Seoul Raiders (2005) [Film Review]

Seoul Raiders; or, Trust Nobody in Korea

     I'm under the international spy section of the Japanese National Security Dept. But I just changed jobs, and became... head of Interpol Asian Division. In other words, I'm just... super cool.

As I am still on the lookout for the release of Europe Raiders, I decided to wait patiently and, in the meantime, review Tokyo Raider’s sequel, simply known as Seoul Raiders. Made 5 years later after the original movie and with just Tony Leung Chiu-Wai reprising his role as the jack-of-all-trades Lam.

Release Info

Directed by: Jingle Ma Starring: Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Shu Qi, Richie Jen

Language: Cantonese Original Title: 韓城攻略 Runtime: 98 min

 

Synopsis

Lam (Tony Leung) retrieves a pair of plates which are used to make American dollars. He hands them over to the US Embassy representative, Owen (Richie Jen), but the man double-crosses Lam and escapes with the plates. Lam is sent by the Hong Kong Police to South Korea in order to track down Owen. The spy recruits a group of beautiful Korean assistants and teams up with JJ (Shu Qi), a small time crook who is also after the plates. The team finds out that Owen intends to sell the plates to a crime syndicate boss known as Polar Bear.

 

Kingdom of the Silvery Plates

First of all, I will start by saying that amidst the sea of fake and quasi-sequels, Seoul Raiders is an actual continuation which references the original film (K.O. and TTTTT :D). However, its primary disadvantage is the lack of the two strong leads: Ekin Cheng and Kelly Chen who, together with Tony Leung, had such great chemistry on screen.

 

Nevertheless, once you get over the absence of Ekin and Kelly, the movie becomes quite fun. Right from the opening sequence, there are nicely choreographed action set pieces, ridiculous jokes, and a standard upbeat music (this time composed by Tommy Wai instead of Peter Kam). In addition, the main setting for the unfolding events is now Seoul and the movie uses some of its interesting live locations.

 

With regard to performances, Tony Leung obviously relishes playing the over-the-top spy and his Errol Flynn-like enthusiasm in every scene is infectious. To be honest, I’m not riding the fan-train of Shu Qi, but I give it to her that she did great with her part and even made me laugh a few times. Richie Jen is quite likeable and convincing in the role of a rogue embassy worker, even though he gets beaten up throughout most of the film. Additional praise goes to Meme Tian for looking badass cool as the syndicate’s “interpreter”.

 

I should point out that there are two plot twists, unlike in the previous film which had plenty(!), yet these do not disrupt the overall reception of the picture. Jingle Ma at least in this case made the storyline simpler and easier to follow. However, I still view Tokyo Raiders slightly superior to its successor. Seoul Raiders might have improved in terms of pacing and coherency, but it ultimately lacks the style and charming playfulness of the original movie.

 

Recommendations

Seoul Raiders may be perceived as an inferior sequel, but it is undoubtedly a fun to watch and a good choice for a free evening. It only gets better with repetitive viewing, because you know what to expect and just wait for the action and laughs. It’s more than watchable and quite entertaining, even if it does not touch the bar set by the first film.  Now, I only have Europe Raiders left to review. If I manage to track down a copy, I will most certainly share with you my thoughts on the film.

Overall score: 7/10