Good start, but then it gets ruined

Expected more

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

"A Company Man" is an average, not especially original, but mildly entertaining, story of the everyday life of a hit-man, who (you can imagine) will rethink his lifestyle.Ji-seob So plays Ji, who does his job very well and cares for his 'family'. But on one job, he kind of starts thinking too much (how come all those hit men always end thinking too much) and doubting about the lifestyle he has. Cue our man trying to figure out how to be 'human' will being also a 'killer'.The plot, as said above, is 'hit-man-with-a-heart' 101, and someone should tell the writers of this kind of movies to be a little bit original (here the originality is that the assassin's company has a... well, company, in a building, where people 'work' as your average salaryperson).But even lame plots can be made great by acting, production, direction, scenery, pace... Here all of this is more or less average, the best the acting (even if we still fall into the blank, expressionless acting for the hit-man). All enjoyable enough, with a couple of set-pieces that are good. However, the movie neglects its raison d'etre (action), because the direction and pace of the action pieces is not as good as it should. Especially, because the movie falls into the we-cannot-shoot-for-the-love-of-all-the-gods pit trap."A Company Man" will be an enjoyable one hour and a half for fans of this genre, but it offers absolutely nothing new.

Ji Hyeong-Do (So Ji-Sub) works at what appears to be a regular company, however, this is just a convenient smoke-screen for the actual modus operandi: contract killing. Using this particular business as the backdrop for the illegal operations is uniquely entertaining, as much as it is thought provoking, while comparing the assassins to regular employees offers an interesting approach in depicting these methodically trained killers. Under the guise of company president Jeon (Jeon Kwak-Han), who truly appreciates Hyeong-Do's capabilities, and the unlikable, egotistical Kwon Jong-Tae (Kwak Do-won), who ironically appears to psychologically evaluate the staff, Hyeong-Do's career has admirably flourished, his impeccable record readying him for many promotions.Despite this, we are able to witness Hyeong-Do outside of his employ, affiliating with retired assassin Ban Ji-Hoon (Lee Kyoung-Young), an old acquittance of his, who serves as a figure of guidance and support. Hyeong-Do is seen to be questioning his stay with the company, alongside harboring feelings of resentment and fatigue, Ji-Hoon being tactically used to put into words what Hyeong-Do cannot, revealing the life that those working for this particular organization are forced to endure.After hiring an impressionable young man, Ra-Hoon (Kim Dong-Joon) to assist with the assassination of a target, Hyeong-Do is ordered to terminate all loose ends, but finds this particular assignment more difficult than previous experiences after forming an attachment with his temporary partner. Overcome by regret, he fulfills Ra-Hoon's wishes and meets his family: his sister, Bo-Seul (Han Bo-Bae), who is as spontaneous as she is disrespectful, and his mother, Yoo Mi-Yeon (Lee Mi-Yeon), a former one time pop idol, who Hyeong-Do has a past connection to, being not only appreciative, but inspired, by this beautiful woman and her family.Over the course of the feature, Hyeong-Do appears legitimately introverted, experiencing difficulties in socialization and communicative practices, that are conveyed effectively through facial expression, an occasional inability to look others in the eye, and difficulty in finding appropriate words to accommodate a situation. Mi-Yeon on the other hand, although suffering the shame of never successfully completing her professional endeavors, is quite the opposite, being garrulous, sweet, compassionate and family oriented, always looking out for others, rather than attempting to secure her own happiness. Although these two characters have almost nothing in common, with the exception of a unanimous attraction, the film depicts them as not necessarily wanting to be in a relationship, as much as they need to be together, both individuals having the capacity to complete and compliment the other.As Hyeong-Do's lacking dedication to the company becomes increasingly more noticeable, questions regarding his professionalism begin to plague those in command. As an inquisitive detective, Myung-Duk (Park Jin-Woo) begins to investigate the authenticity of the company's business, and his contact with Hyeong-Do is revealed, the once revered assassin discovers the company he has worked tirelessly for, have a strong desire to terminate his contract - permanently, putting not only himself, but those he cares about, at risk.The action segments in the film are well executed, and despite the predictability that often accompanies their execution, the locations, that are not always stereotypical for action movies, offers entertaining backdrops to the genre. At the same time however, though South Korean action features have established themselves as frenetically enjoyable experiences, they are also renown for their melodramatic atmosphere. In the case of A Company Man, there were more than a couple of moments where the filmmakers had the opportunity to invest the audience more emotionally in the story, yet, these moments appear to be wasted, and for the most part, despite the interesting characters and appealing visuals, this film is one that will not invest its audience entirely into the plot.Further characterization regarding Hyeong-Do's original motivations for becoming an assassin, alongside knowledge on Mi-Yeon's past life, would have been additionally advantageous. This aside however, A Company Man, despite its South Korean origins, is capable of reflecting the kind of action we have come to expect from American features, and with this in mind, will surely entertain its audience, though if a viewer is after something with further depth, perhaps they ought to order from another menu.

