Film Review: Yaksha: Ruthless Operations
- Very Average Joe
- 4 minutes ago
- 3 min read
English Title: Yaksha: Ruthless Operations
Korean Title: 야차 [lit. night spirit/weird creature]
Director(s): Na Hyun
Screenwriter(s): Na Hyun & Ahn Sang-hoon
Studio: Hwansang Studios
Released: 2022
Runtime: 2h 5m
Starring: Sul Kyung-gu, Park Hae-soo, Yang Dong-geun, Lee El, Song Jae-rim, Park Jin-young, Ikeuchi Hiroyuki, Jin Kyung
Four years ago, Ji Kang-in (Sul Kyung-gu) had to deal with a mole on his team in Hong Kong before being forced to go dark. The Japanese were involved but is otherwise unclear what is going on. Basically, the main character is presented as a possible villain.
In the present, Han Ji-hoon (Park Hae-soo) is a capable but somewhat idealistic South Korean prosecutor. After being forced to abandon a high-profile case because of a mistake by the investigative team, he is demoted to the legal support department of the NIS that does not do much.
Han Ji-hoon is then offered a chance at redemption when he takes on an assignment to Shenyang, China, as an inspector for the black ops team stationed there. The team is led by Ji Kang-in.
Shenyang is a hot-pot of spies from China, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, amongst others. Whilst NIS is generally lenient regarding their people reporting in from Shenyang, Director Yeom Jung-won (Jin Kyung) is concerned that recent reports are outright fabrications. So, there is a black ops mystery and intrigue for Han Ji-hoon to deal with.
In essence, the plot follows two main characters who have a chip on their shoulder with elements of “fish out of the water” for Han Ji-hoon. He is insistent with his questions about the team’s objectives and methods. The “idealist vs pragmatist” has been done many times and whilst there is nothing particularly different about this conflict, Han Ji-hoon is thankfully nowhere near as annoying as some. He does learn to save his questions for later.
Meanwhile, Ji Kang-in is happy to play games with Han Ji-hoon, partly to test him, and the two men slowly warm up to each other but not too much. There are no super cheesy moments, just a gradual appreciation that feels natural enough.
As for the mystery, Ji Kang-in and his team are after a North Korean defector who possesses important intel. The North Koreans obviously want him but the Japanese are also after him. The latter is led by Ozawa Yoshinobu (Ikeuchi Hiroyuki).
At just over two hours, the film is not exactly short. Although it never drags, the pacing is steady and can be quicker, especially for an action-thriller but is not in itself a major problem.
The main problem is that there is a lack of wow factor in both action and twists given the genre.
The set pieces are not outright poorly executed but Ji Kang-in and his team are conveniently good in firefights. They hit their targets whilst their adversaries miss them. The scenes are simply not as cool as they are supposed to be. And there could be more action.
As for the espionage and black ops action, there is a lack of “tricks” by the parties involved, it’s just the usual predictable elements. It may not be trying to be Mission: Impossible or Alias or Die Hard, but the film needs something more.
Generally, the film looks good. The cinematography is balanced, avoiding too much frenetic camerawork during action sequences, and there is a good use of saturated colors typically found in Korean films and dramas.
On balance, although there is nothing particularly bad about the film, there is nothing particularly great about it either. The performances are sufficient given the genre even if the rest of the team are token Ji Kang-in loyalists, and it looks and sounds good. The use of Japanese and Chinese in addition to Korean gives it some texture, which is appreciated.
However, whilst the premise is sufficiently intriguing, the plot does not make good use of it. Like many Korean works, there is understandably a bit of Japanese bashing. Whilst that conflict gives it focus, the story falls flat as it fails to sufficiently involve other parties to generate more complicated conflicts and plot twists that an espionage action-thriller needs.
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