Attack of the Phantom Detective

Man, how do I miss the Korean Movie nights? It’s not every day that a Korean movie makes me sit back and go WOOHOO! Usually not a big fan of the Korean movie (with the odd exception, I usually prefer their drama cousin.) However, I’m happy to say there is not only a movie coming out but it actually looks like it’s going to be coming here as well!

Win.Win.

The movie in question is  Phantom Detective. Why is this drama so compelling? Not gonna lie, a large part of it is due to the lead being Lee Ji Hoon. Who, thanks to the latest episode of Running Man, I will now always remember his name. (Except for those many times where I accidentally call him Kim Ji Hoon. Now there’s two, yes TWO Ji Hoon’s to love.) Missed the episode and still not sure who I’m referring to? (Except now you can rule out Kim Ji Hoon.) He was the one who played the Profiler in Signal! 

Ring a bell now?

Anyway, the movie also stars Go Ara, who I’m also a big fan of after her work in Answer Me 1994 and You’re All Surrounded.  She really seems to have found her niche by switching from dramas to comedy as she has a natural comedic timing which is fun to watch.

It’s not just because of the cast which makes me want to watch Phantom Detective. Okay. Lie. Lee Ji Hoon is the biggest part of me wanting to see this movie. But I think, if you check out the trailer, you’ll see that there are other reasons. Reasons.

https://youtu.be/JtsC84F0YOY

See? Doesn’t that look like it will be a lot of fun? I love a movie with that cool almost comic book style to it. Or since it’s a Korean movie should I say I love a movie with that manhwa feel to it?

From what I can understand from the plot a guy (the phantom detective) is trying to find the person responsible for his mothers death. Yep. That definitely sounds like the start of a super hero (or anti hero) comic. Not sure where he picked up those two kids, but it just adds to the surreal aspect. (Looking for pictures for this post it looks like there was a pulp fiction series called Phantom Detective, so I wonder if it’s based loosely on that?)

I’m crossing my fingers that the movie actually does come here. It’s currently playing in LA but it’s going to expand to other cities at the end of the week. If NYC doesn’t deserve to be one of those cities? Well, that’s just silly. And this movie? This is one I’ll drag myself out of my apartment and up through the throngs of tourists to the 42nd street theater. I’ll even shell out the ridiculous amount movie theaters here in the city seem to think it’s socially acceptable to charge.