Ransomed ~ Unofficially We Have to Rescue Him!
“Ransomed” is a 2023 Korean film, categorized as Action, Dark Comedy, Bromance, Political Thriller, and Suspense; based on a true event; streaming on Viki and Tubi TV.
SUMMARY: A Korean diplomat is kidnapped in Lebanon and disappears. He had been given up for dead until one day a phone call came into the office in South Korea, and another Korean diplomat answered. Whoever made the call used a code to identify himself by the name of the missing diplomat. Everyone is shocked. Could this be true? He’s alive? It must be him. He knew the secret code!
♦ Why is Gas So Expensive? Because They’ve Got the Guns!
In “Ransomed”, Lee Min-Joon desperately wants to be assigned to work for the South Korean government as a diplomat IN the United States. But he keeps getting passed over for the job. One day after everyone had left the office and he was about to leave for the day a well, the phone rang. He was already out the door. Should he ignore it? Whoever it is might call back tomorrow. Eh! His conscience won’t let him walk away. He goes back into the office and answers the phone.
There’s no voice, but the “tapping noise” sounded like a coded message. He grabbed a pen and something to write on. When he translated what he had written, the message said the name of a diplomat who had gone missing, and then the secret code that supposedly only the South Korean intelligence or other “need to know” government officials knew.
It must be legitimate! Only the diplomat would know the correct code to use to verify his identity. Everyone had given him for dead. He’s alive? When Lee Min-Joon informed his superiors, they gave the typical bureaucratic reaction. Were they overjoyed at the possibility that their “comrade” might be alive?
NO! Everybody wanted to know who was going to take the blame if the phone call was fake? They’re about to commit to a task that involves the use of government funds to rescue a person who might already be dead and possibly cause an international incident between countries if something goes wrong. Somebody’s got to take the blame if they SCREW UP!
Lee Min-Joon doesn’t see it that way. He sees the cryptic phone call as an “opportunity” and gets his superior to agree to his proposition. If he successfully completes this “unofficial operation”, can he get assigned to work as a diplomat IN the United States? OK! Yeah. Saving the missing diplomat is important, too! His superiors agree, and off he goes to Beirut, Lebanon.
From South Korea to Lebanon. WOW! Talk about a different world. The scariest part of the mission is that “unofficially,” Lee Min-Joon is not even in the country. If he went missing, his predicament would be worse than the missing diplomat he’s trying to rescue. At least there’s an official record that the missing diplomat went missing. But if Lee Min-Joon disappears? He doesn’t want to think about that. Instead, he wants to think about his cushy government assignment as a diplomat IN the United States.
When Lee Min-Joon gets to Lebanon, he makes the appropriate contacts, gathers the money needed to exchange for the missing diplomat, and his contact tells him how to identify his next contact. The next contact is a cab driver who is waiting at the airport to take him to his destination. Just look for the taxi with a certain license plate number. Everything is going smoothly until …
Corrupt Lebanese officials have been tracking Lee Min-Joon’s movements, and when they spot him, they start shooting. You can imagine the chaos caused when gunfire erupts at an airport. Lee Min-Joon’s survival instincts kick in. Forget the license plate number. He just jumps in a cab and yells at the driver to DRIVE! The driver is Kim Pan-Soo. He’s not the official-unofficial contact, but he knows he doesn’t want to get shot! So he DRIVES OFF!
Is this a coincidence, fate, or just Lee Min-Joon’s lucky day? Kim Pan-Soo is a fellow Korean, fluent in Arabic, and knows the streets of Lebanon very well. It wasn’t part of the plan, but he’s perfect for an official-unofficial partner. Isn’t he?
Kim Pan-Soo managed to drive somewhere he thought was safe enough to pull over and tell Lee Min-Joon to GET LOST! He doesn’t know what he’s involved in, but he does not want IN! Lee Min-Joon pleads with Kim Pan-Soo to stay with him long enough for him to make a phone call. He just dodged a bullet and needs to report to his superiors so they know he’s still alive.
