''Thunderbird'' () is a 2022

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

crime action Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

film directed by Lee Jae-won, starring

Seo Hyun-woo Seo Hyun-woo (born 20 November 1983) is a South Korean actor. He is well known for his role as reporter Kim Moo-jin in 2020 drama ''Flower of Evil (South Korean TV series), Flower of Evil''. Filmography Film Television series Web se ...

, Lee Myeong-ro, and Lee Seol. It had its world premiere at the 24th

Far East Film Festival Far East Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Udine, Italy. It is one of the most important events promoting Asian Cinema in Europe. It focuses mainly on the films from East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which ...

on April 27, 2022 and was released theatrically on September 21, 2022 in South Korea.

Synopsis

Tae-min calls his elder brother Tae-gyun, a taxi driver asking for help. He wants him to get his car 'Thunderbird' back, which was pawned alongwith lot of money that he won from gambling. Now Tae-gyun urgently needs money, Tae-min, a gambling addict is deep in a debt, and Mi-young, Tae-min's girlfriend, a former casino dealer, all go out to get the car back. But nothing goes according to their plan. Towards the end of the night, Tae-gyun decides to ditch them and get the money all alone.

Cast

as Tae-gyun * Lee Seol as Mi-young * Lee Myeong-ro as Tae-min * Park Seung-tae as Ok-sun * Kim Gyu-baek as Jun-mo * Choi Euna as In-suk * Ahn Il-kwon as Ki-chul

Release

It had its world premiere at the 24th

on April 27, 2022. It was also selected at

26th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival The 26th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (), an international film festival held in Bucheon, South Korea, began on 7 July 2022 with the slogan 'Stay Strange'. A non-competitive international film festival with a competitive sectio ...

in 'Korean Fantastic: Features', where it won two awards. It was released theatrically in South Korea on September 21, 2022.

Reception

Pierce Conran reviewing the film for Udine Film Festival in ScreenAnarchy appreciated the performance of

writing, "Seo delivers another strong, edgy and vulnerable performance as Tae-gyun." Conran also praised the deft handling of director Lee, stating, "Lee kept his finger on the pulse of the story, his careful consideration of lighting, and particular attention to the film's soundscape cranked up the tension at all the rights moments." Concluding Conran opined, "''Thunderbird'' is another promising graduation project from KAFA and with any luck director Lee will be afforded a chance in the commercial arena soon." Panos Kotzathanasis writing in HanCinema praised the performances of cast writing, "movie, benefiting the most by the excellent acting of Lee Myeong-ro as Tae-min, Lee Seol as Mi-young, Park Seung-tae as the catalytic pawn-shop owner, but most of all, Seo Hyun-woo as Tae-gyun". Concluding the review Kotzathanasis wrote, "''Thunderbird'' is a very interesting film, particularly rewarding simply because it manages to stray away from the norms of the crime thriller and for

's acting."

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * * {{Daum movie, 161329
Thunderbird
at BIFAN 2022 films 2020s Korean-language films South Korean crime action films