A MAN OF REASON -- Boilerplate Thriller Stumbles Over Basics

Review by Daniel Lima 

The hitman who attempts to leave behind their criminal life, only to be forced to fight out of the underworld, is a stock narrative, particularly within the past two decades of Korean cinema. There's nothing wrong with adhering to formula, so long as it is executed in an exciting, idiosyncratic way. At the very least, the familiar contours should manage to hold an audience's attention for a couple of hours. Sadly, A Man of Reason doesn't quite measure up, delivering only the barest minimum of what is expected of the genre and being all the lesser for it.

Jung Woo-sung directs and stars as the contract killer, out of prison for the first time in ten years. Though he wants to rebuild his relationship with his wife and daughter, he finds himself marked for death by his former employer and so must use his particular set of skills to defend his family and forcefully sever his ties to the past.

It's boilerplate material, yet there are missteps in establishing even this very basic premise. The former employer isn't actually the antagonist; instead, it's his lieutenant, a brown-noser who is simply jealous of the admiration his boss holds for Woo-sung. He does not personally see to the killing; instead, he relies on outside help. That outside help comes in the form of a pair of assassins who specialize in explosives. The result is our hero finds himself up against hirelings that he has no personal connection to, working for a villain he barely knows, who works with a powerful mobster who holds no animus towards him. Which is to say, there's precious little emotional stake in the actual conflict.

That should come from Woo-sung's connection to his wife and daughter. However, he doesn't even know he has a daughter until he's out of prison, and spends most of the film separated from both. Where films like The Man from Nowhere or The Killer externalize their protagonists' conscience but take the time to develop the bonds they form with their innocent morality pets, A Man of Reason simply asks the audience to accept that its hero will go to any length to protect his family. It's certainly enough to move the plot along but not enough to make an audience emotionally invested in what happens.

None of that would matter if the film at least delivered thrilling set pieces. Sadly, this is where Jung well and truly drops the ball. The handful of action beats here are about as exciting as all the exposition: low-speed car chases, shooting a nail gun as the target jogs into cover, choppily-edited fist fights in the dark. Truthfully, much of the action in the classic Korean revenge thrillers of the '00s and '10s probably would not hold up today, but they at least committed to delivering a brand of stylized violence that hadn't really been seen up to that point. The only thing commendable here are the explosions, which seem practical, yet even they pale in comparison to another actor-director's action thriller, Hunt. Coincidentally, Jung Woo-sung had a starring role there; it's a pity he didn't take notes.

All that said, nothing in A Man of Reason is exceedingly poor. It follows the expected beats of this kind of story andblunders its way through the narrative and the action, but not enough to earn ire. It certainly is not a success, but it's not a total failure. In a way, it'd be preferable if it were, as it would at least be memorable. Instead, it evaporates from the mind shortly after watching, leaving in its place the desire to revisit any number of better examples of its genre. ​

A Man of Reason arrives in theaters July 5 and hits VOD on July 9.

Rating: 2.5/5