Isn’t online shopping the best? Thanks to apps and digital marketplaces, it has become increasingly easy for anyone to buy or sell anything via the internet.
Purchasing things online, however, comes with potential risks and dangers. And in the new Korean thriller “Target”, one woman ends up learning this the hard way.
Written and directed by Park Hee-kon (“Perfect Game”, “Insadong Scandal”), “Target” is a suspenseful rollercoaster ride that mostly entertains despite not quite sticking its landing.
Titled “Don’t Buy the Seller” in Korea, the film is about Soo-Hyun (Shin Hae-sun), a dedicated if somewhat flighty employee at a construction company. She lives a mostly peaceful existence – until she decides to buy a secondhand washing machine online.
The machine is discovered to be faulty, and an enraged Soo-Hyun vows to expose the seller as a scammer. Unfortunately, the scammer decides to strike back – and thanks to their online transactions, he has many of Soo Hyun’s personal details.
Shortly thereafter, Soo-Hyun finds herself stalked and harassed, and it’s only the beginning: it becomes clear the scammer has darker things planned. As it turns out, the “e” in “e-commerce” just might stand for “evil”!
So, what works here? The movie’s biggest strength lies in its relatability. Scams and stalkers are part of modern life, and we might even know someone who has suffered through such stressful situations.
Chillingly, many of the things the film’s villain inflicts upon Soo-Hyun are plausible. While some of its twists may seem far-fetched, interviews with director Park reveal that most of the plot was shaped by actual cybercrime cases.
Much of the action in “Target” is set in its protagonist’s small apartment, which cleverly taps on primal fears: when someone strikes at you in your home – your refuge and sanctuary – where can you go?
Indeed, some of the situations faced by Soo-Hyun are nerve-wracking and might stick in your mind long after the film is over. Watch out for her nightmarish encounter with a midnight visitor!
Performances, overall, are good. Kim Sung-kyun is solid as Joo, a dedicated cybercrime detective whose attempts to seek justice are constantly hampered by bureaucracy and procedural inefficiency.
But the anchor in “Target” is definitely Shin, who delivers a nuanced and memorable performance as the protagonist. Whether it’s comedically expressing her character’s eccentric habits, or breaking down in terror at the tense climax, she delivers, making Soo-Hyun an extremely empathetic character audiences will root for.
While “Target” is mostly well crafted, it does suffer from a few flaws: a subplot involving Soo-Hyun’s boss is strangely executed, and feels more jarring than interesting.
And while the first two thirds successfully build up a taut and tense mystery, things start to deflate by the ending.
The reveal of the villain’s identity is rather underwhelming, while the final showdown goes over the top: it feels like the climax of a generic slasher movie, not the atmospheric psychological thriller it was shaping up to be.
Law enforcement is also portrayed as oddly incompetent, making strange decisions that you KNOW will only lead to disaster. Frustratingly, it sometimes seems like the villain succeeds not because he or she is smart, but because everyone else is just stupid.
Overall, while “Target” doesn’t completely hit the bullseye, it still manages to be an engaging cautionary tale about the dangers of the information age. You might want to Google yourself after watching this: who knows how much of your personal info is out there, just waiting to be misused?
‘Target’ premieres in cinemas nationwide from Thursday.