Last Updated on September 28, 2020 by rob
Gifted with exceptional powers of memory and observation, new recruit Ha (Han Hyo-joo) joins a hi-tech surveillance unit known as The Zoo whose agents are all named after animals. Codenamed Piglet and plunged into the hunt for a gang of bank robbers Ha immediately runs afoul of her tough boss Chief Hwang (Sol Kyung-gu) after taking direct action in contravention of rules stating agents can only observe and report. But when further audacious robberies occur Ha and her team find themselves plunged into a face to face confrontation with the gang’s mastermind, The Shadow (Jung Woo-sung), whose knowledge of surveillance techniques (and how to avoid them) is just as sharp as The Zoo’s. However The Shadow has problems of his own. He wants to retire only to discover that his employer has other ideas.
With its likeable characters, swaggering visual style and visceral action, Cold Eyes is an absolute blast. The film’s confidence is apparent right from its opening sequence in which two separate events – a meticulously planned and executed bank robbery overseen by The Shadow from the roof of one of the tallest buildings in Seoul, and a test of our heroine’s observational and tracking skills taking place on the streets below – are audaciously intercut without managing to confuse the viewer (no mean feat considering that at this point we don’t even know who any of the characters are). The sequence also plants a crucial visual clue regarding the The Shadow that goes right to the heart of Ha’s unique genius and pays off later in the story.
The casting across the board here is first class. Young Hyo-joo has just the right combination of street smarts and vulnerability as the rookie cop (the poor girl’s reaction when she goes to take a piss and completely forgets she’s miked up, with the result that everyone back at HQ can hear her, is a hoot) and she’s the perfect contrast to Sol Kyung-gu’s boss Chief Hwang, a man who treats his employees with what might charitably be termed tough love. Kyung-gu channels something of his tough yet amusing Public Enemy persona here even if he is hidden behind some bookish spectacles. But the actor also brings a vulnerability to the character that has us dreading the consequences when he comes up against Jung Woo-sung’s villain The Shadow, a formidable adversary who kills without hesitation, stabbing his victims in the neck and heart with a pen!
The Shadow may cut a vaguely dorky figure in his long overcoat and briefcase but we’re quickly shown this is a master tactician who plans his raids meticulously and lets hired thugs take all the risks while he watches safely from afar. The hints the film drops that The Shadow has been harshly trained from childhood by his cruel employer/father to know no other existence except killing are intriguing and because Woo-sung brings hints of vulnerability to the role we’re not entirely unsympathetic when he tells his employer he wants to leave only to be almost garrotted for his trouble and forced back to work. One of the strengths of Cold Eyes is that the characters are all imbued with funny little quirks – whether it’s the sly hint that Hwang bores every new recruit with the tale of his greatest arrest, to the cabinet stuffed with spare phones because The Zoo’s glam female boss (Jin Kyung) has a habit of taking out her frustrations by lobbing the nearest one across the room, or Ha requesting the girly-girl codename of Reindeer only to be saddled by her boss with the moniker of Piglet – all of which combine to make the characters amusing and engaging.
The film fairly barrels along, combining Piglet’s desire to prove herself with the hunt for the gang and the mastermind behind them. On the technical side the film’s ultra slick visual style and propulsive editing grab you by the scruff of the neck and don’t let go. The film has several hi-octane robbery sequences plus a big car chase/shootout, but for a movie that’s essentially comprised of sequences in which our heroes do little except follow others through the streets on foot it’s really impressive just how relentlessly gripping all this is. A setpiece in which Ha finds herself sharing a lift with one especially repulsive suspect – who has his mind on call girls and thinks she might be one – is edge of the seat stuff. Another, in which The Shadow does overwatch on an exactingly planned bank robbery only to realise with dawning horror that the police radio transmissions he’s monitoring mean that his own team are the ones under surveillance marks a thrilling reversal of fortune for our previously untouchable supervillain.
There’s an especially nice touch in the way the filmmakers have – or appear to have – the camera attached to an object or person in a chase or fight scene. There’s a shot here where The Shadow takes a running jump through a window, comes crashing down on top of a car and then rolls off onto the ground, in which the camera seems to stay physically attached to the actor throughout the entire length of the shot. The effect is breathtaking (I can only imagine what it must have felt like on a cinema screen). The linear script avoids unnecessary subplots with the result that the film’s focus and momentum on the chase rarely stall and the climax is refreshingly free of the ‘multiple endings’ curse that afflicts the Hollywood equivalents of this sort of stuff.
The final face off here, in which Ha saves herself from The Shadow and leaves the way clear for her boss to take him down, “Korean cops rarely get to shoot at live targets. Let’s make the most of it!” utters a wounded Chief Hwang brandishing a pistol as the killer barrels toward him, embodies the film’s taut yet humorous tone. It’s a winning combination. I was also touched by the space the film gives to a heartfelt remembrance for the one member of The Zoo who dies at The Shadow’s hands. The film’s coda – featuring a cameo by Simon Yam, the star of Eye In The Sky (2007), the Hong Kong movie of which Cold Eyes is actually a remake, is not only an affectionate touch but neatly sets up a potential sequel. That has yet to happen despite Cold Eyes being a big success at the local box office. Hopefully one day it will. In the meantime if you’re new to South Korean action cinema this is a cracking movie to start with.
