[Written/Watched Jan 04, 2021 for Letterboxd. Expanded 1/23/2021.]

I watched "The Target" thinking it was "The Suspect", only to happen across the aforementioned film when I looked at Gong Yoo's filmography. By that point, I was in the process of reaching the end of this film (on Tubi) and decided to finish it.

"The Target" falls somewhere in the vein of "The Man From Nowhere" and "A Special Lady", but its not quite as violent or gripping as either film.

The film's premise is definitely interesting. It invokes the same kinda tension as "Nick of Time" (starring Johnny Depp and Christopher Walken), where a man's daughter is kidnapped and he's forced to participate in an assassination plot to save her.

Problem is, one half of the film's protagonist (Tae-Joon, a doctor) ultimately becomes a reactionary party to the kidnapper's brother (Yeo-Hoon), who Liam Nesson's his way through the film as it devolves into a revenge plot once the kidnapper (Sung-Hoon) is killed. It's almost comical how many times the Tae-Joon avoids death. Like, his plot armor is strong.

(And, no, it shouldn't be ignored that the film does rely on a level of abelism to drive the plot. Specifically how the character with tourettes (Sung-Hoon) is killed to motivate the protagonist (transforming him into a tragic figure of pity), and is called the hard R slur immediately afterward by the doctor.)

"The Target" is a serviceable action film with moments of sentimentality that don't quite land. I get what the film was going for, given the comparisons I've made, but it just never invests enough in the characters to deliver.

(Also, why was there a mid-credits ending to tie-off the fate of the villain? Were they expecting to make a sequel?)