연합뉴스
| yna@yna.co.kr 2026-09-09 07:50:46
SEOUL, Sept. 9 (Yonhap) -- At a Liberation Day ceremony on Aug. 15, 1974, gunshots ring out as the president delivers a commemorative speech. A stray bullet misses the president but strikes the first lady standing on the podium, leaving her fatally wounded. Who was behind the assassination attempt?
Opening Sept. 23 ahead of the Chuseok holiday, director Hur Jin-ho's "Assassins" is a mystery thriller that traces suspicions surrounding the attempted assassination of the president and the death of the first lady.
The film approaches the truth through the perspectives of three men: Cheol-gu (Yoo Hae-jin), a detective inspector at Seoul's Jungbu Police Station who was guarding the National Theater at the time of the incident; Jae-hwan (Park Hae-il), the social affairs editor of Dongsung Ilbo, who pursues the truth despite press censorship; and Young-il (Lee Min-ho), the newspaper's youngest reporter.
An investigative headquarters formed immediately after the shooting concludes that Moon Tae-kwang (Park Jeong-min), a second-generation Korean resident of Japan, acted alone, and the case is closed.
But the three men are dissatisfied with the conclusion and begin pursuing the truth from their respective positions.
For Cheol-gu, his sense of injustice after being held responsible for the security failure drives him to investigate. On the day of the incident, Cheol-gu becomes suspicious of Moon Tae-kwang when he tries to enter the venue without a required access pass. He attempts to stop him, but a security chief suddenly appears and lets Moon enter, telling Cheol-gu not to cause a disturbance.
Cheol-gu finds it suspicious that security guidelines were relaxed shortly before the ceremony and that the change was not communicated to the security detail. This leads him to seek out Jae-hwan, a reporter he has known for years, explain what happened and ask him to publish a story.
But Jae-hwan is also constrained by the political climate, with an agent from the Korean Central Intelligence Agency attending editorial meetings and censoring every line and even individual words.
Young-il, the youngest reporter and a privileged "silver spoon" whose older brother is a businessman, cleverly takes advantage of his relatively lower level of surveillance and his ability to use his family's connections when necessary to pursue the story.
"Assassins" has also drawn attention as a mystery film by Hur Jin-ho, a master of melodramas who directed "Christmas in August" (1998) and "One Fine Spring Day" (2001).
The film helpfully highlights suspicious details of the incident, making them easy for audiences to spot. The security chief's behavior, which makes him seem somehow complicit with the perpetrator; a mysterious man who appears only in silhouette from early in the film; and even the title, "Assassins," which hints at the presence of an accomplice, all lead viewers to suspect that someone else is pulling the strings.
The ease with which audiences can follow the clues is an advantage, but it can also make the story feel somewhat straightforward. The conflict between the "righteous people pursuing the truth" and the "suspicious and violent" intelligence agency is also portrayed in somewhat conventional terms, which may diminish the tension.
The strong performances across the cast add vitality to the film.
Yoo Hae-jin skillfully moves between feelings of injustice and dogged determination, while Park Hae-il convincingly conveys the gravitas of a capable veteran reporter. Lee Min-ho adds energy as a character who alternates between youthful ambition and sly charm.
Park Jeong-min vividly portrays Moon Tae-kwang's inscrutability through his eyes and facial expressions alone, even with only a few lines of dialogue.
Bae Seong-woo, who plays the editor-in-chief; Eom Ji-won, who plays Cheol-gu's wife; and Park Ji-hwan, who plays the head of the forensics team, also deliver vivid performances that make their characters feel as though they have stepped straight out of a modern Korean history textbook.
Other familiar faces, including Jung Woo-sung, Kim Dae-myung, Shim Eun-kyung, Park Hae-joon, Oh Jung-se and Shin Hyun-been, also make welcome appearances in even minor roles.
Opens Sept. 23. 130 min. Rated 12 and over.
[ⓒ K-VIBE. 무단전재-재배포 금지]