The Point Men (Bargaining) is a 2023 South Korean action thriller film directed by Yim Soon-rye and starring Hwang Jung-min, Hyun Bin and Kang Ki-Young. The film is based on the 2007 kidnapping of South Korean hostages in Afghanistan and the rescue mission that followed.
The story
The United States declares war on Afghanistan for giving refuge to bin Laden after the events of September 11. 38 countries enter the war and South Korea sends soldiers. After losing power to a pro-American government, the Taliban began a counterattack in the form of suicide bombings and kidnappings of foreigners. 23 South Korean missionaries performing Christian missionary service in Islamic Afghanistan are captured and held hostage by Taliban as they pass through Ghazni province. The film is mostly about negotiations between the Taliban and a diplomat played by Hwang Jung-min, assisted by an NIS agent played by Hyun Bin.
Based on true events, The Point Men recounts, with some fidelity, the events that occurred in Afghanistan in 2007. Despite the gap of one year, the film is set in 2006, and a fictionalized setting, we can follow the story meticulously, without losing details. Sometimes action movie, sometimes thriller, sometimes reality TV, sometimes unbearable suspense, sometimes fighting against a surplus of testosterone … This story leaves no time for boredom. It is clear that some action scenes are too expansive (exuberant and implausible) that remind us too closely of American productions. These are brush strokes. They do not invade this dramatic incident, but allow themselves to lighten it without making it disappear.
Actors
For once, actors whose origin is not South Korean, were not chosen just because of or because of their Caucasian or non-Asian type. Found on the job just because they are white (or it doesn't matter as long as their eyes aren't slanted) and whose acting abilities are only limited to their skin color. For the rest, they would have done better to persist in another occupation in their lives instead of dragging down some films that could have turned out to be masterpieces. Unfortunately, a bad actor is able to single-handedly change the name 'very good film' to 'it was good but…'. Unfortunately also, in the world of South Korean films and dramas, we always see the same actors, who we try to pass through Americans while they struggle to speak the language!
Fahim Fazli, the Afghan survivor living in the United States, is given the same roles most of the time, namely Taliban, soldier, terrorist, but he is entirely behind his role. Credible and even radiant. (A nod to actor Teo Yoo who said in an interview that during his years in the United States, he was only offered roles as a pizza delivery man or employee in a laundromat).
Bryan Larkin is a Scottish actor, writer, producer and filmmaker. He is best known for the film 'London has fallen' but we have also noticed him in other productions such as the Chinese film 'Chasing the Dragon' with Donnie Yen and Andy Lau (anyway…), or even more recently in the Canadian-Irish series 'Vikings'. This is not the first time he has starred alongside Hwang Jung-min, we have seen him in the South Korean drama 'Narco-Saints'. This actor who seems to like to flourish in all kinds of international productions, plays the role of a con man in the middle of a tense atmosphere that clings to anyone to finally allow us to sleep soundly. At the height of the other actors, and the film, our fear of 'a white stain' vanishes the moment he opens his mouth. 
Hwang Jung-min, always equal to himself, seems to rise from the ashes after some disappointments (maybe just on our part). Without making too much use of his jaw forward to show us that he is angry, angry or desperate, he seems to sit down with age. Whole, authentic, honest, completely comfortable in his role as a diplomat. It is not only his expressions that make him a very good actor, but also and above all his gestures, his approach, as if he really became the character. As if he were really a diplomat in the middle of nowhere on which the lives of 23 people depended on it. This man has class. 
Hyun Bin, the second pillar. How to talk about it without offending some? Is it his handsome side in successful South Korean series that pursues him? Why this impression of being less at home in action scenarios, as dense as they are dramatic? Yet he seems to favor action movies and, even if there would be nothing to complain about his acting, he often leaves us with this impression of 'not enough'. As if he lacked a tiny trick to completely inhabit his character. A bit like those dancers who will never be 'great dancers' because they are too afraid to give it their all. However, he had been really touching, and beautiful, in films like 'The Fatal Encounter', 'Come Rain Come Shine', 'I Am Happy', or others. To believe that it is the dramatic roles that allow him to express himself fully. But, we are still talking about Hyun Bin. In The Point Men, he is one of all those elements that contribute, or rather make this film manage to maintain its rhythm from beginning to end.
