Cold Eyes
Cold Eyes (Korean: 감시자들; RR: Gamsijadeul; lit. "Stakeout" or "Surveillance") is a 2013 South Korean action thriller film starring Sol Kyung-gu, Jung Woo-sung, Han Hyo-joo, Jin Kyung and Lee Junho. A remake of 2007 Hong Kong film Eye in the Sky, the film is about detectives from the surveillance team of a special crime unit who work together to take down a bank robbing organization.[2][3][4][5][6]
Cold Eyes | |
---|---|
Hangul | 감시자들 |
Hanja | 監視者들 |
Revised Romanization | Gamsijadeul |
McCune–Reischauer | Kamsijadeul |
Directed by | Cho Ui-seok Kim Byeong-seo |
Produced by | Lee Yu-jin |
Written by | Cho Ui-seok |
Based on | Eye in the Sky by Yau Nai-Hoi and Au Kin-Yee |
Starring | Sol Kyung-gu Jung Woo-sung Han Hyo-joo Jin Kyung Lee Junho |
Music by | Dalpalan Jang Young-gyu |
Cinematography | Kim Byeong-seo Yeo Kyung-bo |
Edited by | Shin Min-kyung |
Production company | Zip Cinema |
Distributed by | Next Entertainment World |
Release date |
|
Running time | 118 minutes |
Country | South Korea |
Language | Korean |
Budget | US$4.5 million |
Box office | US$34.8 million[1] |
It made its North American premiere at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival,[7][8][9] and also screened at the 2013 Busan International Film Festival in the Open Cinema section.[10][11]
Plot
Ha Yoon-joo joins a police division where the members are largely unarmed and don't wear uniforms. Led by a man named Hwang, the division avoids arresting criminals and focuses exclusively on following them around to gather information. The surveillance team immediately runs into trouble when they can't identify any of the robbers due to their masks and their efficiency in robbing the bank. In response, Hwang, Ha, and six other officers spend several weeks wandering around the city streets, tagging after people who match the criminal's physical description. When they finally find him, they put cameras outside his apartment.
Meanwhile, James, the leader of the criminals, wishes to quit his line of work, but his elderly mentor responds by sending a man to kill him, whom he successfully defends against. When James's subordinates confer to discuss the next mission, they are successfully tracked by Hwang's officers call in a SWAT team to subdue them. James, who was standing in a separate location, finds it necessary to murder one of Hwang's officers to escape. Later, after James is given criticism from the mentor, he attacks the mentor's hide-out, murdering the mentor and his body-guards. He then acquires a fake Thai passport and gets ready to leave South Korea.
Hwang and Ha both feel sad at the death of their colleague. As a result, Hwang announces his resignation while Ha takes a leave of absence. However, while Ha is doing her laundry, she suddenly remembers using her photographic memory that she has run into James in the past. Namely, on the day of her police interview, James had fleetingly walked past her inside a subway car, carrying a grocery store brochure. Ha runs to the grocery store and waits there, managing to catch sight of James again, and urgently notifies Hwang and his officers while staying on James's tail. When James walks into a tunnel, Hwang takes over the pursuit, but James recognizes Hwang and stabs him. Luckily, though, the wound isn't fatal. Ha continues the pursuit into the subway tunnels but is also recognized by James and held hostage. When the SWAT team comes, James lets go of Ha and runs deeper into the tunnels.
As the chase goes on, James finds himself trapped between the advancing SWAT team and the mouth of the tunnel, which is being guarded by Hwang, who ran the long way around. As James decides to charge at Hwang, the latter, finding himself at the juncture of an oncoming train, stands his ground to shoot at James, risking a 50/50 chance that the train will flatten him. Fortunately, the train takes the other branch and James is hit by Hwang's revolver and killed.
Encouraged by the success, Hwang withdraws his resignation, and together with Ha, goes on to execute further such missions including the pursuit of international terrorists.
Cast
Main
- Sol Kyung-gu as Chief detective Hwang
- Jung Woo-sung as James, leader of an international crime ring[12][13][14][15][16]
- Han Hyo-joo as rookie detective Ha Yoon-joo
- Jin Kyeong as Department head Lee
- Lee Junho as Detective Daramjwi ("Squirrel")[17][18][19]
Supporting
- Kim Byeong-ok as mysterious broker/cobbler
- Simon Yam as target of surveillance team (cameo)
- Byun Yo-han as M3
- Lee Dong-hwi as Parrot
Box office
Cold Eyes smashed 2.17 million in the first week of release.[20] After 17 days, it reached 4 million admissions.[21][22] It reached the 5 million mark on July 27,[23][24] with 5,506,409 total admissions at the end of its run.
