MISSION CROSS (크로스) (2024)

SYNOPSIS: In the ultimate test of marriage, an agent-turned-househusband gets tangled in a perilous mission with his detective wife, who's clueless about his past.

MOVIE REVIEW:

You don’t really expect the usually serious actor liked Hwang Jung-min from The Point Men, Hunt, Deliver Us from Evil and The Spy Gone North to portray a “house husband” in a comedy. But that’s where the versatile actor shines in this action comedy inspired by True Lies and Mr and Mrs Smith.

Kang-moo (Hwang) is a deadly secret agent who has now shed his past to become a school bus driver and domesticated husband to a kick-ass lady cop, Mi-seon (Yum Jung-ah). When an ex-lady colleague of Kang enlist his help to investigate a conspiracy, Mi-seon suspects her husband is seeing a woman behind her back. In actual fact, they are both linked to a dangerous mission and all they have is each other to thwart a massive arms dealing.

Mission Cross is director and writer Lee Myung-hoon first feature movie and he has proven he is adept at both action and comedy. Before the movie treats us to some spectacular action sets, there is the comedy side of things. Mi-seon is the “tom-boy” gung-ho lady fighting cop who freely uses a taser on her opponents to much comedic effect. Her three loyal subordinates add to the fun by being the first to break the news of Kang’s infidelity to her. Then there is a hilarious sequence where Kang cleverly breaks into the heavily-guarded camp.

Even if it’s essentially a comedy for the first hour, Mission Cross never fails to scrimp on the action scenes. Anything you expect from a comedy spy actioner, you will find it here. There are prolonged car chases, prolonged shootout in a bunker and prolonged fight scenes. Lee truly knows how to keep both the comedy and action going.

Still, the entire conspiracy plot is exhausting and even to a point of cartoony. To avoid spoiling your viewing experience, let’s just say the main villain is more of an exaggerating cartoon bad guy than one who wishes to see the world burn. Lee definitely knows his ways to create an overall entertaining picture but it’s a little bit too much and too predictable at times.

Even if Mission Cross is a bad movie to you, it’s still better than the average ones. So just ride along with Hwang Jung-min and Yum Jung-ah, the year’s unexpected, mismatched couple in this highly-entertained action comedy.

MOVIE RATING:

Review by Linus Tee