Carried almost entirely by the shoulders of Hwang Jung-min and Hyun Bin (and their osmosis), like two superheroes advancing in the middle of a sandstorm, The Point Men gives us mini moments of respite with the character of the crazy translator played by Kang Ki-Young. Yes, yes, the chief lawyer of our dear 'Extraordinary Attorney Woo' and who makes us acquiesce to these comments that circulate right and left on social networks: "but they are all very good, these Koreans!"
Production
Filmed in Jordan, the start of filming was supposed to take place at the end of March 2020, but due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the preparation of the shoot was postponed to the end of April of the same year. As Korea is considered a high-risk country, six countries, including Jordan and Israel, have banned the entry of Korean nationals. The entire film crew, including the actors, had to quarantine before starting shooting. The film was originally scheduled for release in September 2022 but, again due to the consequences of COVID-19 and the busy schedule of the main actors, the film's theatrical release date has been announced for January 18, 2023.
The language difference between Afghanistan and Jordan poses the same problem as the filming of '7 Years in Tibet' which is supposed to take place in Tibet but took place in South America. The background noise, the sounds inherent in everyday life, not to mention the search for so-called local actors playing small roles, all these elements made the basics of filming quite difficult. If we look globally, Covid, consequences of Covid, prohibition to film in the country that is its own, absence of the main actors during the promotion of the film … Things do not seem to have been easy. 
The Point Men uses Dolby Atmos technology (This technology gives all the latitude needed to place each voice, each instrument and each sound in a three-dimensional space of which you occupy the center, regardless of the device used -wikipedia). This sound vividly transmits a layer to the tension felt by the viewer, giving us the impression that we are inside the film and that we are advancing in the middle of a minefield. The risk, this continual emergency, the micro fragments that are added to the main script. Uncertain wide open spaces that evoke more a feeling of vulnerability in the face of imminent danger, than a possible feeling of freedom… We are completely immersed in what is happening before our eyes, because of this quintessentially Asian determination to make us interact with the film.
Director
Yim Soon-rye is a South Korean film director and screenwriter. She is considered one of the few female authors of the new wave of Korean cinema. If we had to describe Yim Soon-rye in a few words, it would seem that she has the ability or the will to make her films in a very clear way that allows us to follow the story without a hitch. We do not get lost in the meanders of certain questions that often remain unanswered but on the contrary, she obviously has a very meticulous sense of organization. 
If the urge to become picky or even rigid crossed us, we could remain in a surface judgment that would annihilate the meaning of the film. For example, to carry out an ultra-perilous mission, you often have to get the hero out of a prison that, obviously, completely ignores the benefits of a hairdresser. That is the first stereotype. And if not, two men who are opposed to everything, one very rational, the other, bulldozer. No, we're not talking about 'Lethal Weapon', with Danny Glover and Mel Gibson (and his head in use), or all these films that follow the same recipe. These two heroes must not save the planet from alien invasions (whatever…) But their mission could turn out to be a bunch of testosterone that would carry away the main goal. Not to mention, of course, all those high-ranking people who are always opposed to any coherent solution. All these clichés could have parasitized the story and even eaten it raw. Yes, but no.
Everything seems to assume a commercial production with its share of tears and action, all mixed with the perspiration, always very well spared, of the main actors. Yim Soon-rye methodically transmits to us an adventure of which all the elements are important. In the same way that she knew how to ensure the rhythm of the film 'Little Forest' where, we will agree, not much happens but whose depth, consistency, story and actors (Yim Soon-rye in all its glory!) make it magnificent, the same goes for its latest achievement.
End
Does The Point Men suffer from a lack of catharsis? It depends on how you look at it. Either we accept the film as it is, as a negotiation, as the pure and hard will of the heroes to save the hostages, exploring to the end all possible means of board, or we can feel frustrated because there is no outpouring of tears, nor languorous thanks, nor heroes receiving medals. The person who writes to you can only thank the director for having spared him this last option and praises the clarity and precision of his film. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCjFhsp6gO4&ab_channel=AsianCrush
