Ji Chang-wook, the earnest romantic and the robust motion hero: Revisiting Suspicious Partner, Healer and K2; his greatest performances

With a sequence of extremely rated reveals to his credit, together with The K2, Healer and Suspicious Partner, it’s no shock why Ji Chang-wook is without doubt one of the well-liked stars in South Korea. Even if the present goes sluggish, drearily sluggish — as within the case of Lovestruck In The City — you’ll nonetheless one way or the other sit by it for him, due to the chemistry he manages to create along with his co-stars. Here he performed the earnest and romantic lover, solely to search out out that he had been unintentionally duped. This uncommon story wasn’t everybody’s cup of tea, but Chang-wook’s boyish attraction and winsomeness chemistry retains you hooked. He is aware of how to attract you into his anguish and heartbreak, from the sunken and swollen eyes, to the slumped shoulders.  You’ll forgive the issues, possibly just a bit.

One of his most delightfully twisted, but addictive reveals is Suspicious Partner, which starred Nam ji-hyun and Choi Tae-joon. He performs a disgraced prosecutor for he did the suitable factor and saved an harmless lady, Bong-hui (Nam ji-hyun), from a sentence of lifetime imprisonment. His love life can be down within the dumps as he found that his girlfriend cheated on him along with his greatest buddy. In the center of all this turbulence, he falls reluctantly for Bong-hui. Their weird antics are a pleasure to observe, as they navigate a minefield of a relationship and drive the present with heavy emotional moments interspersed with chaotically candy scenes.

(Photo: Netflix)

Usually a goofy romantic comedy in the midst of a serial killer thriller seems misplaced and jarring, however the star solid pulled it off with a lot aptitude and ease. Chang-wook portrays the numerous layers and nuances of Noh Ji-wook, a person who has had a traumatic previous, and later will get trapped within the anguish of distorting his personal reminiscences to absolve himself of guilt. It’s one in all his strongest performances as he embodies the function of a person who has misplaced sufficient in his life and is determined to not lose extra. After his colleague will get brutally stabbed by the killer, a damaged Ji-wook sobs on the operation theatre, after nearly breaking down the door. Yet his tears are changed by a peculiar stony expression as he decides to confront the killer on his personal, with a far-fetched plan. Ji-wook proves that he can change from totally different moods with out letting the story undergo.

(Photo: SBS)

But  Chang-wook doesn’t prohibit himself to only being a die-hard romantic in his reveals. He can pull these punches and roll with intense motion sequences.  In The K2 and Healer, Chang-wook performs comparable double brokers, entwined in political intrigue. In The K2, he’s a fugitive, who has simply escaped to South Korea and is the bodyguard of a seemingly sinister presidential candidate. In The Healer, he moonlights as a reporter whereas he’s really an ‘illegal courier’ with top-notch combating abilities, nearly near a superhero that features leaping from terrace to the opposite. Yet, he is aware of when to pack the emotional punch, and might tug on the heartstrings even when the OST within the background doesn’t match the scene in any respect.

It’s all the time enjoyable to observe a Ji Chang-wook sequence, since you by no means know what new deliciously relatable character he may deliver forth. He appears to have refused to be typecast as many K-drama male leads are. You desire a musical fantasy, combined with horror components and a serial killer thrown in? Sure, Ji Chang-wook will certainly oblige you.