of being a cartoonist hasn’t been achieved despite his outstanding performance as an agent. So, one day, he is drawing his own self-portrait while planning something. A call of mission comes to halt himself drawing it.

That call makes him to handle a new mission and so he goes to handle it. He brings along the hand-drawn self-portrait and shows it toward his pilot colleagues to conduct a funeral ceremony with that ‘photo’ if he dies while doing a mission. And that is what really happens next! Joon flees by throwing himself to the broad sea. He then is announced dead despite his body that has never been found. Following that, the funeral ceremony is carried out. Despite the grieving coach, colleague, and junior, he successfully swims across the sea and reach the island.

Fast forward to fifteen years later, Kim Bong Joon is no longer agent Joon – he names himself Kim Hyung Sook and marries a woman of his choice, Mina. He too has a daughter, which at the time, is a junior high school student. Joon now works as cartoonist despite being lowly waged, badly criticized online as a no-hope cartoonist, and having his wife as the bread-winner for the family. This financial problem makes them quarrel oftentimes.

One day, when he is drunk after his contract getting terminated, he draws his past stories of being a special agent. When he gets up for which he has no intention to submit it online, the drawing has been uploaded by his wife. Despite his plea to take it down initially, he later continues to draw it without knowing what awaits him afterward.

 

The Movie Overview

Everything in this world is subject to no perfection. This also applies to the movie Hitman: Agent Jun. What makes this film is worth to watch? And what are the downsides of this movie? Well, the concept of agent turning a cartoonist is somehow new. Hence, it is a fresh start, especially for the action genre. It makes it more special as the genre is combined with comedy. Moreover, the comedy is finely placed, so it can balance the intense thrilling scenes on the movie.

The story is fast-paced, but it is more noticeable in the first half of the movie. Therefore, if you are a quickly-bored person, this movie should not bore you. Hitman: Agent Jun is also filled with many renowned actors and actresses. Their acting skill is not a questionable aspect anymore. Chul and Kim Ga-young’s role played by Lee Yi-kyung and Lee Ji-won are kind of scene stealers. While the first is somehow mostly filled with comedy, the latter role tends to bring us such heartwarming scenes of father-daughter love. Not to forget, the cinematography and the choreography are definitely on the good side.

However, the fast-paced story in the first half of Hitman: Agent Jun may confuse people about latterly shown scenes. This is mostly related to character’s name. In some parts, the drama and comedy parts are not necessary, and somehow feel to be forced to balance the scenes.

 

Ratings of the Movie

Related to ratings, people are divided to two poles. Some of them admire the quirkiness of the storyline idea, while others judged on the too-fast storyline which may appear as ‘the writer’s confusion’ to some. If you are not a fan of action movies, the action scenes in the later part may bore you despite the fast pace. It is intense enough, although still not comparable yet to Hollywood action movies. The coach’s role is also inconsistent. For the first half, he is an admirable person, later on the movie he exposes the comedy side of him which feels a bit off.

So, when you are looking for this movie’s rating online, the answer varies greatly: there are people mentioning 10/10, the other said 2/10 is enough to score it well. Blogs like Asianwiki got Hitman: Agent Jun rated 91/100 from 190 user votes. While in IMDb, out of 10, the rating for this movie is 6.3 only. Wondering why the rating varies greatly in many resources? Well, why not find it out by watching this movie?

 

More about This Movie

According to one source, the title of this movie is a bit misleading. Well, it can be considered like that as the main lead doesn’t literally taking the chance for killing anybody. To be frankly said, the title is somewhat resonating with the main lead’s past story, but not the current one. Hitman: Agent Jun main lead’s act feels somehow a bit too soft to be called as hitman, emphasizing on merely choreographic beauty and nice cinematography.

However, it cannot be said this movie produced by Goo Tae-jin and Jang Yoo-jung is a bad one. The main lead, along with his little family of three, shows even spies are normal human being who can dream and have hope on simple things. Through the role of Mina and Ga-young, the ‘retired’ agent found what is precious to him despite the financial hardships. Well, for this one this film creates a relatable character that goes with many people.

It is very unfortunate this movie does not get much recognition as it should, consider the lacking in this and that things. It is lacking something to win an Oscar or whatever prize it is, but in terms of an entertaining movie, Hitman: Agent Jun can be one in your next-watch list.