Mission: Cross (Netflix, 2024)
Mission: Cross (or: Keuroseu) is a great fun action thriller from South Korea that plays like a cross between True Lies and Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
No prizes for originality, I guess, but who cares when the net result is a rollicking good time?
Three is once again the magic number. There is Kang Moo (Hwang Jung-min) who used to be a special agent, but is a now a devoted husband to Mi Sun (Yum Jung-ah) who is the chief of police and sees hubby as a scoundrel who she puts up with because he takes good care of her, but who really is just one step away from being put behind bars. So much for love and marriage, I guess…
For some reason Kang Moo has never told Mi Sun about his past. So does he really have something to hide? Well, let’s put it like this: there is some unfinished business he doesn’t like talking about because danger may still be lurking around the corner…
Then out of the blue Kang Moo gets into contact with former colleague and teammate Hee-Joo (Jeon Hye-jin) and before you know it he is back on a special operation nobody can know about, because it goes all the way to the top and they are all in over their heads.
So when Mi Sun is told her husband is seeing another woman, she naturally assumes the worst: he’s having an affair!
What ensues is a triangle of mayhem, that leads to a captivating mixture of action, comedy and thrills, with some unexpected twists to boot.
Writer-director Lee Myung Hoon basically hits all the right notes in his first feature that easily transcends its basic premise.
Kang Moo is a lovable character, but it is the women who really get a chance to shine, with Yum Jung-ah in particular delivering an excellent performance. (To be fair, Hwang Jung-min picks up the slack later on when Kang Moo starts kicking ass too!).
The money is definitely on the screen here and it would have been wonderful to have seen this movie on the big screen, but even on a television it will provide you with oodles of entertainment.