Image: Netflix
Premiering on the Toronto Worldwide Movie Pageant & the Busan Worldwide Movie Pageant forward of its streaming debut, Good Information (Intestine Nuiuseu) is the newest movie from author/director Byun Sung-hyun, whom many Netflix subscribers could know from his breakout hit Kill Boksoon (author/director) and its spinoff Mantis (author) launched just a few weeks in the past.
Co-written by Lee Jin-Seong, the story is inspired by the hijacking of a Japanese passenger airplane in March 1970 by members of the Japanese Purple Military Faction, a militant group that ran within the late 60s & early 70s; nevertheless, as famous by the opening credit, “all characters and occasions portrayed are fictional”. So in case you’re on the lookout for a historic, politically pushed recreation of a hostage disaster within the sky, you’ve perhaps come to the improper place; however in case you’re ripe for a satirical slant impressed by a real occasion the place no political affiliation is spared from ridicule & examination in an usually outlandish & foolish method, then boy do I’ve … nicely … you recognize.
Whereas Good Information likes to play with the notion of the reality, the core of the story nonetheless follows a bunch of younger scholar communists from the Purple Military Faction as they hijack a Japanese passenger airplane in an act of revolution towards the pro-capitalist agenda of the Japanese authorities. Their plan is to take the airplane & its inhabitants over South Korea into North Korea, the place they are going to be greeted as conquering heroes. However when it seems that Japanese pilots don’t know the way to contact or know the flight path in direction of North Korea (and perhaps a lie or two that the pilots bought the naive younger terrorists), the airplane is compelled to land.
Good Information Hong Kyung as Web optimization Go-myung in Good Information Cr. Tune Kyoung-sub/Netflix © 2025
Whereas the Japanese authorities officers scramble for an answer whereas the airplane is grounded, the KCIA (Korean Central Intelligence) sees a possibility: persuade the hijackers to land the airplane in South Korea and grow to be internationally famend with Japan of their debt. Who do they put in command of such an operation? No one! That’s the identify of the fixer (performed like a sarcastic “Columbo” by Kill Boksoon star Sul Kyung-gu) employed by KCIA director Park Sang-hyeon (Ryoo Seung-bum) to orchestrate a “re-hijacking” of their very own after the airplane takes off as soon as extra for North Korea.
Whereas Good Information does appear to make use of the true life occasions because the spine of the story, Byun Sung-hyun feels completely content material to not let the reality get in the best way of joke. With a “You may’t combat in right here! This can be a battle room!” spirit behind the depictions & motives of each authorities bureaucrat, the movie is an intentional mix of what No one playfully nods to a number of instances: “Take what occurred, add a bit creativity and a need for reality …” It appears the creators don’t have any concern with spinning this historic occasion right into a tangled net of bumbling governments searching for good press, disrespected decrease tier staff seeking to rewrite their tales, & toothless younger terrorists hoping to be seen at any value. Everybody needs the glory, however few, if any, really appear to deserve it. The precise excellent news is that movie does inevitably favor the daring who have been courageous sufficient to do the precise issues when it issues most … and certain nobody actually will get harm too I suppose.
Whereas I’m too younger or too inept at Seventies world politics to know whether or not taking part in quick & unfastened with the subject material is morally improper, the expertise as laid out does, fortunately, a worthy job of punching up towards these in energy and pulling the pants down on the inexperienced blowhard hijackers. Byun Sung-hyun appears to relish in poking energy dynamics, belief, & loyalty together with his earlier movies The Cruel, Kingmaker, & Kill Boksoon, starting from political corruption to upending crime organizations.
Good Information Takayuki Yamada as Shinichi in Good Information Cr. Tune Kyoung-sub/Netflix © 2025
Whereas the ethical compass could also be guided appropriately, the primary concern with the movie, as many different style blends, is tone, consistency, and size. With bouncing round from severe inventory footage of what looks like actual occasions to irreverent humor to daydreams of Wild West showdowns and all the pieces in between, the story can typically get dizzying, dropping the narrative, and taking some time to get the movie again on observe. The third act particularly appears to return to a grinding halt at its begin after the North Korea ruse is discovered and repeats plenty of the identical beats with the identical characters as earlier within the story, dropping a number of the punch and effectiveness from the extra profitable early acts and inflicting the bloat within the over 2-hour runtime.
Total, Good Information overcomes most of its shortcomings with its playful jabs, mocking tone, and over-the-top characters that appear to be nodding to movies like Dr. Strangelove or Burn After Studying whereas persevering with Byun Sung-hyun’s fascination with undercutting spineless leaders. A collectively humorous forged, led by Sul Kyung-gu & standout Ryoo Seung-bum, with some superb chuckle traces – “You need to have instructed us (you had a coronary heart situation) after we took you hostage!” – and a Monty Python-esque runway standoff on the mocked-up “North Korean” airport. Although it could have overstayed its welcome, Good Information is just too entertaining to disregard.
Watch Good Information If You Like
- Dr. Strangelove or: How I Discovered to Cease Worrying and Love the Bomb
- Burn After Studying
- Wag the Canine
- Don’t Look Up
MVP of Good Information
Ryoo Seung-bum as KCIA director Park Sang-hyeon
Whereas Sul Kyung-gu will get to play the meatier, narratively vital fixer in No one, nobody stole extra scenes than Ryoo Seung-bum as KCIA director Park Sang-hyeon. Taking part in with a smarmy appeal protecting for lack of smarts & backbone, Ryoo sways in any route that fits him, smiling as he throws individual after individual underneath the bus whereas taking credit score wherever he can discover it. He’s like an ’80s buddy cop police captain and slimy politician in search of re-election rolled into one among the most effective methods.
Whereas it could battle to land the airplane and justify its 136-minute runtime, Good Information turns a real-life hostage disaster into an successfully wild lampooning of everybody concerned. Followers of political satires & farsical comedies will relish in its pointed but foolish development.
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