Yaksha: Ruthless Operations (2022)

Yaksha: Ruthless Operations (2022). Yaksha: Ruthless Operations: Directed by Hyeon Na. With Sol Kyung-gu, Park Hae-soo, Hiroyuki Ikeuchi, Dong-kun Yang. Nicknamed after a human-devouring spirit, the ruthless leader of an overseas black ops team takes up a dangerous mission in a city riddled with spies.

“…except that it only cost a fraction to make, that it was made by filmmakers who seem to still believe that movies should be fun, and that it employs every cliché in the spy movie playbook, including probably some not yet invented.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe movie stars the veteran Sol Kyung-gu as Ji Kang-in, one of these rugged agents whose standard operating procedure indeed seems ruthless. He has a pre-credits teaser in Hong Kong at his disposal to prove his worth looking for a double agent and leaving bodies everywhere.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIf I attempted to write a plot summary, I would most likely be writing well into next year, so letu0026#39;s say that the action shifts to Shenyang in northeast China four years later. The former Seoul prosecutor Han Ji-hoon (Park Hae-soo) comes to the city now representing NIS – South Koreas answer to CIA – to check out a supposed information leak. Is there a mole in agent Jiu0026#39;s team? Agent Ji sure hasnu0026#39;t found the one he been looking for himself.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe banter between Sol Kyung-gu and Park Hae-soo as polar opposites makes for some good fun in between a lot of shooting and a lot of plot. The movieu0026#39;s politics is equally offensive to everyone, from the North Koreans to the Japanese, while the Chinese apparently couldnu0026#39;t care less as the Shenyang police is mostly nowhere in sight despite all the gunfights going on in broad nightlight.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe idea of Shenyang as a hotbed for spies is a bit like Istanbul in u0026quot;From Russia With Loveu0026quot;, so maybe this is what the 1960s Cold War spy thrillers have developed into for the 2020s?u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eItu0026#39;s fast-paced fun, anyway, full of blood and guts. But itu0026#39;s not a movie to think too deeply about.”