Quick

Story: Being a legendary biker back in the day Han Gi-soo (Lee Min-ki) is now earning his money as a courier. When one day he is supposed to get a girl to her destination point as soon as possible a crazy bomb planter contacts him and forces him to deliver bombs to certain addresses. Should he not follow his orders he would detonate the bomb that is placed inside his motorcycle helmet. However, instead of him the girl with him happens to have put on the helmet and so she has to accompany him on his breakneck tours through the city. Apart from that the two already know each other as the girl, Chun-shim (Kang Ye-won), was once the girlfriend of the biker. When the police can track down a trail from the first bombing to Gi-soo policeman Myeong-sik (Kim In-kwon), who was a biker himself once, recognizes his old rival and Chun-shim, who he still is in love with. While the police is doing everything in its power to stop Gi-soo in a wild chase more and more people fall victim to the bombings. Slowly there are dots revealed which can be connected and point to the one pulling the strings of this deadly game.

Review: True to the spirit of Hollywood's motto "bigger, faster, louder" Korea delivers a showpiece of an adrenaline-loaden nonsense action blockbuster here. "Quick" is bullocks that cries out to heaven and the first condition it sets is for the viewer to check his brain at the entrance. For this sole purpose alone the introduction seems to be unnecessarily over the top. However, if you happen to survive it without turning the movie off you can relax. The movie doesn't continue to be as stupid as here. Well, in a certain way it actually does, but still in portions that are more easily digestable if you are willing to abdicate any form of logic or believability in a movie. "Quick" comes clean with the viewer right from the start and so you can only hold its obvious flaws against the film to a limited degree. That is also because the movie itself makes fun of them, too.

So what flaws are we talking about... First of all there are so many coincidences and scenes that arised from their own necessity that you constantly have to slap yourself on the forehead. Then there are also some bumpy parts in the screenplay. Wait a minute, how exactly did the bike get on the roof of that building again? Doesn't matter, Gi-soo must have driven it to the top somehow because he needs to fly across to the next building and jump through the window of a company building! Yes, a motorcycle that flies over rooftops and through the sky is absolutely nothing special in "Quick" from a certain point onward. Either you can live with that or you can't. Admittedly it hurts in the head incredibly when seeing this nonsense the first time but at some point it actually starts to be fun.

It's the kind of guilty pleasure "Quick" features that may divide the audience. You certainly can't call this quality cinema, for this the script happens to be too stupid, despite some minor efforts to make the story more complex later on, which isn't that complex at a closer look after all. But to make up for that this action flick doesn't take itself too serious at any time. There are a few moments during which this doesn't work out that well because Gi-soo's reckless speeding apparently leads to several deaths on the road. Accidents and explosions are the order of the day. Why a truck has to lose several propane cylinders just when Gi-soo and the police are driving behind it naturally remains a complete mystery as do many other ridiculous coincidences, but in the end this leads to a domino effect that causes a true horror crash on the highway, even though the film never makes it look that way but like a funny firework display.

A cheerful atmosphere is the top priority in "Quick" right next to breakneck stunts. The consequences of the whole chase shouldn't be considered. The one time it actually is talked about it seems really out of place, of course. Sadly, there are also a few scenes where the slapstick humor doesn't work out that right. However, most of the time the film is surprisingly funny, which means that awkward scenes are pretty much the exception and that you are otherwise entertained nicely.
Naturally the individual characters remain caricatures of themselves all the time. Lee Min-ki ("Oishi Man") plays the courier who isn't really a bright light which the movie also makes fun of during a scene towards the end. Kang Ye-won ("Haeundae") is occupied getting worked up or yelling. Whatever necessary to get loud. Kim In-kwow is the funny supporting character, but actually he is also the most interesting one in the movie.

"Quick" is a mix of "Speed", the video game "Crazy Taxi" (anyone still remembering?!) and of course also reminds us of the Luc Besson produced "Taxi" with which it shares the same wacky over-the-top action. It never steps on brakes, sometimes it's pretty innovative thanks to well done camera work and is excellently supported by subtly worked in special effects. A true action fest that is simply fun to watch. When the credits roll there are some of the stunts and injuries shown just like in good old Jackie Chan movies. If it were just about the action and the entertainment value "Quick" would have deserved a better rating. The ridiculous screenplay and the shallow characters on the other hand would have deserved a worse rating. Therefore, I will go for a very entertaining "averagely good".

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