Lee Myeong-hun’s “Mission Cross” (Keuroseu, 2024) is a tacky action-fuelled thriller that plows in dramatic twists to distract us from the shallow characterization and plentifully amateurish comedy. An awfully underdeveloped thriller, the plot frequently veers into terrain that demands a suspension of disbelief.
The stakes never seem too high, and the background mechanics strike me as slight, patchy, and overly silly. The drama is flavorless and insipid and lacking in character-driven nuance without ever becoming so histrionic and inflated. It is lacking in substance, grit, and texture. It’s tawdry and stacked with a bundle of cliches, and characters rarely rise to any high point of agency, even if they make their way through high-voltage situations.
Characters pull out points of escape and stage massive breaches. This could have been an eminently thrilling experience had it not been for the slew of contrivances and easily manageable circumstances peppering the screenplay. Credibility is strained and one would rather trip than find any logical threads in the narrative. The antagonist, General Park, is cartoonish and exaggerated instead of exerting any palpable menace. The two central characters, a couple, don’t have much sparkling chemistry either. We are compelled to root for them as a team by the end when they do become one full-on.
Mission: Cross (Keuroseu, 2024) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
Who is Kang-mu, Really?
In the start, Captain Kang Mi-seon (Yum Jung-ah) is set up as the character inspiring awe and command. She is a finely capable police officer, driving the engine of her household. Her husband, Park Kang-mu (Hwang Jung-min), is content to look after the house and buy groceries. Their marriage is happy, sound, and non-rocky, though she is intermittently exasperated by his willing compliance and unflagging innocence. She makes it clear to him that she’s infinitely smarter and catches onto any of his tricks.
Mi-seon is embroiled in an incident where a woman, Baek, is attacked. Baek’s situation intersects with what Kang-mu was once caught up in. He stumbles across a former colleague, Hee-ju (Jeon Hye-jin), who tells him she’s looking for her partner, Joong-san (Kim Joo-hun). It is revealed that Kang-mu was once a special agent in the Korean Defense Intelligence Command. Six years ago, at a port in Vladivostok, a mission underway went kaput. The agents were attempting to halt a shipment.
Kang-mu’s Past Comes Back to Haunt Him?
There was intel on illegal weapons that were being ferried to North Korea, under the deceiving guise of a scheme. Kang-mu, who was chief at the time, made concerted efforts to foil the shipment. However, things don’t pan out as planned. Kang-mu was captured and had to give away the password for re-activating the ship while his friend and colleague, Geum-seok, was mercilessly killed. He was discharged from all duties and forced to go back into civilian life for carrying out an unauthorized mission. He was also made to realize that the superiors knew the shipment was not to North Korea but to South Korea.
Kang-mu decides to help Hee-ju, who tells him Joong-san might have been a whistleblower after he found out about money laundering at the Ministry of National Defence. In fact, that’s why he is being held captive by someone called General Park. She has received a secret message requesting her to meet at a hotel. Kang-mu accompanies her.
What is the real identity of Hee-ju?
Meanwhile, Mi-seon, bolstered by her colleagues, suspects Kang-mu of cheating on her with this unknown woman. The man at the meeting provides Kang-mu and Hee-ju with the location of the place where Joong-san is held captive. Jung-ma has in his possession a pen drive with all the slush fund account details. Now Park demands that file. Kang-mu plans out an elaborate operation where he breaks into the site of captivity. It is the mental health centre of the armed forces. Somehow, Kang-mu, with his formidable smarts, is able to rescue Jung-ma and head for the place that Hee-ju instructed him to go.
At this point, a massive twist shakes up the narrative. General Park is none other than Hee-ju. She knows Joong-san would entrust only someone like a known friend, Kang-ma, with the whereabouts of the pen drive. In fact, she invented the whole story about her having married him. She just had her eyes on the account details contained in the file. Unfortunately, Joong-san reveals to Kang-mu the location of the pen drive, which is in his safe house, providing the password.
Mission: Cross (Keuroseu, 2024) Movie Ending Explained:
Does General Park succeed in retrieving the file?
There’s a full-fledged quick procession of events in which Mi-seon gets to the bottom of the case and discovers her husband has been duped and trapped by Hee-ju, dangerous in ways beyond her imagination. She gets her hands on the file, copies it to her phone, and ruins the pen drive. But when faced with the annihilation of her husband, she guides Park’s assistant to the phone that has the file. However, both she and her husband are able to get away from their separate zones of captivity, reuniting. She tells him he should have relied on her and not kept his past identity an entire secret from her.
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Hee-ju/General Park oversees the extensive money laundering after getting her hold over the account. Unfortunately for her, her plan is once again interrupted as she has the couple tailing her and impeding her designs. The climax is a bloody, action-filled long-drawn sequence, entailing the couple teaming up. Their combined strength comes off as so incredible it can take down an entire battalion of guards at the basement where Hee-ju is. Unscathed, Mi-seon and Kang-mu steamroll past all the heavy posse of guards, decimating scores of them. They cut out the power as well, halting the transfer of funds.
It is definitely a strain on belief to witness the couple cut down so many people so smoothly. They manage to get Hee-ju in the car, while donning the guise of guards. A pretty tight scuffle follows among the three as well as Hee-ju’s assistant. Once again, the couple triumphs in retrieving the file and the briefcase from Hee-ju. They hand it over to the defense command and are brought in for questioning. The couple team up as a work unit. The epilogue hints at Kang-mu having a twin brother he never knew of, who is illegally bent and draws people towards drug peddling.
