Mission: Cross

Story: Mi-seon (Yum Jung-ah) is an outstanding detective and she is respected by her colleagues because of her high success rate in solving big cases. At home, however, she has to deal with her husband Kang-mu (Hwang Jung-min), who supports her wherever he can and lovingly takes care of her and the household - but his support is sometimes a bit too much of a good thing for her. Nevertheless, she knows that she could have ended up with somebody much worse. One day, Kang-mu happens to run into an old acquaintance again. Hee-joo (Jeon Hye-jin) is in some trouble and Kang-mu immediately offers to help her as he used to be a member of the Special Forces just like Hee-joo. Hee-joo's husband, whom Kang-mu also knows from his time in the service, hid an USB flash drive with the frozen accounts of a corrupt general, which is why he was kidnapped. While Kang-mu wants to help his former team member, Detective Mi-seon works on a case in which a woman was supposed to be killed by a group of well-trained men. The woman survived but she is in a coma now. Mi-seon also finds out that her husband is supposedly meeting with a mysterious woman. Thus, there are two cases that she tries to solve at the same time, not knowing that the two are connected...

Review: The playful music at the beginning of the movie already hints at the fact that you shouldn't take things too seriously here, and at this point, I was already thinking, "Oh no... Not a movie like that again ..." Fortunately, "Mission: Cross" is not a slapstick action flick, though. For long stretches of time, the movie is even quite serious, even though it always makes sure not to let things get too serious. And of course, this action comedy is anything but original. Since "Mr. and Mrs. Smith", at the latest, a certain weariness should have set in when it comes to couples who would actually make an unbeatable special commando together. As it's supposed to, the finale also fulfills its duty as we get a lot of action thanks to the unequal couple. This is certainly fun to watch, but there are a few major weaknesses that turn out quite disillusioning. First and foremost, the lack of chemistry between the two main actors. Each on their own, they are the main reason why the movie actually works so well, but unfortunately, they hardly get any chance to shine as a team.

This is due to the structure of the movie, which generally deserves praise, though, because we have two stories that develop parallel to each other. There is Mi-seon, who holds a second place at the shooting championships in Asia and who cracks every case as a powerful policewoman and now has to handle a very special murder attempt, and then there is Kang-mu, who has to become the man he used to be if he wants to help an old acquaintance. And strictly speaking, there is even a third storyline, because there is also the supposed affair that Kang-mu could have in Mi-seon's eyes. The script is well written, as the threads eventually come together, and new twists are added along the way - sometimes maybe even a few too many. But as you can see, the couple never really gets together with such a structure. The few scenes we do get at home leave a lot unanswered, and we only know that Mi-seon regrets her marriage a little bit and sees her husband as some kind of wimp. It's also a little odd that Kang-mu slips into this role in the first place. A little more character work would have helped here.

Yum Jung-ah ("Alienoid") does an excellent job because she doesn't turn into the cliché of the tough woman we would have trouble believing. Yum has the experience to smooth out any problems coming from the script, and she gives her character authenticity. Hwang Jung-min ("12.12. - The Day"), in turn, is also able to make the contrast between his past as a special agent and his role as a husband, who has to steal pocket money from his wife, not seem too extreme, so that we can believe that he is basically still the same person. But it would have been nice if the two actors, who obviously had fun in their respective roles, had been given a few more scenes together so that they could have become more comfortable with each other. Because director Lee Myung-hoon's script would have allowed for this, which is proven by Mi-seon's partner, played by Jung Man-sik ("Remember"). The two have great chemistry and Jung is able to carry the humorous moments too.

The story develops at a good pace, and there is always something happening. The conspiracy takes on bigger and bigger proportions and at some point, you realize that the movie can be placed somewhere between "James Bond" and "Austin Powers", especially when it comes to the setting during the showdown. As mentioned before, the humor often comes up a bit short. Especially in the second half it only flares up here and there. I was more than happy with that, but for viewers who expect an action comedy, this might be a bit disappointing. As is probably common practice in this subgenre, you shouldn't be bothered about the rather lovable duo mercilessly shooting down everyone who gets in their way. It (almost) never gets really bloody, but it all seems pretty merciless. Apart from a rather original chase through a tunnel, the action itself is quite uninspired, but there are still a few nice moments. The masses will be satisfied with this, but action connoisseurs will probably have hoped for more.

This brings us to the Netflix dilemma. With Netflix productions, you mostly somehow get the feeling that everything is just mediocre. A phenomenon that is also noticeable with most Hollywood productions. Everything is streamlined and made fit for mainstream viewers. So, everyone will get something out of it, but no one will be thoroughly enthusiastic about the movie. It lacks something special, something innovative, the courage to really make it your own. "Mission: Cross" is no exception to that. For long stretches of time, you will be entertained, and you certainly won't regret having seen the flick if you have a thing for the genre, but you won't miss out if you don't watch the movie either. Despite great actors and a surprisingly well-written "James Bond" story, the movie doesn't offer enough to deserve a clear recommendation. However, fans of the genre and all those who are on Netflix for convenience's sake could be worse off.

Buy this movie:

Follow @AsianMovieWeb