General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20266 min read

The Desperate Chase (필사의 추적)

The Desperate Chase (필사의 추격, Pilsaui Chukgyeok) is a 2024 South Korean comedy action film directed by Kim Jae-hoon, in which a master con artist, a hot-tempered detective, and a Taiwanese crime boss converge on Jeju Island and become entangled in a chase over a drug operation and local land deals.¹^•² It stars Park Sung-woong, Kwak Si-yang, and Yoon Kyung-ho, was released in South Korea on August 21, 2024, and runs 109 minutes with a 15-and-over rating.³ Some early Korean press used the spelling 필사의 추적 for the same title.⁴

Key fact	Detail
Director	Kim Jae-hoon; his second feature after the crime thriller Devils (2022)²
Release	August 21, 2024, South Korea; 109 minutes; rated 15³
Main cast	Park Sung-woong (Kim In-hae), Kwak Si-yang (Jo Soo-gwang), Yoon Kyung-ho (Joo Rin-pang), Jung Eugene, Park Hyo-ju³
Production	Contents G. and THE CONTENTS ON; distributed by THE CONTENTS ON; screenplay by Han Jang-hyuk³
Box office	121,335 admissions on 634 screens, grossing $766,509¹
Budget and break-even	About 6 billion won in production costs, with a break-even point of roughly 1 million admissions⁵
Streaming	Released on Netflix, where it reached No. 2 on the Korean Top 10 movie list within two days⁶

Spoilers

Premise and characters

The film follows three men who arrive on Jeju Island for different reasons. Kim In-hae (Park Sung-woong) is a con artist with seven prior convictions, known as "Big BBang" for outwitting police with flawless disguises, who targets the Heuksahoe crime organization as it tries to start a drug business on the island.⁷^•⁸ Jo Soo-gwang (Kwak Si-yang) is a detective with anger management issues who favors his fists over legal procedure; after breaking a suspect's arm and leg while arresting a group selling drugs to teenagers, he is transferred to the Jeju Provincial Police Agency as a disciplinary measure.⁷^•² Joo Rin-pang (Yoon Kyung-ho) is a ruthless boss of the Taiwanese Heuksahoe organization who comes to Jeju to take control of a large-scale narcotics operation.⁷

The plot's trigger is a conflict between the crime organization and merchants over a traditional market, the Uni Sangga in Jeju, which draws the three men's fates together.⁹ Netflix describes the setup as a fiery detective and a notorious conman joining forces to stop a ruthless crime boss from seizing control of a tranquil island.¹⁰

Production

Filming began on December 19, 2022 and finished on March 8, 2023.¹¹ The project was announced in December 2022 as a comic chase action film set on Jeju, centered on a planned medical complex called Gold Medi Valley, with Park Sung-woong and Kwak Si-yang in the leads and Yoon Kyung-ho as the villain.⁴^•¹² Park Sung-woong also participated in the screenplay work and had been involved with the production company THE CONTENTS ON from the development stage, after discussions that predated the COVID-19 pandemic.¹³^•¹⁴

Director Kim Jae-hoon, who had worked as an assistant director on 7급 공무원 (2007) and The Pirates (2014) before debuting with Devils (2022), spent a month living on Jeju to find locations, choosing Jongdal-ri in Gujwa-eup, the Sehwa Folk Five-Day Market, and Uigwi-ri in Seogwipo as backdrops.⁷ He said he wanted to convey the sentiment and even the air of Jeju villages to audiences.¹⁵ The film was made under a location support program of Jeju Special Self-Governing Province and the Jeju Film Industry Promotion Agency, which included a free screening for Jeju residents.¹⁶

Park Sung-woong's seven roles. Park plays the disguising con artist Kim In-hae across seven characters, ranging from an elderly grandfather to a haenyeo (Jeju female free-diver), a gem appraiser, and an overseas Korean businessman. The grandfather makeup took five hours for one hour of filming, and the haenyeo disguise was his first time playing a woman on screen.¹⁴^•¹⁷ During filming he tore a hamstring and continued shooting; he later joked that preview audiences who praised his limping performance were reacting to real pain.⁹

Release and box office

Before release the film ranked second in overall advance ticket sales, effectively first among general films behind Im Young-woong's concert documentary, and opened on August 21, 2024.¹⁸ It was also released in Taiwan on September 13, 2024 and in Vietnam on September 20, 2024.¹⁹

The theatrical run fell far short of its target. Against a production budget of about 6 billion won and a break-even point of about 1 million admissions, the film recorded 121,335 admissions on 634 screens with a gross of $766,509 according to the Korean Film Council database.¹^•⁵ KOFIC's 2024 industry report lists nationwide revenue of 1,055,865,807 won across 12,583 screenings.²⁰ One Korean article gives a final cumulative figure of about 1.32 million admissions, which conflicts with the KOFIC database total of about 121,000; the KOFIC figure is the official ticketing record.²¹^•¹ Commentators compared the result unfavorably with the same summer's Korean comedies, Handsome Guys (1.77 million admissions) and Pilot (nearly 4 million).⁵

Streaming reversal. After its theatrical run, the film was released on Netflix and within two days rose to No. 2 on the platform's "Today's Top 10 Movies in Korea" list, drawing renewed attention to a film that had drawn only about 120,000 theatergoers.⁶

Reception and themes

Early opening scores on Naver reached 7.55 out of 10 from ticket holders, and viewer comments praised Park Sung-woong's disguise scenes and the fresh Jeju setting, while criticism focused on loose story connections and uneven comedic beats.⁵ Cine21's expert ratings averaged 3.5 out of 5, with critics Park Pyung-shik and Lee Ja-yeon giving it 3 and 4 respectively.⁸ On IMDb the film holds a 5.6/10 rating.²²

The film was noted for using Jeju as more than scenery. Reviews highlighted its depiction of closed local networks that exclude outsiders, the reality of outside capital buying up Jeju land, and the drug trade as material, an approach some called fresh for a comedy.²¹^•⁵ Director Kim said at a press event that beneath the familiar cop-chases-criminal surface the film carries social commentary about outside influences on the island, while aiming to remain enjoyable for general audiences.² The film was invited to the Jeju T'mung Competition of the Jeju Film Festival in 2024.¹

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Action and adventure films (individual works) › Action comedies › Action comedies, 2020s

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

Notice something wrong?