Strong and Moving!

A Brilliant Conflict

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Blistering performances.

I'd be lying if I claimed, after acquiring Miss. Conspirator, I didn't just put it away, concerned that purchasing the product was a bad decision on my part. I mean, when you think about it, the plot seems absurdly ridiculous - how could the creators and actors alike execute such a feature? Surprisingly enough, despite the deranged script, the ludicrous characters, and the unrealistic plot, the film actually works, bringing this entertaining comedic, action drama to life.Soo-Ro (Ko Hyun-Jung) is very impressive in her role. Not only is she stunningly gorgeous, the facial gestures and mannerisms Ms. Hyun-Jung adopts, although over-exaggerated, beneficially add to the humorous climate. Her costume, which often involves what is described later as a 'hippie dress' and long sleeved jumpers, that hide her hands from view, make Soo-Ro appear as a woman who is not only adorably cute, but who legitimately deserves to be saved. An illustrator by trade, who wishes to professionally develop herself in the field, Soo-Ro's drawings assist in depicting her interpretation of the world and the characters around her, layering depth to her character's emotions and helping her become even more sympathetic in the eyes of the viewer. One particular scene where fellow character Red Shoes (Yu Hae-Jin) discovers her illustrated depiction of him, is especially charming. Moreover, the filmmakers occasionally employ animation during the feature, that adjunctively draws us into Soo-Ro's mind.Her illustrations have a connection to the fascination she has with crime, wanting to develop fictitious stories regarding a detective, the research she has accumulated over her life coming in handy over the duration of the plot. Soo-Ro's past moreover, although only subtly touched upon, is emotionally well developed, and scaffolds the kind of individual she has become. Consumed by tragic circumstances when she was young, Soo-Ro is as anxious as she is agoraphobic, exhibiting communicative issues and difficulties with socialization. This is not helped by her psychiatrist (Lee Won-Jong) who appears about as professional as an incomplete assessment task, or her sister (Ha Jae-Suk), who appears only too desperate to get away from Soo-Ro at the beginning of the narrative.Soo-Ro's desperate emotional state, coupled by her tears, after been abandoned and called an embarrassment, would make any audience member want to hold her close and say 'everything will be alright'. Taken advantage of by Miss. Go (Jin Kyung), an intermediary between two rival gangsters, Bong-Nam (Park Shin-Yang), otherwise referred to as the White Tiger, and Young-Cheol (Lee Mon-Sik), who are involved in the selling of drugs, the nefarious scheme they are involved in orchestrating, is valued at $40 billion. Handing Soo-Ro a cake box, which she ignorantly believes is for Miss. Go's former paramour, Soo-Ro agrees to deliver the contents, only to unfortunately discover that those at the rendezvous have been assassinated. Thrust into a world of crime, murder and deception, Soo-Ro discovers it isn't just the gangs who are after her, but the police, led by Detective Sung (Sung Dong-Il) as well, who suspect her as being an equally complicit criminal.Despite the occasional predictability of the plot, the action scenes, although lacking the stylized beauty of other Asian themed features, are certainly entertaining, and though the chase sequences offer nothing new, they equally fit with the plot. The ridiculousness of the narrative is well executed by the actors and script alike, the eccentric, delinquent gang member Toad (Kim Byung-Chul) being especially enjoyable. It is unfortunate the romantic sub-plot is not provided the same level of attention, however, audiences will generally know from the beginning, this is not destined to be a love story. For the most part, the film efficaciously demonstrates how those we often stereotype as heroes are not continuously reliable, and over the course of the feature, Soo-Ro is forced to undergo a transformation, in order to ensure her safety, which depicts her strength of character, determination and intellect.By suspending your disbelief, and acknowledging the film's lacking realism, one is bound to discover that Miss. Conspirator is probably one of the best handled action comedies of the last ten years.

SPOILERS!Miss Go (or Miss Conspirator, internationally) is a 2012 Korean movie that's, frankly, just not very good. I guess you can call it an action caper with some comedy-drama-romance thrown in.Your story entails a young woman suffering from panic attacks, who gets mixed up in a drug deal gone wrong. She gets confused as some sort of conspirator working as a go between to two rival gangs who has to be protected by the police who don't really believe her. From there, everybody is trying to get over on someone else with some scheme or another.I knew this movie was going to have some problems right from the get go. A withdrawn artist of some kind, suffering from an anxiety disorder or phobia, is a story angle I've seen more than a few times. I'm surprised they didn't throw in a brain tumor or heart problems for good measure. You know what's going to happen…young woman will eventually get over her phobia and no longer need her panic pills as she goes on this big adventure. This entire storyline was unnecessary to begin with, and, dropping it into what's supposed to be an action caper was a dreadfully poor decision.After the initial mix up involving the woman that kicks off the movie, some undercover clown who wears red boots volunteers to watch over her night and day. I guess he's supposed to be the imposing looking good guy hero or something, but he just looks rather silly and out of place. For the first hour or so of this movie, these 2 characters try to find the money and drugs that everyone is after, while staying one step ahead of everybody else (which includes 2 gang bosses, various underlings, good cops, crooked cops, etc…). This part of the film is really, really, boring!There's a brief (and I do mean brief) interlude where these 2 characters appear to fall in love…they look terribly awkward together at best, until this story arc is thankfully dropped and forgotten. Then, it's back to the action caper nonsense…The action (what there is of it) is terrible; about on par with a moderately budgeted KTV Drama from a decade ago. The primary story and multiple schemes involved start spinning more and more out of control as this movie lumbers along. Then, fake plots, fake drugs, fake money, and fake guns, are thrown in for good measure to muddle everything up even worse…hell, there's even a guy with a fake stutter. This is all about as suspenseful and interesting as taking a dump.There's also the growth of our main character to deal with throughout the story…you know, the woman with the panic attacks. You would expect her character to evolve little by little over time; NOPE!...she literally goes from scared phobic girl to all empowered super woman in the blink of an eye. There is no in between and there is no growth along the way. Don't believe me?...see for yourself; it happens at exactly the moment she pops out of the sea at about the 80 minute mark or so. From there, she has somehow mastered the ability to conquer all her fears, while instantly being able to formulate a plan to outsmart all the cops, both gangs, and everybody else. This turn of events is downright stupid!…Who wrote this crap? This film stars Go Hyun-jung; she's a fine actress, and she does the best she can here…But, nobody could make this poorly written role work. She deserves far better than this. If only the screenplay and story were one-tenth as interesting as her real life, we might have something worth watching here. Unfortunately, that's just not the case. The rest of the cast is rounded out by a bunch of dudes…no super heavyweights, but several of which you'll recognize if you're a veteran Korean film/drama watcher. I'm not going to bother mentioning any of them by name…they'd probably prefer if I didn't, actually.My mother taught me that if I didn't have at least something nice to say, I shouldn't say anything at all…so…hmmm…this movie did eventually end, and that was a definitely a good thing!...the ending was terrible btw, made even worse by the clumsily tacked on anime sequence after the credits rolled! If you're looking for a well made recent action caper from Korea, go watch The Thieves instead….you won't regret it. I recommend you take a pass on watching the turd that is Miss Conspirator however.Very not good...It's in the 4-6 range or so (out of 10 stars). I generally try to grade up whenever possible, because I am kind. But, I'm not in a good mood this evening, and this movie made me downright angry that I wasted my time watching it. So, 4 stars it is for you Miss Conspirator!