RANSOMED

At the beginning of 1986, Korean diplomat Do Chae-sung was abducted in Lebanon and disappeared for a year before his government managed to pay a ransom to his gangland kidnappers and get him out. This grim story has been transformed into a buddy action-comedy, a hugely satisfying entertainment with all the gun battles, daring escapes and well-choreographed car chases through Beirut that any action geek could want. At its center are straitlaced bureaucrat Lee Min-Joon (Ha Jung-woo) and a shady Korean taxi-driver Pansu (Ju Ji-hoon) who rescues him at the airport from a hail of bullets and becomes his unlikely fixer. The two actors’ obvious rapport enlivens the old trope of the squabbling odd couple; meanwhile, the suspense never lets up.