Tube – Tyubeu (2003)

Directed by: Baek Woon-Hak | 112 minutes | action, drama, thriller | Actors: Kim Seok-hun, Bae Du-na, Park Sang-min, Kwon Oh-jung, Jeong Jun, Sa Hyon-Jin, Son Byung-ho, Park Joong-Hoon

‘Tube’ is director Baek Woon-Hak’s debut and although not without flaws, it is a promising debut. The film opens with an incredibly over-the-top, more than five minutes long shooting feast. Since the viewer has no idea what the film is about at the time, this scene probably achieves the opposite goal that the makers had in mind. Instead of sitting directly on the edge of the seat, a distance has been created between the image and the audience. Nevertheless, the glance that terrorist T and Detective Jay exchange is enough to know that there is an old feud between them, which will be fought out in this film.

Then we see a few scenes with an attractive Korean, who knows how to stand her ground, but also shows her vulnerable side through her fascination with the secretive agent Jay. Kay is played by Du-Na Bae, and she knows how to portray her character perfectly, brave, passionate and a bit strange. Jay also manages to convince as a troubled and stubborn cop. Fortunately, after the annoying start, there is an improvement. As soon as the scenes start playing in the metro you are sucked into the film, and you only come out after an hour and a half, occasionally only distracted by the very annoying music, which sometimes even drowns out the dialogues.

The film’s great strength is oddly enough that it doesn’t explain much. The feud between T and Jay has to do with the murder of Jay’s girlfriend, fiancé or wife, but why she was killed remains guesswork. Then, in the opening scene, Jay shoots someone who dies in T’s arms, and who that person is also remains unclear. This mystery keeps you fascinated for a long time, because you hope that at the end all the puzzle pieces will fall into place. To some extent, that happens.

The story of ‘Tube’ is not original, Baek Woon-Hak has shamelessly copied major Hollywood productions such as ‘Speed’, ‘Under Siege 2’ and ‘Heat’. However, he manages to create a certain atmosphere around his two protagonists, which makes the audience feel very involved with them. The chemistry between Jay and Kay is palpable and the ending is unexpected. Great exciting action thriller from a director from which we can hopefully expect even more spectacle.