Brace yourself for "Hitman: Agent Jun", here's what to look forward to

Kwon Sang-Woo's hilarious side shines in "Hitman: Agent Jun".

With "Hitman: Agent Jun" now in cinemas, some of you might be wondering if you should give this movie a go or a miss. Trust us when we say, you'll be missing out on a good laugh-out-loud type of movie if you sit this one out.

The South Korean action comedy, helmed by Choi Won-Sub, stars Kwon Sang-Woo ("The Accidental Detective" movie series, "Love, Again") as the titular legendary hitman who decides to leave his action-packed life in the National Intelligence Service (NIS) to become a webtoon artist, because as he says, drawing comics makes him happy.

One day, heavily drunk and depressed by his failure at launching a hit webtoon, he decides to draw inspiration from his hitman days and crafts a new webtoon series based on his own butt-kicking past – revealing secrets the NIS would do anything to keep buried. Now he has to deal with not only his former NIS acquittances who are after him but also the real-life baddie the villain in his webtoon is based on.

There's a reason why this movie is still going strong at its home country's box office, where it managed to surpass 2 million moviegoers in just 11 days since its release on 22 January.

See below for the five things you can look forward to in the rib-tickling "Hitman: Agent Jun".

Tear-inducing Comedy

Who's pulling the trigger? Their constant bickering makes for good comedy.

H doesn't stand for just Hitman, it also stands for Hilarious, Humorous and Happy Virus. That last one's a very Korean colloquialism but yes, this movie does have that "virus" (not the currently spreading coronavirus) that will infect the audience with happiness. Korean proficiency is not needed in understanding the humour, you will find yourself laughing, to some extent, with tears rolling down your cheeks because some of the scenes contain continuous jokes that will make you laugh non-stop. It's not just the action but also the interaction between the characters that will crack you up. We don't want to spoil things for you, so you'll just have to watch the movie to find out.

Arresting Visuals

Mi-Na has very little faith in her husband's ability as a webtoon artist, that is until he puts his secret agent days into drawing.

The balanced blend of live-action and animation makes this movie even more visually arresting. (The easy-on-the-eyes cast members already "arrested" everyone's attention from the get-go). Since our hero is a webtoon artist, most of his drawings come to life as part of the storytelling. That seamless switch between live-action to animation and back again to live-action creates more punch visual-wise. It's evident from the start of the movie that animation will be incorporated throughout it as it opens with a young Jun's animated drawing of a happy memory with his parents.

Cool Cast

Though no one can outdo Kwon's coolness as Agent Jun.

As mentioned, the movie is led by heartthrob Kwon Sang-Woo. While most handsome actors can't pull off comedic characters (God doesn't always give with both hands), this 43-year-old has no problem be it in his line delivery or his facial expressions. The beautiful Hwang Woo Seul Hye (tvN's "Crash Landing on You") also looks flawless, no matter if her character Mi-Na is scolding her useless husband Jun or bawling her eyes out of anger when she gets kidnapped by the villain and the rescue mission doesn't exactly go as expected. Lee Ji-Won plays their feisty aspiring rapper daughter Ka-Young, who is obsessed with the rap competition "Show Me the Money", just as coolly. The likes of Lee Yi-Kyung ("Hotel Del Luna") as Chul, Jung Joon-Ho ("Operation Chromite") as "the trainer from hell" Duk-Gyoo and Heo Sung-Tae ("The Divine Move 2") as NIS top boss Hyung-Do round up the impressive main cast.

Top Action from a (Former) Top Agent

Jun demonstrates here one of the moves he can execute on anyone standing in his way.

Seeing that this movie is about a former agent and his past in the secret service, plenty of action can be expected in it. We see Jun kicking bad guys' butts in style early on in the movie, then later even though he's left that life, he's forced to pull out all his moves again when his past comes looking for him. The fight scenes are very smoothly choreographed and yes, even Mi-Na gets to, in a way, show off some moves, Jun didn't marry no distressed damsel. This guy doesn't even need to be heavily armed to defeat his opponents, which is lucky for him because no normal webtoon artist would have plenty of ammunition just casually lying around at his disposal.

Touching Story

Jun (R) and his daughter discussing the sad fate of his unpopular webtoon.

Bits of Jun's cool agent side comes out from time to time (no normal person smokes hanging out their window like that) but mostly he's seen as this loser who mooches off his wife and can't even create a proper webtoon, much to his editor's dismay. You'll find yourself rooting for this guy to find success though because of his selfless reason to do so. It's all for his family's sake, he just wants to be a good dad who can buy his musically-inclined daughter a keyboard (the musical instrument, not the computer accessory) and a good husband his wife can be proud of. Not to mention his backstory as an agent. This guy has seen some things in life, you'll be fervently wishing for him a good and easy life as a good appa and good yeobo as the movie progresses.

Catch all the action in the hilarious "Hitman: Agent Jun", now showing in cinemas nationwide.