Confidential Assignment (Korean: 공조; Hanja: 共助; RR: Gongjo; lit. Cooperation) is a 2017 South Korean action comedy film directed by Kim Sung-hoon. It stars Hyun Bin, Yoo Hae-jin and Kim Joo-hyuk.[3][4][5][6][7][8][9] In the film, a North Korean officer and a Seoul detective team up to track down a dangerous fugitive, who is running a gang of counterfeiters.
Confidential Assignment | |
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![]() Theatrical poster | |
Hangul | 공조 |
Hanja | 共助 |
Revised Romanization | Gongjo |
McCune–Reischauer | Kongcho |
Directed by | Kim Sung-hoon |
Written by | Yoon Hyun-ho |
Produced by | Yoon Je-kyoon |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Lee Sung-jae |
Edited by | Lee Jin |
Music by | Hwang Sang-joon |
Production company | JK Film |
Distributed by | CJ Entertainment |
Release date |
|
Running time | 125 minutes |
Country | South Korea |
Language | Korean |
Budget | US$8.52 million[1] |
Box office | US$57 million[2] |
Im Cheol-ryung, an officer of a special investigation team in North Korea, barges at a warehouse that prints counterfeit money, where he learns that his superior Cha Ki-seong and his own team are there to steal the master plates to print the counterfeit money. A shootout ensues where Cheol-ryung's wife Hwa-ryung and his team are killed, while Cheol-ryung is gravely injured. Meanwhile, the North Korean officials learn that Cha Ki-seong has fled to South Korea, where Cheol-ryung is ordered to capture Ki-seong and retrieve the stolen master plates, and is given only three days to complete his mission.
However, the South Korean officials suspects whether Ki-seong is really a killer, where they assign Detective Kang Jin-tae from Seoul to watch over Cheol-ryung tightly as they suspect him to kill Ki-seong for vengeance. Jin-tae receives Cheol-ryung from the airport, where they head for Myeong-Dong to check on one of Ki-seong's men Park Myung-ho, but Cheol-ryong escapes after learning about Jin-tae's mission. Cheol-ryung arrives at Myeong-Dong to Jongro where Jin-tae also reaches there and interrogates Park, but the latter escapes. After the orders from his superior, Jin-tae takes Cheol-ryung to his home to spy on him. Having guessed the latter's plan, Cheol-ryung removes the SIM card which Jin-tae had inserted in his phone to track his location anytime.
The duo learns about the location where Park was supplying drugs and a fight ensues where Cheol-ryung takes one of the men's phone and gives it to Jin-tae. Cheol-ryung learns about Park's location after secretly bugging Jin-tae's phone. The duo heads to the restaurant where they find that Park is conversing with one of Ki-seong's comrades (who was present at the warehouse). The comrade learns that Park plans to settle in South Korea, where he kills him under Ki-seong's orders. Cheol-ryung arrives and warns Ki-seong of his impending death, where he fights the comrade, who escapes. After checking Park's belongings, the officials learn about Cheol-ryung's mission. Meanwhile, Jin-tae learns about Cheol-ryung's past and decide to help him.
They reach the place where Ki-seong has arranged a deal to sell the plates, but Ki-seong kills the buyer where Cheol-ryung arrives and kills the henchmen where he is about Ki-seong, but Jin-tae stops him which gives time for Ki-seong to escape. Cheol-ryung takes the master plates and leaves. However, Ki-seong kidnaps Jin-tae's family and demands the plates. A frightened Jin-tae tells Cheol-ryung, where he takes the plates and heads to the location. Jin-tae and Cheol-ryung arrives and gives the plates to Ki-seong, who leaves Jin-tae's family where Jin-tae takes his family to a safe place. A battle ensues where Cheol-ryung and Jin-tae manages to kill Ki-seong. One year later, Cheol-ryung and Jin-tae receive their next mission.
Confidential Assignment opened in second place at the box office on January 18. It rose to first place in its second week selling an accumulative 4 million tickets by January 30 and surpassed the 5 million mark two days later.[10][11][12][13]
The movie became the most viewed Korean movie during the first half of 2017 by attracting 7.8 million audience locally. However, this record was surpassed in August by A Taxi Driver.[14]
Confidential Assignment was sold to 42 territories, including the U.S. and several countries in Asia.[15][16]
Year | Award | Category | Recipient | Result | Ref. |
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2017 | 53rd Baeksang Arts Awards | Best New Actress | Nominated | [17] | |
Most Popular Actress | Won | ||||
Korean Film Shining Star Awards | Newcomer Award: Best New Actress | Won | [18] | ||
Best Director | Won | ||||
Fantasia International Film Festival | Action! Award | Confidential Assignment |
Won | [19] | |
22nd Busan International Film Festival | Marie Claire Asia Star Awards: Rising Star Award | Won | |||
1st The Seoul Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Won | [20][21][22] | ||
Most Popular Actress | Won | ||||
Best New Actress | Nominated | ||||
54th Grand Bell Awards | Nominated | [23] | |||
38th Blue Dragon Film Awards | Nominated | [24] | |||
Best Film Editing | Confidential Assignment |
Nominated | |||
1st Marianas International Film Festival in Saipan | Best Popular Asian Actress | Won | [25] | ||
6th Korea Top Star Awards | Popular Star Award | Won | [26] | ||
2018 | 12th Asian Film Awards | Best Newcomer | Nominated | [27] | |
AFA Next Generation Award | Won | [28] | |||
13th University Film Festival of Korea | Best Actress Award | Won | [29] | ||
Confidential Assignment 2: International, a sequel was announced on August 24, 2020.[30][31] Filming started on February 18, 2021[32][33] and was released on September 7, 2022.