''On the Line'' (; lit. ''Voice'') is a 2021 South Korean

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 Kim Gok and Kim Sun for Sufilm Co. Ltd. Starring

Byun Yo-han Byun Yo-han (born April 29, 1986) is a South Korean actor. He is best known for his roles in the television dramas '' Misaeng: Incomplete Life'' (2014), ''Six Flying Dragons'' (2015–2016), and '' Mr. Sunshine'' (2018). He has also appeared in ...

Kim Mu-yeol Kim Mu-yeol (born May 22, 1982) is a South Korean actor. Following a successful career in musical theatre, Kim was first cast in minor parts on film and television. But after getting good reviews in his supporting roles in '' The Scam'' (2009) an ...

Kim Hee-won Kim Hee-won (born January 10, 1971) is a South Korean actor. Since 2007, he has played supporting roles in films and television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which ...

and

Park Myung-hoon Park Myung-hoon ( ko, 박명훈; born May 28, 1975), is a South Korean actor. He made his acting debut as a stage actor in the 1999 play ''Class''. He is best known internationally for his role as Geun-sae in the Academy Award winning film ''Para ...

, the film revolves around Seo-joon, a victim of

voice phishing Voice phishing, or vishing, is the use of telephony (often Voice over IP telephony) to conduct phishing attacks. Landline telephone services have traditionally been trustworthy; terminated in physical locations known to the telephone company, and ...

, who penetrates the perpetrators' organization in China to recover the money. It was theatrically released on September 15, 2021, coinciding with

Chuseok ''Chuseok'' (; , literally "autumn evening"), also known as ''Hangawi'' (Hangul: ; ; from archaic Korean for "the great middle (of autumn)"), is a major mid-autumn harvest festival and a three-day holiday in South Korea celebrated on the 15th ...

holidays. , it is the fourth highest-grossing Korean film of 2021, with gross of US$11.87 million and 1.42 million cumulative admissions.

Synopsis

Voice phishing Voice phishing, or vishing, is the use of telephony (often Voice over IP telephony) to conduct phishing attacks. Landline telephone services have traditionally been trustworthy; terminated in physical locations known to the telephone company, and ...

is the use of telephony (often voice over IP telephony) to conduct

phishing Phishing is a type of social engineering where an attacker sends a fraudulent (e.g., spoofed, fake, or otherwise deceptive) message designed to trick a person into revealing sensitive information to the attacker or to deploy malicious softwar ...

attacks. A former detective Seo-joon (

), now head of the field operations team at Busan construction site, along with his family and colleagues are victim of voice phishing. He tracks down the organisation and penetrates the call center in China. Surprised by the systemic approach and scale of voice phishing, he meets Pro Kwak (

), the head of the planning. He knew that he has a herculean task ahead of him to recover the scammed money.

Cast

as Seo Joon, voice phishing victim *

as Pro Kwak, voice phishing designer *

as Lee Kyu-ho, the team leader of the intelligent crime investigation team set up to eradicate the 'voice phishing' crime *

as Director Cheon at the call center, the home of voice phishing *

Choi Byung-mo Choi Byung-mo (born January 14, 1972) is a South Korean actor. Personal life On June 19, 2017, Choi got married with popera singer Kiriel Lee Gyu-in (birth name Lee Gyu-in) after one year and a half of dating, the wedding ceremony was held at a ...

Chief Park * Lee Joo-young as Kkang Chil, hacker *

Won Jin-ah Won Jin-ah (born March 29, 1991) is a South Korean actress known for her roles in ''Rain or Shine (TV series), Rain or Shine'' (2017) and ''Life (2018 TV series), Life'' (2018). She earned a Baeksang Arts Awards, Baeksang Arts Award nomination f ...

as Mi Yeon, Seo Joon's wife * Yoon Byung-hee

Production

On November 27, 2019

's agency Saram Entertainment confirmed his casting in the film.

joined the cast in December 2019. In May 2020, the film was wrapped up and work on post production began.

Release

The film was theatrically released on September 15, 2021, coinciding with

holidays. It clashed with '' The Miracle'', which was also released on the same day.

Reception

Box office

The film was released on September 15, 2021 on 1296 screens. As per Korean Film Council (Kofic) integrated computer network, the film ranks first on the Korean box office for consecutive 2 weeks. It also surpassed 1 million cumulative audience on 15th day of its release. it is at 4th place among all the Korean films released in the year 2021, with gross of US$11.87 million and 1.42 million admissions.

Critical response

SPOTV SPOTV is a South Korean pay television network, which features sports programming and some sports-related talk shows. Founded in 2010, the network is the fourth non-'free-to-air' broadcaster in South Korea alongside KBS N Sports, MBC Sports+ a ...

News reporter Kim Hyun-rok, reviewing the film opined that ''Voice'', a real crime action has been shown from perspective of both, the victims and the criminals. She said, "

he film He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

takes the world of voice phishing as one axis, and the pleasure of destroying it on one axis. It added cinematic fun to the taste of looking into the world of crime that I thought I knew but didn't know." She praised the action sequences of the film and actor Byun Yo-han, who as a former police officer and a victim "is in charge of 'real action' nddedicated action was added to the emotions that were pressed tightly." Kim also appreciated the "realistic map of voice phishing and capitalism", she concluded, "it he voice phishing call centre home base and processis drawn as if it can be grasped by hand, and the level of immersion is considerable." Jeong Hwa of ''Star News'' reviewing the film opined that the film is educative and informative. It has "a didactic character." Jeong concluded, "''Voice'' is an infotainment movie that is faithful to the two purposes of lessons and vicarious satisfaction. What you suffer knowingly is because you dig into your hopes and fears."

References

External links

* * * * {{Naver title, 190320 CJ Entertainment films 2020s Korean-language films Films postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic 2021 films South Korean action thriller films South Korean crime action films South Korean crime thriller films South Korean police films 2021 crime thriller films South Korean films about revenge Films about fraud Films set in Busan Films set in Seoul Films set in Shenyang Films set in Manila