HUMINT (휴민트) (NETFLIX) (2026)

SYNOPSIS: A South Korean agent hunts a drug ring in Russia and goes head-to-head with a North Korean operative — pulling both into peril and tangled secrets. 

MOVIE REVIEW:

Some critics have compared Humint to The Killer, John Woo’s classic about a hitman, a tough cop, and a blind singer entangled in a violent yet sentimental affair. While Ryoo Seung-wan’s Humint certainly carries shades of Woo’s work, it leans more toward a conventional North–South Korean spy thriller.

Directed and written by Ryoo Seung-wan (The Berlin File, Escape from Mogadishu), Humint opens with South Korean National Intelligence Service agent Zo (Zo In-sung), who is on a mission to crack a drug ring involving North Korea and Russian mafia in Vladivostok. Enlisting the help of nightclub worker Chae Seon-hwa (Shin Sae-kyeong), Zo is unaware that his North Korean counterpart, Park Geon (Park Jeong-min) who also happens to be Seon-hwa’s former lover is investigating the same illicit network.

Humint adopts a deliberate pace from the outset, carefully establishing its three main characters, each with their own motives and plans, whose paths inevitably and sometimes conveniently intersect. Zo is haunted by the death of an informant he failed to save, and he is determined not to let Seon-hwa suffer the same fate. Seon-hwa, meanwhile, is driven by the need to earn money to treat her cancer-stricken mother, despite knowing that any misstep in her dealings with Zo could cost her life at the hands of the North Korean regime. Park Geon’s loyalty as an agent is unquestionable, but he is clearly unwilling to repeat past mistakes when it comes to Seon-hwa.

The film is filled with surveillance sequences, hidden cameras, and tense interrogations which are punctuated by the irritable clicking of a pen. As expected in any espionage thriller, questions of betrayal and shifting loyalties linger throughout. A colourful antagonist emerges in the form of North Korean consulate official Hwang Chi-sung (Park Hae-joon), who adds further complications to the trio’s already precarious situation. By the end of the first hour, Ryoo shifts gears and unleashes a barrage of action against both the Russian syndicate and Chi-sung and it does not disappoint his core fanbase.

If critics are talking about Woo’s influence, they are more evident in the action than in the emotional dynamics between Zo, Seon-hwa, and Geon, even though themes of guilt and love are present. Ryoo excels in staging kinetic shootouts, featuring abundant gunplay and chaotic firefights, including inventive use of bulletproof glass cubicles as shields. While these sequences are undeniably thrilling, they begin to feel somewhat repetitive toward the end. Woo’s Hard Boiled remains, even today, the gold standard for cinematic gun battles.

In the end, Humint is far from a misfire. Despite its predictable plot and familiar themes, it remains a serviceable, intense, and entertaining effort.  

MOVIE RATING:

Review by Linus Tee