When Lee Min-Joon contacts his superiors, they tell him they know Kim Pan-Soo and approve of him working with the cab driver as long as he understands that Kim Pan-Soo will cheat you out of your last dollar. It seems being a swindler is a necessary survival skill in Lebanon, especially if you’re a foreigner. But if you keep paying him money, he’ll pretty much work with you on anything.
Even though Kim Pan-Soo knew helping Lee Min-Joon with his job was dangerous, he did like the fact that the money was flowing rather easily. Instead of money, he negotiated for something better. He had been in Lebanon long enough and wanted OUT! The problem is that he has a criminal record.
Once they agreed to work together, Kim Pan-Soo was trying to get to their destination, but in Lebanon, there are a lot of checkpoints. They were at a Christian checkpoint. It’s not safe, so try to stay cool and calm, and maybe the militia will let them through. Kim Pan-Soo told Lee Min-Joon they needed gas for the car and asked for $110. Lee Min-Joon, knowing that Lee Min-Joon is a swindler, asked: “Why is the gas so expensive?” Kim Pan-Soo replied: “Because they’ve got the guns!”
They were waiting patiently to get through when … BOOM!! There was an explosion. Kim Pan-Soo didn’t waste any time. The explosion caused a commotion, and he took the opportunity to drive around the cars that were lined up and go through the checkpoint. Hey! The militia was too busy to try to stop his car. Besides … he didn’t cause the explosion, and he wasn’t waiting around to find who did!
Kim Pan-Soo has experience, and an explosion at a Lebanese checkpoint is not uncommon. But Lee Min-Joon is probably wondering if this is what it’s going to be like from now on? But he can’t let him think about that. He just needs to think about staying alive so he can get his cushy government assignment as a diplomat IN the United States. Oh! And of course, rescuing the missing diplomat. Yeah. He needs to think about that since that’s the real reason he’s there.
Main Characters:
- Lee Min-Joon (played by Ha Jung-Woo, “Hijack 1971”, “Along With the Gods 1 and 2”, “Narco-Saints”, “Ashfall”, “The Berlin File”, “Nameless Gangster: Rules of The Time”, “Parallel Life”, “Road to Boston”, “The Terror Live”, “Lovers in Prague”)
- Kim Pan-Soo (played by Ju Ji-Hoon, “Confession”, “Light Shop”, “Love Your Enemy”, “Blood Free”, “Jirisan”, “Hyena”, “Kingdom 1 and 2”, “The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call”, “Item”)
Viewership and Rating:
My personal rating is the same as Viki.
If you read the plot description for “Ransomed,” you think it’s going to be INTENSE! But after a while, you realize that even though the topic is serious, the movie is not supposed to be taken seriously.
“Where film demands dramaticism, realism is forfeited, Ransomed is the latest piece of Korean cinema to take a bit of history and whip up a fun action flick around it.” (Source)
“Ransomed” is based on a true story, the 1986 kidnapping of a South Korean diplomat in Lebanon. The thing that struck me was the fact that a Korean diplomat on duty in Lebanon got kidnapped because the kidnapper THOUGHT he was Japanese. That is just so wrong! I mean … really? Kidnapping is the way you earn your dirty money, and you kidnapped the wrong victim? I’m not being racist. They said that in the movie. The kidnappers meant to grab a Japanese diplomat, but they accidentally grabbed a Korean one. (O.o)
LINKS OF INTEREST:
Film Review: Ransomed (2023) by Kim Seong-hun | Asian Movie Pulse
Movie Review: An International Incident imagined as a Buddy Picture — “Ransomed” | Movie Nation
Ransomed (South Korea, 2023) – Review | AsianMovieWeb
26th Far East Film Festival: “Ransomed” Review | VIEW OF THE ARTS
Seong-hun Kim’s Ransomed isn’t your typical political thriller | The SunBreak
TRAILER/TEASER:
Well Go USA Entertainment. “RANSOMED Official International Trailer.” YouTube, 18 July 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRxSpCJaKcM.
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