Ransomed

"Two men. Bag of money. No support."

2023 2h 12m KO

👍

6.7

SOLID

★6.7TMDB · 61

ActionThrillerDrama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

In Beirut 1986, during the Lebanese civil war a Korean diplomat is taken hostage without a trace. Two years pass and long forgotten, a young diplomat Min-jun receives a phone call proving that the hostage is still alive. With the given mission, Min-jun is sent to Beirut to save the hostage with a bag of ransom money.

“Two men. Bag of money. No support.”

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Cast

Ha Jung-woo
Lee Min-jun
Ju Ji-hoon
Kim Pan-su
Im Hyung-kook
Oh Jae-seok
Kim Eung-soo
Director
Kim Jong-soo
Minister Choi
Park Hyuk-kwon
Manager Park
Yoo Seung-mok
Vice-minister Lee
Jang So-yeon
Jae-seok's Wife

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Kim Seong-hun
Writers: Kim Jung-youn, Yeo Mi-jeong
Languages: French, English, Arabic, Korean
Countries: South Korea

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 3 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 4 languages: French, English, Arabic, Korean.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Kim Seong-hun, shot by Kim Tae-sung. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Mowg. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Kim Chang-ju shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Ha Jung-woo and Ju Ji-hoon and Im Hyung-kook carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Two men. Bag of money. No support.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt27795356 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Kim Seong-hun directs. Kim Tae-sung behind the camera. Mowg scores. Kim Chang-ju cuts. Produced in South Korea. Dialogue in French, English, Arabic, Korean.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 3 years ago.
2Dialogue crosses 4 languages: French, English, Arabic, Korean.
3Directed by Kim Seong-hun, shot by Kim Tae-sung. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Mowg. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Kim Chang-ju shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Ha Jung-woo and Ju Ji-hoon and Im Hyung-kook carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "Two men. Bag of money. No support.".
8IMDB entry: tt27795356 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Only 61 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
10Released under 11 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Kim Tae-sung
Original score: Mowg
Editing: Kim Chang-ju
Production design: Lee Hwo-kyoung
Costume design: Chae Kyung-hwa
Makeup / hair: Choi Hye-im
Runtime: 132 min · 2h 12m
Status: Released
Original language: KO
Certification (US): M
IMDB: Ransomed (2023)

Also by

Kim Seong-hun

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2023-08-24
★ 7/10
When a Korean diplomat is kidnapped in war-torn Lebanon, his government is conflicted about paying his ransom demand. It falls to "Min-joon" (Ha Jung-woo) to travel there and execute quite a complex plan to extricate their citizen and stay one step ahead of the warlords and the authorities who all want a share of his rather valuable luggage! Luckily, his airport-escaping antics find him in the back of the taxi driven by "Pan-soo" (Ju Ji-hoon). Now this fellow just happens to be a Korean ex-pat, he's also a slightly dubious character who can think on his feet, and who has had dealings with their government in the past. What now ensues is quite an engaging series of adventures as the pair face more and more perilous tasks trying to stay alive and rescue "Mr Oh"! It is too long, and at times it drags a little - but director Seong Hun Kim manages to create one of the more authentic looking desert adventures featuring loads of gunfire, some rabid dogs, a fun car chase down an alleyway and I found this to be way more watchable than some more recent, bigger budget, action films with Hollywood stars atop them. It's a fun watch this, with a good dynamic between the two men on their quest; the script is occasionally quite funny and the whole thing has a sort of light-heartedness to it that I quite enjoyed. Based on a true story, too - who'd be an emissary?

Production companies