Hunt

All of these things were huge [historical] events during that period, if you know all of this stuff, this movie is way better.

“Hunt” works fine as a slam-bang action movie; but at heart it’s more of a cautionary tale.

Hunt has some excellent bang-bang escapism, but it's ultimately too shallow to recommend.

A dense narrative bursting with elaborate red herrings proves an unmanageable mess as the film wears on.

Hunt is an ugly morality play, briskly told and given chilling, crackling energy by Lee and Jung.

Right off the bat, the film aspires to a level of sophistication on par with Decision To Leave. Although it doesn’t fully live up to that comparison, it’s exciting to see a filmmaking novice stretch like this.

Director and star Lee Jung-jae mixes action with espionage but serves neither as well as it could, but this film opens an opportunity to learn more about the two Koreas in modern history.

There are some sparks to Lee Jung-jae’s directorial talents, Hunt is bombastically muddled and doesn’t know if it wants the audience to take it seriously or indulge in its explosive subplot-covered demeanor.

But his intended modern espionage epic, inspired by real events, has far too many storylines thrown into the mix.

Hunt sometimes gets too convoluted for its own good, but it offers a mostly engaging mystery for viewers who have the attention span and interest to follow this twist-filled spy thriller that's set in the 1980s.