Revolver 리볼버 (2024) Review: Oh Seung-Uk Misses the Mark in This Lumbering Slow-Burn Crime Thriller, Despite Jeon Do-Yeon’s Committed Performance

With a title like Revolver, one would assume this is a revenge-themed action thriller. Besides, the story follows Ha Soo-Young (Jeon Do-Yeon), a police officer who agrees to take the fall for the bribery charges. But in return, she will be compensated with a significant monetary reward and even a position to become the new director of security at the investment company, Eastern Promise. Andy (Ji Chang-Wook), who works for the company even promises her the dream apartment that she has been longing to own the place.

However, two years later after she is released from prison, she doesn’t receive any compensation whatsoever. Her former superior, Chief Lim (Lee Jung-Jae), who was also involved in the bribery scandal, is killed under mysterious circumstances. Armed with a revolver and a retractable baton, Ha determines to get her compensation whatever means necessary as she tries to track down Andy’s whereabouts. But instead of the typical route of Ha going out for blood in a rage-fuelled vengeance, writer-director Oh Seung-Uk, who previously worked with Jeon Do-Yeon in The Shameless nine years ago, opted for a more slow-burn approach.

We see Ha doesn’t stop tracking down every person she can find involved in the scandal, leading to a procedural-style crime mystery. Among the persons include Ha’s ex-colleagues, Min Ki-Hyun (Jung Jae-Young) and Shin Dong-Ho (Kim Jun-Han) and Jo Jae-Hoon (Jung Man-Sik), who is now a shop owner running a golf simulator. She also meets the mysterious Jeong Yoon-Sun (Lim Ji-Yeon), a bar hostess who arrives on the day of her release to pick her up. As Ha’s investigation runs deeper, she soon uncovers a larger conspiracy behind the scandal that she got herself into in the first place.

I don’t mind the movie’s deliberate pace and dense storytelling that demands your attention. It’s heavy in dialogue, which can be a turn-off for viewers looking for a pacey thriller but as long as the movie manages to keep me invested in the intricate story and Ha’s quest for getting the money that she was promised before her imprisonment.

The good news is that Jeon Do-Yeon doesn’t disappoint in her role as a desperate former police officer with a singular goal in her mind. We can sense her determination, anger, and unfairness with her minimalist acting style, which relies mostly on facial expressions beneath her cold and calculated demeanour. Her performance is subtle and devoid of the overacting tendencies associated with this type of vengeful character. She is also backed by two solid supporting actors, beginning with Lim Ji-Yeon as the slick bar hostess, Yoon-Sun who may or may not be an ally helping Ha Soo-Young in her quest. Ji Chang-Wook deserves equal mention as a crooked and bratty Andy, who has broken his promise to fulfil Ha’s rewards.

And yet, as I patiently sit through the two-hour length of this movie, Seung-Uk’s screenplay isn’t as intriguing as I thought it would be. His overreliance on verbal expositions tends to grow heavy-handed to the point it becomes tedious. Some of the other supporting and minor characters are perfunctorily introduced, resulting in underutilised performances.

Then, there’s the eventual payoff in the climactic third act. A slow-burn crime thriller like Revolver would benefit from a strong culmination to justify the time invested from the beginning of the story. Seung-Uk’s narrative approach in the third act somewhat reminds me of what Johnnie To would do to cap off the story. Let’s just say it was an interesting tonal shift that sneakily goes from an atmospheric slow burn to a darkly comic thriller, complete with sparse moments of violence and brutality.

It’s a pity that despite Jeon Do-Yeon’s engaging lead performance and the two aforementioned substantial support from Lim Ji-Yeon and Ji Chang-Wook, Revolver remains an overall missed opportunity.