Deliver Us From Evil Review: Hwang Jung-Min And Lee Jung-Ae Clash In Bangkok-set Revenge Thriller

Deliver Us From  Evil (NC16)

Starring Hwang Jung-Min, Lee Jung-Ae, Park Jeong-Min

Directed by Hong Won-Chan

Deliver Us from Evil is an explosive two-in-one revenge thriller.

Hwang Jung-Min (The Spy Gone North) plays spy-turned-assassin In-nam who has just pulled off his final job, only to be recalled to save his kidnapped daughter in Bangkok.

Lee Jung-Ae (Svaha: The Sixth Finger) is Ray, the psychotic brother (with a warped sartorial sense — seriously, who dresses in white in a friggin' knife fight?) of a vile gangster whom In-nam has just iced. Ray tracks In-nam down to Thailand and all hell breaks loose.

Simple, not simplified, complex, not complicated, Deliver Us from Evil has enough dramatic stakes to keep the viewer emotionally invested, without slowing things down and diluting the manic action.

As the freight trains on a collision course, Hwang and Lee are mesmerising to watch. Park Jeong-Min (Time to Hunt) offers some levity as the drag queen showing In-nam the lay of the land.

Writer-director Hong Won-Chan (Office) delivers a handful of brutally satisfying action set-pieces, even though they’re heavily reminiscent of Luc Besson’s The Professional (compare the opening kill and the final showdown) and John Woo’s heroic bloodshed flicks in the 1980s. Still, the movie has its own flavour: the recipe may be familiar, but the ingredients are fresh. (3.5/5 stars)

Photos: tvN Movies