This is actually a entertaining flick that combines different movie elements into one and pull it off for the most part. It seemed like it combined movies like "A Bittersweet Life", "Wanted", "RED" and maybe even a bit from the film "Fight Club". Never the less despite how wacky and silly this movie gets(intentional or unintentional) it's still a entertaining flick. It just not a very memorable flick but a decent way to pass the time. Although many things in this movie has been done before it's still a decent rehash I guess because I just wasn't really bored with this movie. So Ji-Sub really drives this movie as this charismatic and cool killer that works for a company full of assassins with special sets of skills. So Ji-Sub's style of fighting is not only entertaining but slick and cool. Also the the duel with him and a knife wielding office chick is one of the highlight of this flick. Although there are some areas where they could have gone more ahead with and some aspects of this film seemed rushed and underdeveloped. It's still a watchable flick, even just the climax itself makes it worth a watch. If you like this movie check out "A Bittersweet Life" which is a more gritty and realistic film that has some similar elements as this one.6.9/10

SPOILERS!A Company Man is 2012 Korean movie about a contract killer operating in a modern day corporate structure. It is an action drama.The film stars So Ji-sub as Hyung-do. Hyung-do is white collar worker employed at the corporate office of a metal works company. He's a loyal mid-management type who's married to his job, and, he goes about his daily 9-5 routine as so many other people do in this world. He also happens to be a professional assassin, as is, apparently, everyone else at the entire office he works at. This a legit company with typical business concerns, but they also kill people. There are several dozen people or so that work for this company, and everybody working here is well aware of the company's dual purpose. From the chairman on down to the receptionist at the front desk, everybody has their part to play in making sure the company is a success on both fronts.There must be a lot of people that need to be killed in Korea, in order for a corporation such as this to have sprung up to outsource all the contract killing work that's seemingly available. While the existence of such a company as this is hard to fathom, it does provide for somewhat of an interesting dynamic here; office politics, personal employee interactions, and the like, are on display (just as within any small to mid size company work environment the world over). There's board meetings, company retreats, promotions vied for, office parties, etc…it's one big happy work/family that seems perfectly content with what they're doing. It's an odd and intriguing premise to watch play out, a premise which posits a work environment which can sort of be summarized as: "Hey, Good job everyone on getting that shipment of girders out to Japan on schedule… Let's all welcome back Mrs. Kim from maternity leave…Mr. So, you're late for knife fighting practice…Project team B, we need that cost analysis on the Jeju project asap…Today is Ms. Bae's birthday party…Now, everyone be on time tomorrow, cause we have lots of people to kill this week, etc…"…I'm generalizing the atmosphere at play here, but, you get the idea.Hyung-do is a rising star in the company, and its best assassin, He's tiring of the corporate grind involved with his job however, and he's also becoming more & more sentimental with the people he's continually charged with killing off. Eventually, he wants to "retire" from the business…but, as one would imagine, this is a company that is somewhat difficult to extricate one's self from on their own terms.This film devotes the middle hour or so of its story to the retiring hit-man looking after the young protégé he was supposed to eliminate, and subsequently romancing and falling in love with his mom along the way. I'm game for a good romance story intermixed with my action, but the love angle here is poorly executed…it drags along & is too underwritten for you to engage yourselves into the romantic relationship between the hit-man & mother. There's also some nonsense back story angle about how the mother was a former pop star/singer in her youth, and the hit-man was once the young love/star struck dork who delivered meals to her…this "sub" story was told via various flashbacks from the past, and it's all terribly unnecessary to the romantic story in the present…Spend some money on a second unit writing team will you?Eventually, you arrive to the climax of the story…then, revenge & bloodshed ensue!There are a few decent action set pieces here and there, but, this is not a balls to the wall action film by any means, and, those action scenes are few and far between. That's not really the problem though…It's mostly undermined by its weakly written retirement/romantic story (which should have been a highlight, instead of a detriment). My lasting impression of this film was that it was OK, but, it was also very disjointed and muddled down a bit by its lackluster screen writing.Bottom Line: 6 to 7 range…It's a 6 star film IMO …Not mandatory…Watchable though.