Worth: $15.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
PARK So-dam, SONG Sae-byeok, KIM Eui-sung
Intro:
… a thrilling, entertaining and solid genre flick …
It’s been a long take between gigs for director PARK Dae-min, with his last action adventure, an adaptation of the 17th Century folk-legend, Seondal: The Man Who Sells the River, releasing in 2016. The architect-come-director returns with Special Delivery, a high-octane Korean thriller that trades traditional hanbok for souvenir jackets and trucker caps while replacing horse drawn carts with modified BMW E34 and E39s.
While Special Delivery heralds the welcome return of its director, it also marks the first lead role of PARK So-dam since her break-out performance in the Oscar winning Parasite.
Set largely in the honeycombed backstreets of Seoul, JANG Eun-ha (So-dam) works as a driver for an underground delivery service that specialises in off-the-book jobs. Quietly cool and unrivalled at her job, Eun-ha unexpectedly finds herself at the centre of a conspiracy involving corrupt cops, violent gangsters and a growing body count as her latest assignment has her tasked with getting a traumatised ten-year-old to safety. A task that not only puts her professional code and safety at risk, but which threatens her adopted family of co-workers, including her mentor and father-figure played by veteran KIM Eui-sung (Train to Busan).
Special Delivery opens on what is arguably one of best car chase scenes put to screen in recent years, effectively pulling its audience into the film’s fictional crime world with ease and finesse thanks to exceptional cinematography and editing from HONG Jae-sik and KIM Sun-min respectively.
While Dae-min handles the ambitious action and fight sequences well, the narrative does occasionally stall under the weight of over-indulgent dramatic moments, which largely distract from the film’s core mantra of mayhem and fun.
Special Delivery undoubtedly shares its cinematic DNA with popular actioners such as the Jason Statham starrer The Transporter and Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver, and while occasionally faltering under a disjointed narrative, it remains a thrilling, entertaining and solid genre flick thanks to PARK So-Dam’s inspired turn as the infallible delivery driver.
