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 t's
hard to imagine anyone getting overly enthusiastic
about the Korean film "Les Formidables"
after seeing the horribly generic DVD cover, which
features two macho but pained looking men
handcuffed together, one of whom is most likely a
corrupt cop, and the other a strangely moral
criminal. These two figures have become almost as
ubiquitous as the long haired female ghost in
Korean cinema, and whilst there is no denying that
the country has been responsible for some of the
best gritty thrillers of the last few years, the
set up is rapidly out staying its welcome. Further
hampered by a bizarre and pointlessly French title
for its international release, which has nothing
much to do with anything, all things considered,
"Les Formidables" gets off to a pretty
bad start.
This is a real shame, as the
film turns out to be far better than initial
expectations, and is superior to the majority of
its brethren mainly due to the fact that director
Jo Min Ho (a long time industry veteran, whose
last effort was the gangster comedy "Jungle
Juice" back in 2002) never loses sight of the
fact that he is in fact making a thriller. Whereas
similar films have drowned in angst over the
unfairness of societal corruption and moral
lassitude, Jo quite wisely spices things up with
plenty of violent action and a set of quirky,
likeable character.
Initial suspicions regarding
the cover turn out to be correct, as the film
starts with corrupt homicide detective Sung Woo
(actor Park Joong Hoon, also in "Two
Cops" and "Nowhere
to Hide") shaking down a bar owner for
money while his partner is killed outside by a
deep voiced bald assassin on the run from a
gangland hit. Su Hyeon (Chun Jeong Myung, an up
and coming young star, recently in "The
Aggressives" and the lame horror "R.U.
Ready?") is soon thrown into the fray as
an ex-gang member who is blamed for the cop's
murder and thrown in jail. Determined to clear his
name, he breaks out of prison, and after
circumstances conspire to bring the two men
together, he takes Sung Woo as a hostage to help
him escape. Sure enough, the two overcome their
initial antagonism and pool their resources to
tackle the common enemy.
Although "Les
Formidables" may not sound particularly
promising on the basis of the above synopsis, the
opening scenes mark out director Jo's intent
pretty clearly, as he throws in some great martial
arts brawling and motorbike stunt work. The action
quotient is kept high throughout, with plenty of
violent scenes of fisticuffs, gun battles and even
swordplay, most of it drenched with blood. The
film also features some excellent, breath taking
stunts, including one CGI enhanced car crash which
is quite incredible.
Through this, Jo more than
makes up for the film's lack of moral complexity
when compared with the likes of "Running
Wild", giving "Les Formidables"
an edgy, exciting feel painfully absent in so many
other would-be police thrillers which have been
far more concerned with long faces and shoe gazing
than blowing things up. Similarly, the pace is
kept fast throughout, helped by a lively
soundtrack and some stylish direction, including
some well used split screen work which for once
actually has a practical purpose.
The film also benefits from a
great set of characters, none of whom are
conventional, despite the undeniably generic plot.
Sung Woo is a truly wretched figure, an alcoholic
parasite with alarming suicidal tendencies, and
his relationship with the violent but basically
decent Su Hyeon gives the film an effective
emotional core. Since the two are both likeable,
despite being quite obviously crazy, the viewer
finds it easy to root for them, and their
inevitable bonding emerges in a natural, amusing
fashion.
As such, "Les
Formidables" rises above the unavoidable
criticisms of over familiarity, simply by the
virtue of being hugely entertaining. Packed with
thrills and unburdened by the all too common
excessive melodrama of its peers, it makes for
energetic, entertaining viewing and deserves to be
more widely seen than it, unfortunately, probably
will be.
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