Review: ‘The Age of Shadows’ is an intense ride

Secret ending? No.

Running time: 141 minutes (~2.5 hours)

"The Age of Shadows" is a Korean war action-thriller that takes place Korea's era of Japanese rule.

It sees the interplay between a corrupt Korean police officer and an antique dealer who's a Korean freedom fighter. Korea's freedom hinges on the dynamics of these two men and their attempt to gain dominance over each other. It stars Song Kang-ho (Lee Jeong-chool), Gong Yoo (Kim Woo-jin), Han Ji-min (Yeon Gye-soon), Shin Sung-rok (Jo Hoe-ryeong), Um Tae-goo (Hashimoto), Shingo Tsurumi (Higashi), Kim Dong-young (Ha Chul-joo), Heo Sung-tae (Ha Il-soo), Lee Byung-hun (Jeong Chae-san), Park Hee-soon (Kim Jang-ok), and Foster Burden (Ludvic). It is rated NC-16.

"The Age of Shadows" is a Korean thriller that takes place across multiple cities and — wait for it — a train (no zombies included). Much of it is a mind game between the two leads as they try to suss out each other's positions while maintaining their own. This psychological drama is augmented by the usual gritty Korean violence and dramatic revelations. Surprisingly, it manages to maintain the tension all the way to the film's resolution despite the film's copious length.

Highlights

Intense

The confrontations between characters are fraught with fear and suspense because you're always guessing what their next actions will be. Even after you're sure of each character's allegiance and motivation, their actions continue to be unexpected, but logical extrapolations of what has come before. This means that every interaction is laden with twists and tension, keeping you on the edge for the whole film.

Redemptive arc

Underlying the battle of wills and wits is this strong sense of patriotism as the ultimate positive end of the moral spectrum. With this idea of morality in mind, the film also tells the story of redemption for one of the characters, as that character (unnamed to prevent spoilers), we learn, secretly wishes to atone for a misdeed conducted long ago. It's a slow but perceptible change of heart, and as the audience, you root for that character to do what's right. This adds to the tension, and also culminates in a satisfying conclusion where that character eventually finds peace with his/her actions.

Moody locations

Each location in the film is a beautifully designed set piece that's not only functional for plot purposes, but also has its own unique personality. Thanks to the circumstances of the story, it's inevitable that everything is sombre and exudes pessimism. Yet each place brings out this oppressive atmosphere in a different way, whether it be the veneer of expensive taste hiding cheap knockoffs like Kim Woo-jin's (Gong Yoo) shop, the claustrophobic train station at Seoul, or the worn, dirty vehicles that they travel in.

Letdowns

Ridiculous moustaches

You simply cannot take Hashimoto (Um Tae-goo) seriously because of his goofy moustache that looks incongruous with his youthful face. That, exacerbated by the fact that he seems to be a petulant teen who's drunk on power, makes this secondary antagonist an even less threatening one. It's not limited to him though, as Jo Hoe-ryeong (Shin Sung-rok) also sports an equally silly moustache that looks pasted on.

Music that tries too hard

At first, the music seems to be following the time period of the story by being overdramatic. Then it lapses into silence, and rears its head again with a score that's out of proportion to what's happening on screen. It also attempts to be ironic and artistic by playing a classical score that's painfully different from the events in the scene itself. It's not that the quality of the soundtrack is bad, it's just that it tries too hard to be dramatic.

Should you watch this at weekday movie ticket prices? Yes.

Should you watch this at weekend movie ticket prices? If you like Korean thrillers.

Score: 3.5/5

"The Age of Shadows" opens in cinemas:
- 5 January, 2017 (Singapore)
- 23 November, 2016 (Philippines)

Marcus Goh is a Singapore television scriptwriter. He’s also a Transformers enthusiast and avid pop culture scholar. He Tweets/Instagrams at Optimarcus and writes at marcusgohmarcusgoh.com. The views expressed are his own.