Ji Dong-cheol was once one of the top special forces agent in North Korea, but after a change in political system, he was abandoned by his government while on a mission. He goes on the run, seeking his wife and daughter who were sold as slaves to China, only to discover their corpses. When he learns that an ex-colleague was behind their deaths, Dong-cheol goes on a vendetta for revenge, defecting to the South to chase his family's killer. Now living incognito, he searches for his nemesis during the day, and at night works as a personal chauffeur for Chairman Park, a business executive with ties to Pyongyang. One night the chairman is attacked and killed by an assassin, but not before handing over a special pair of glasses to Dong-cheol. The South Korean intelligence service, a member of which frames Dong-cheol for the murder, goes on the hunt for the beleaguered former spy. The manhunt is led by Min Se-hoon, a colonel and drill sergeant with whom Dong-cheol shares a past, and Kim Seok-ho, a corrupt director of the NIS. Aided by a feisty documentary filmmaker, Dong-cheol goes on the run again while trying to recover top-secret materials that his dying boss sent him to find.
Cast
Gong Yoo as Ji Dong-cheol, a former highly ranked North Korean spy turned defector[5][6][7] investigating the murder of his family and accused of the murder of a business executive
Park Hee-soon as Min Se-hoon, a South Korean NIS operative demoted to a drill sergeant after a failed mission where Ji Dong-cheol spared him
Jo Sung-ha as Kim Seok-ho, a corrupt NIS director, the main antagonist
Yoo Da-in as Choi Kyung-hee, filmmaker of a documentary on North Korean defectors who follows Dong-cheol around and sympathizes with his past
Kim Sung-kyun as Ri Kwang-jo, a North Korean defector who Ji Dong-cheol believes killed his family
Jo Jae-yoon as Captain Jo, who assists Min Se-hoon and investigates Ji Dong-cheol's innocence
The Suspect opened in South Korea on December 24, 2013. It was a box office hit, with 4.1 million admissions.[11][12]
The film's distribution rights was sold to seven territories, including North America, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, India, the Middle East and German-speaking countries.[13][14][15] Will Go USA screened the film in 15 theaters in the United States on January 10, 2014.[16]
Reception
On review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 75% based on eight reviews, with an average rating of 6.67/10.[17] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 63 out of 100, based on five critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[18]
The Los Angeles Times praised the film's "inspired and teeth-grittingly determined" set pieces.[19]The Washington Post wrote that the film "should entertain any action buff,"[20] while Screen Daily, a film journal in the UK, also gave a good review: "the style of the action scenes is so explosive and immersive that the movie even threatens the reputation of the 007 series."[21]The New York Times reviewed that the "guns-or-butter dichotomy" is "more resonant than you'd expect."[22]
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