7.2 | / 10 |
Users | 4.5 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Hyeong-do wears a suit and tie like any other rank-and-file white collar worker; except his profession is murder. Seemingly a section chief in the sales division of a metal fabrication company, that is actually a front for an organization of hit men, Hyeong-do is regarded as one of the best contract killers in the business. One day, he meets a married woman named Su-yeon and instantly falls in love. Feeling guilty about his bloody past, Hyeong-do tries to quit the "manufacturer", to the surprise of his colleagues and his enemies. Seen as the ultimate betrayal, he is immediately hunted down by his former employers.
Starring: So Ji-seob, Lee Mi-yeon, Kwak Do-won, Kim Dong-jun, Bo-bae HanForeign | 100% |
Crime | 14% |
Drama | 8% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Korean: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Korean: Dolby Digital 2.0
English
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Anyone who has spent even a little while sleepwalking through the fluorescent lit halls of the corporate working scene will know what a soul crushing experience it can be. People are isolated from each other—if only barely—by flimsy upholstered cubicle dividers where they pin up mementos of what really matters, their families or, many times, the outside world. Mind numbing repetitiveness tends to make each eight or nine hour shift a kind of sad, personal version of Groundhog Day. Many workers spend the vast bulk of their lives in such situations, trying to shut out their dreams as they watch the clock tick, second by second, counting the hours until they reach retirement age, at which point they may have a few years of relative freedom before they shuffle off this mortal coil. While a slight change in the cultural zeitgeist has taken place over the past couple of decades, with more and more people working from home or telecommuting, seeming to realize they should work to live, not the other way around, the global corporate structure still rules the days for the most part in most major industries. And according to A Company Man, a derivative but often quite exciting South Korean thriller that may remind some of the more visceral A Bittersweet Life, that evidently includes the assassination industry. In a buttoned down corporate environment, a midlevel flunky named Hyeong-do (So Ji-Sub) goes about his business, which is only slowly revealed to be killing people. We see Hyeong-do yakking it up with a young underling named Hun (Dong-jun Kim), including some prescient talk about following one’s dreams. Hun then leaves the truck and gets a large box out of the back, entering a building which is under heavy guard. Hun is made fun of by some obnoxious guys in the elevator, guys who it turns out seem to be undercover cops protecting a witness. Suddenly Hun is there and it’s revealed he has a rather lethal pistol with a silencer hidden in the box, with which he takes out all of the police and the witness. And then suddenly Hyeong- do is there—to take out Hun.
A Company Man is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. This Red One shot feature boasts the typically sleek, impeccably detailed look of this format, but it perhaps surprisingly has some problems with range of light, making several dark sequences very difficult to make out (and there are quite a few dimly lit moments in this film, as befits its kind of dour subject matter). That is more than balanced by some vibrant colors in the well lit scenes (though of course things have been color graded quite a bit of the time), and excellent fine detail in everything from midrange shots to close-ups. There are a few really beautiful establishing shots scattered throughout the film (take a look at screenshot 4 for a good example) that offer exceptional depth of field.
A Company Man's lossless Korean DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is often bracingly visceral, with an abundance of surround effects in some of the action sequences. The opening killing spree by Hun is a great example, where the young assassin's silencer equipped gunshots and hand to hand combat with a couple of victims provide a lot of discretely channeled foley effects. There are also a number of nice urban sequences where the bustling sounds of a busy cityscape creep into the side and rear channels. Dialogue is very cleanly presented, and the track features excellent fidelity and wide dynamic range.
If A Company Man had taken just a few more chances it would have been one of the most remarkable debuts by a Korean filmmaker in quite some time, for even in its present state the film offers a decent enough premise, excellently staged action and some unusually well modulated performances. But like any midlevel manager who's more intent on keeping his job than in proving his ingenuity, A Company Man tends to keep its head down and just kind of forge ahead when a few unexpected detours or proclamations of individuality might be in order. This Blu-ray does boast great looking video and sounding audio.
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