Gongjo 2: Inteonaesyeonal

I was looking forward to this sequel, but I'm not as satisfied as I was with the first one, and maybe the change of director is to blame. Visually it's again of course up to standard, the Korean quality we're all used to, the acting is great, the central couple is joined by the likable Daniel Henney, and villain is also good, played by Jin Seon-kyu, who is easy to remember thanks to his unusual image. The action is again decent, but this time there is quite little of it and especially the fist fights are fewer, which is quite a pity, the new director seems to prefer shootouts. The opening shootout in the street is very intense and manages to lure you in. But it’s PG-13 (I don't understand why South Korea is making an action movie with a kid's rating) and then there is a lull of almost an hour where the film concentrates on the plot, which I didn't find that interesting and the humour again missed me by a wide berth – I'll probably never get a taste for that with Asia. It gets better during the finale, with the promised fight, which luckily had everything (fists and knives) and is one of the highlights of the film, but it's not enough for a higher rating. I had fun, it's a nice diversion, but to satiate my cravings the director would have had to step on the gas. 65%. (29.11.2022)