A group of idiots and a fried chicken restaurant.
A team of narcotics detectives is on a stakeout and they are trying to find out the identity of a big drug lord. They think they have found his inner circle, but they have problems getting close to them. So the stupid detectives buy a fried chicken restaurant so that they can watch the building where the drug lord’s inner circle is staying. But then the idiots start serving tasty fried chicken to customers, and the business takes off because everyone loves their fried chicken. So the stupid detectives don’t have enough time to concentrate on their job, and they are in danger of losing their jobs. Will they manage to combine surveillance and business?
Extreme Job took me back to the action comedies that the South Koreans made early in the 2000s. It’s easy to be charmed by the movie, especially in the beginning where it has some funny scenes when we first get to know the team we are going to follow. They are a bunch of idiots, and it doesn’t get any better when the result is that the surveillance comes in second when they manage to buy a fried chicken restaurant.
But I have seen so many of these movies, and the weakness of the movie is very evident. I think especially of the poorly written characters. Except for the boss in the group, the other characters have no hint of personality outside the job.
The only form of personality we get to see and experience is in the last 20 minutes when they face the villains in the movie. But the personality we are talking about is that these idiots we have followed are tough fighters. But until then, we have only followed a group of blank sheets. Only the boss in the group has some family life, but the movie doesn’t focus much on it.
Some will surely be charmed by these characters, but if you have seen many of these South Korean movies from the early 2000s, then you know what it takes to make this formula work. To make it work the movie has to focus more on giving the central characters more personality than what they have done here.