The Con Artists (also called The Technicians) isn’t exactly innovative or original. We’ve already seen movies like this, already seen that kind of plot and already felt like a movie isn’t telling us everything. What we see isn’t really what’s happening. Nothing new here. But then you put Kim Woo-bin as your hero and it’s immediately sexier and more sensual. He has that little something that works well, at least on me! (I bet I’m not the only one.)
Don’t ask me if
it’s his facial expressions (sometimes cheeky, sometimes serious but most of
the time, cute), his self-confidence, his nonchalance but he has a charismas
and a presence you can’t possibly ignore. And best believe that no one ignored
it. Kim Woo-bin is at the top of his career right now. His dramas and movies come
one after another, I can’t barely follow him. I still have to catch two of his
movies, Friends 2 and Twenty. (God only knows how excited I am
for the latter *drooling*).
But let’s go back to The Con Artists. Kim Woo-bin play Ji-hyuk's a top safe-cracker and
counterfeiter. He’s specialized in stealing antiques and jewelleries. He works
with Koo-In (Ko Chang-seok). Their
partnership is based on trust; they can rely on each other. When Ji-hyuk will
decide to steal diamonds in a high-rated jewellery store, Koo-In will
introduced him to Jong-bae (Lee Hyun-woo).
He’s an elite hacker who, according to rumors, has the tendency to betray his
partners in crime. Not really trustworthy if you ask me. But no time to verify
the rumors, here they are, putting everything in place to steal the diamonds. What
the trio doesn’t know is that those diamonds belong to President Jo (Kim Young-chul) and he isn’t precisely happy
to be robbed! In fact, he quickly puts his hands on Ji-hyuk and his mates. He
offers them two simple options: either they steal ₩150 billion for him (that’s US$150
million guys and that doesn’t fit in a normal sized suitcase. Just sayin’), either
they die by the hand of his scary but lovely right-hand man (Lim Ju-hwan). Not sure lovely is the
perfect word to describe him but I do like the actor even if I have to admit,
he was super creepy in the movie.
The money is stored within a customs area somewhere in
Incheon. With a top safe-cracker, a top hacker and…an ahjussi, the operation
shouldn’t be hard. Yes in theory, but if you add to the already crazy plan the
fact that they have only 40 minutes to steal the money, it can be a bit
stressful. Really. But neither the plan nor the short schedule really refrain
President Jo, on the contrary. He’s sure to fool everyone and to have all the
money in the end. That leaves no choice to the trio.
Thieves in one
hand, millions of dollars in the other, of course somehow they have to meet. It’s
a given. It’s logic.It’s like saying earth revolves around the sun or the
night replaces the day. It’s surely easy to guess there’s more than thieves and
millions in the equation. The movie gave us hints along the way and like Hansel & Gretel, we have to keep
going in order to find out all about the intrigue. Here are some of the hunts:
1.
Ji-hyuk who’s an expert (young maybe but still an expert) is determinate to
steal jewelleries from one precise shop. Is it like the only one in the area?
Can’t you go to the next one Ji-hyuk? Obviously not. It has to be that one,
like he knew from the get go who those diamonds belong to. There must be
something behind. Something fishy. That feeling, like the hint itself is
actually quite subtle. In fact, I’ve made the connexion later on. But once the
connexion is done, everything fall into place.
2.
The same Ji-hyuk will let himself been caught by President Jo too easily. Easily
caught and easily convinced. Within no time, he accepted to steal the money and
to take incredible risks. I know thieves have an ego proportional to their
crazy need to steal, but still as a professional thief you can’t just go and
steal for a random anyone else. Clearly the guy’s lives were in danger but Ji-hyuk
didn’t fiercely fight back. He gave up too early and accepted the situation too
quickly. That’s suspicious, way too suspicious.
3.
The hacker-traitor is going to be offered
by President Jo the occasion to betray his buddies. Is Jong-bae a real Jong-Bae
traitor? Will he go or not? It’s not a risky move for President Jo to choose
the traitor to actually do what the rumors say he’s best at: betray! Talking
about them, I really hate traitors. How can they chill and be friendly with the
people they’ll stab in the back three minutes later? Really hate them. But then
there wouldn’t be any suspense without them. In this case, not knowing also add
to suspense. Are the rumors true? Most of the time, they are. So will Jong-bae
go for President Jo and betray his new mates? He seems integrate in the band
but the worse with traitors, you never know the moment they’ll change sides.
4.
What’s the relation between Ji-hyuk’s deceased arabuji friend and Eun-ha (Jo
Yoon-hee), the lady our hero intentionally approached in the beginning of
the movie? We don’t know much about Eun-ha. Although she spends some time with
Ji-hyuk, she’s quite reluctant to trust him completely. There’s no possible
coincidence in this kind of film. And the movie got it. It keeps beating around
the bush. Ji-hyuk’s deceased
friend was also a thief. They both met at some point of their lives and became
friends. Arabuji tried many times to
persuade Ji-hyuk to change his way of living. I mean stealing is fun and all
but doing that till your retirement? Seriously? Think again Ji-hyuk. But then arabuji died leaving the young thief
alone. He didn’t change his ways far from that. **Spoiler**: We’ll understand that arabuji and Eun-ha are blood related. One could then logically ask:
what pushes Ji-Hyuk to get close to Eun-ha? Despite his affection and love for arabuji, Ji-hyuk must have hidden
agenda. He must otherwise, it’s no fun. The nagging questions and hunts work in favour of the movie. They make us wait excitingly for answers!
I liked the relationship between Ji-hyuk and Koo-In a lot. I've always like that kind of special bond between a young character and an older one. It's the genre of realtion that offers a good reason for comical scenes, play on words, reversed situations and funny references to age. The connexions between the characters in the movie is solid and logic which is never a bad thing when you have to rate a movie.
MY FEELINGS
I’m not going to lie, The Con Artists isn’t the best movie I’ve seen but it has the merit to keep you entertain. It’s predictable, there’s a feeling of déjà but the genre doesn’t really offer millions of possibilities. Professional thieves includes a big coup somewhere at some point. The thing is to make us curious about every tiny details and to keep us curious all through the movie. We have to be hooked all along! And that’s what The Con Artists did. The movie diverted me without being too boring and passive. The plot didn’t override the acting. Thank God for that. So take the movie for what it is: a good entertaining film that will make you have a good time. And that’s probably the reason of its success!
I’m not going to lie, The Con Artists isn’t the best movie I’ve seen but it has the merit to keep you entertain. It’s predictable, there’s a feeling of déjà but the genre doesn’t really offer millions of possibilities. Professional thieves includes a big coup somewhere at some point. The thing is to make us curious about every tiny details and to keep us curious all through the movie. We have to be hooked all along! And that’s what The Con Artists did. The movie diverted me without being too boring and passive. The plot didn’t override the acting. Thank God for that. So take the movie for what it is: a good entertaining film that will make you have a good time. And that’s probably the reason of its success!
And believe me Kim Woo-bin
worthy it, big tme!
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