Awards and nominations
- Best Actress - Han Hyo-joo
- Nominated - Best Supporting Actress - Jin Kyung
- Nominated - Best New Actor - Lee Junho
- Nominated - Best Screenplay - Cho Ui-seok
- Nominated - Best Cinematography - Kim Byeong-seo
- Nominated - Best Actress - Han Hyo-joo
- Nominated - Best Costume Design - Jo Sang-gyeong
- Best Actress - Han Hyo-joo[25]
- Nominated - Best Supporting Actor - Jung Woo-sung
- Nominated - Best Cinematography - Kim Byeong-seo, Yeo Kyung-bo
- Nominated - Best Lighting - Kim Seung-gyu
- Nominated - Best Music - Dalparan, Jang Young-gyu
- Nominated - Technical Award - Shin Min-kyung
- Nominated - Best Editing - Shin Min-kyung[26]
- Best Editor - Shin Min-kyung
- Nominated - Best Actress - Han Hyo-joo
- Nominated - Best Supporting Actor - Jung Woo-sung
- Nominated - Best Cinematography - Kim Byeong-seo, Yeo Kyung-bo
- Best Supporting Actress - Jin Kyung[28]
- Nominated - Best Director - Cho Ui-seok, Kim Byeong-seo
- Nominated - Best Actor - Jung Woo-sung
- Nominated - Most Popular Actor (Film) - Jung Woo-sung
- Nominated - Most Popular Actress (Film) - Han Hyo-joo
See also
References
- "Box office by Country: Cold Eyes". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2013-07-10.
- Jung, Han-seok (1 August 2013). "JOH Ui-seok and KIM Byeong-seo, Directors of COLD EYES: The Art of Watching and Being Watched". Korean Cinema Today. Retrieved 2013-08-17.
- Ji, Yong-jin (8 February 2013). "Police Are Hot in Pursuit of a Kingpin in COLD EYES". Korean Film Council. Retrieved 2013-02-11.
- Kang, Jung-yeon (14 May 2013). "Movie Cold Eyes Ready To Thrill Audience in 2013 Summer". TenAsia. Archived from the original on 28 March 2014. Retrieved 2013-05-14.
- Sunwoo, Carla (6 June 2013). "Cold Eyes is a story of firsts for the cast". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 2013-06-06.
- Lee, Eun-sun (14 June 2013). "Two Big Things Are Coming: 1,000 Eyes Staring at Him - Cold Eyes". Korean Film Council. Retrieved 2013-06-14.
- Conran, Pierce (24 July 2013). "Toronto Looks to COLD EYES: Korean Thriller Gets Gala Invite for TIFF". Korean Film Council. Retrieved 2013-07-31.
- "Cold Eyes Invited to Toronto Int'l Film Fest". The Chosun Ilbo. 25 July 2013. Retrieved 2013-07-31.
- "Toronto film festival 2013: the full line-up". The Guardian. 23 July 2013. Retrieved 2013-07-24.
- Willette, Jeff (10 October 2013). "Busan International Film Festival 2013". SippinSoko.com. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 2013-10-08.
- Arcega, Raymond (27 October 2013). "Busan International Film Festival 2013". GreenTeaGraffiti. Retrieved 2013-10-27.
- Sunwoo, Carla (12 October 2012). "Jung Woo-sung preps for bad guy role". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
- Kim, Ji-yi (28 May 2013). "Jung Woo Sung playing as a villain for the first time in his career". StarN News. Retrieved 2013-05-28.
- Lim, Ju-ri (28 June 2013). "Jung Woo-sung turns bad". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 2013-06-28.
- "Jung Woo-sung Turns His Back on Nice-Guy Image in New Film". The Chosun Ilbo. 29 June 2013. Retrieved 2013-06-29.
- Lee, Hye-ji (15 July 2013). "INTERVIEW: Actor Jung Woo-sung: Confessions of a Top Star". TenAsia. Archived from the original on 2014-03-28. Retrieved 2013-07-21.
- Ho, Stewart (25 October 2012). "2PM Junho to Make Movie Debut Opposite Jung Woo Sung, Han Hyo Joo in Surveillance". enewsWorld. CJ E&M. Archived from the original on 29 January 2013. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
- Lee, Hye-ji (19 June 2013). "2PM Junho Impresses with Big Screen Debut Thriller". TenAsia. Archived from the original on 28 March 2014. Retrieved 2013-06-19.
- An, So-hyoun (20 June 2013). "2PM's Junho Says He's Really Nervous about His Role in Cold Eyes". enewsWorld. CJ E&M. Archived from the original on 24 June 2013. Retrieved 2013-06-20.
- "Cold Eyes Smashes 2-Million Mark in First Week". The Chosun Ilbo. 10 July 2013. Retrieved 2013-07-13.
- Lee, Claire (19 July 2013). "Cold Eyes smashes 4 million mark". The Korea Herald. Retrieved 2013-07-20.
- "Cold Eyes Still Sweeping Box Office". The Chosun Ilbo. 23 July 2013. Retrieved 2013-07-23.
- "Cold Eyes Hits 5-Million Mark in Cinema Attendance". The Chosun Ilbo. 29 July 2013. Retrieved 2013-07-31.
- Kang, Jung-yeon (30 July 2013). "Han Hyo-joo Celebrates Cold Eyes Records". TenAsia. Archived from the original on 2014-03-28. Retrieved 2013-07-31.
- "Netizens split on Han Hyo Joo's Best Leading Actress win at Blue Dragon Film Awards". Korea Star Daily via Yahoo!. 25 November 2013. Retrieved 2014-01-18.
- Conran, Pierce (3 December 2013). "7 Nominations for SNOWPIERCER at Asia Pacific Film Festival". Korean Film Council. Retrieved 2014-01-18.
- Tae, Sang-joon (14 February 2014). "5 Films including SNOWPIERCER nominated for the AFAs". Korean Film Council. Retrieved 2014-02-20.
- Chung, Joo-won (27 May 2014). "Song Gang-ho, Jun Ji-hyun get top nods at Baeksang Awards". The Korea Herald. Retrieved 2014-05-28.