SECRET REUNION (Korea, 2010)
Directed by: Hun Jang
Starring: Song Kang-Ho, Gang Dong-Won

A decade after Park Chan-wook's JOINT SECURITY AREA stole our hearts and then defected to parts unknown, the immortal Song Kang-Ho (THE HOST) returns to preside over the birth of its oddball brother-in-law, SECRET REUNION.  The sophomore film from director Hun Jang (ROUGH CUT) it pairs  Song Kang-Ho opposite Gang Dong-Won (M), in a North-vs-South spy game that becomes a one-nation bromance, mashing up DAY OF THE JACKAL with THE ODD COUPLE to create 2010's most heartwarming shoot-'em-up, alternating manly hugs with messy headshots. Not surprisingly, it's already one of Korea's biggest blockbusters of the year.

"Commie-catcher" Agent Lee is a classic Song Kang-Ho character, a lovable hardcase with a rude attitude, a hellacious home life, and a serious case of plumber's butt.  Hunting down North Korean spies is his life's work, but after a sting operation goes wrong and tensions begin to thaw between North and South, Lee's chucked out of the NIS (the National Intelligence Service, Korea's CIA) and treated like a gatecrasher in a nation fearful of further property damage.  Likewise, North Korean agent Ji-Won (Gang), the one that got away, is trapped in Seoul behind enemy lines, abandoned by his contacts and cut off from his family.  Six years later, Lee and Ji-Won meet again, with Ji-Won working construction and Lee reduced to chasing down mail-order brides for chump change, wielding nothing but a gas gun.  Hunter and hunted recognize other instantly but play it cool, each laying traps for the other.  Lee offers Ji-Won a job and invites him into his bachelor pad, while Ji-Won, convinced Lee is still a spook, begins emailing "undercover reports" to his last known superiors, and a seriocomic cat-and-mouse begins.  Gang's Monastic meticulousness clashes with Song's fratboy lassitude and somewhere between the plucked chicken in the shower and the use of the "Running Man" as undercover tradecraft, Lee and Ji-Won discover that in the new century, everyone's some sort of cast-off, and the only ideology that counts is the politics of personal choice.

Boasting the coolest oil and water duo since Butch and Sundance in Song and Gang, SECRET REUNION is equal parts nail-biting suspenser and back-slapping buddy comedy; it's what would've happened if the stars of INFERNAL AFFAIRS had been able to settle everything over a couple of cold ones, then went out to get the real bad guys.  With a passion for the forgotten Cold Warriors who fell between the cracks, it insists on a humanist's viewpoint amidst the claustrophobic stairwell shootouts and gonzo moped chases, declaring all politics local and all people just...people.  Its big, broad thumb in the eye to self-important spy thrillers is also a big thumbs up for the audience, and its brawny optimism for Korea's shared future is a cinematic crowd-pleaser you won't be able to resist.