A 2017 film, ‘The Swindlers‘ makes me a few years behind from movies you probably really want to hear about, but I know I just can’t not talk about this movie.

The main point of the movie is most likely the actors since we get Hyun Bin, Yoo Ji Tae, Park Sung Woong, and of course Nana who has made a name for herself and is acknowledged by k-netz and international fans for her talent. We say that idol-actors are probably the worst, but I guess this film marks the industry giving their trust to someone finally capable along with already established names.

Anyway, enough with the talk, I’ll make this review sweet and quick.

Actors & Characters

Hyun Bin as Hwang Ji Sung

Yoo Ji Tae as Prosecutor Park Hee Soo

Bae Seong Woo as Go Seok Dong

Park Sung Woong as Kwak Seung Gun

Nana as Choon Ja

Ahn Se Ha as Chief Kim

The Story

Hwang Ji Sung is after the con artist Jang Doo Chil to take revenge for the death of his father. However, Doo Chil is said to have died years ago. Rumors go around though that Jang Doo Chil is alive and only faked his death to avoid the public’s eye. Ji Sung also believes that the con artist is still there, somewhere in Thailand.

The sudden uproar about Doo Chil’s current whereabouts shake up lawmakers and high ranking officials that used to do bad stuff with him and to make sure Doo Chil never speaks a word about them, they must make sure he doesn’t stay alive. This is where Prosecutor Park comes in and later seeks Ji Sung’s help together with other swindlers. Individually, Ji Sung and Prosecutor Park have their own motives why they are after the con man, but together they will work to bring down their biggest enemy.

Review

I had been thinking of watching the film since last year, but I just can’t be in the mood. You know when you have those days right? You want to do something but a part of you doesn’t want you to, so you do something else. I have those periods a lot of times in a year, so I often forget that I actually had this movie saved in my flash disk.

That aside, in my opinion, the movie works for me, but it isn’t to the point of magnificence that can be made up for by the cast. The cast is in fact a spectacle to see. They are all wonderful actors, but the film story doesn’t give justice to what they are all capable of in reality.

The thing is, I find the film a bit dragging during two-thirds of it since Ji Sung, the protagonist, looks like a really capable swindler but ends up always failing, getting caught and being beaten up. He has this grand plan to catch Doo Chil, but he’s also trapped in Hee Soo’s own plans, as he has the means and power to help him at the moment while he’s on the rocks when it comes to the spending part of the job. There are also other swindler teammates that doesn’t really know to trust him, so things don’t always go as planned.

There’s also Nana who actually lost her girl group image for the swindling job, but I get that she only did a so-so job trying to be seductive. She could have shown something even more believable, but not over-the-top sexy if she’s aiming for that image within the alliance they have. That could have worked too, but I get that the message of this movie is probably that ‘we should focus on her job as a swindler, so there doesn’t really have to be a lot of skin showing’, but it is in her job description that they con people and how can she con people acting all cutesy? One day, it probably won’t work for everyone with her just batting her eyelashes at them.

The other actors also did an okay job to get the story going, but considering that most-likely this movie is more plot-driven than not, that it will not be easy to make sense of most things in the beginning. It will be pretty tiring, but I think you should give it a chance since the reward is awaiting you during the last arch.

Eventually, like most Korean movies, we get the grand twist. The best scheme in swindlers’ history! You won’t expect the kind of twist this movie has as they hardly give any kind of hints at the beginning and during the film–people getting scammed by Doo Chil and them committing suicide out of despair, Doo Chil’s screaming presence despite the gang always failing to catch him in time, and Ji Sung’s suspicious behavior throughout the film. They’ll piece everything for you towards the end and you’ll realize why the line ‘Doubts become assurances once they’re dispelled‘ plays a big part in this film.

What I can say as my final words is that, though there’s currently an overflowing number of anti-heroes and movies portraying the ugly side of things as something to be hailed for with their successes at conning people, deceiving someone and taking revenge, it is nothing but fiction, so we should always take things like this with a pinch of salt. I think that this movie is one of those tropes. Nowadays, you would like seeing bad-ass heroes and norm-defying films, so take it lightly. All is well as for entertainment. The movie delivers and entertainment-wise, I think this movie did a pretty well job if you put its shortcomings aside.

Rating

Giving this film a grade, I think it’s okay to give it 4.2 out of 5.0.

Trailer

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