Directed by: Park Jung-bae (박정배) Starring: Lee Je-hoon (이제훈), Jo Woo-jin (조우진), Shin Hye-sun (신혜선), Lim Won-hee (임원희), Park Se-wan (박세완), Song Young-chang (송영창) Release Date: November 4th, 2020
Collectors is a new South Korean heist caper film that pays homage to tomb raiding and bank robbing classics like Indian Jones and Ocean’s 11, but brings its own unique look to the genre by placing real Korean heritage sites including ancient shrines and tombs at the center of its heists. Collectors looks and sounds the part as it aims to win audiences over with its colorful ensemble cast and exciting locations. But unlike 2012’s The Thieves, the eclectic characters in Collectors feel too confined to its very calculated script and fail to realize much life beyond the page.
The grave robbing phenom Dong-gu (Lee Je-hoon), who can pinpoint a treasure’s location just by tasting the soil, sends waves through underground antique and rare artifact trading circles after acquiring a rare golden buddha statue. He soon finds himself on the radar of a rich conglomerate head amassing a private collection of rare artifacts and other national treasures often acquired though black market dealings. Dong-gu is approached by his associate, an elite curator in the antique art world (Shin Hye-sun), who offers him and a team of his choosing a fortune to pull of the high-risk theft of one of Korea’s national treasures buried within an ancient tomb in the heart of Seoul. Now, Dong-gu must put together an all-star crew of robbers including the self-proclaimed Indiana Jones of Korea (Jo Woo-jin) and the dig master of the shoveling arts (Lim Won-hee) to pull of the heist of a lifetime.
From exploring the pyramids and underground tombs in the deserts of ancient Egypt through films like The Mummy (1999), to hacking through dense jungles in search of lost cities through films like Congo (1995) or Indiana Jones (1981-2008), tomb raiding and other hunts for ancient relics have always made for great adventure films. Ever since visiting Japan and learning of the mysterious megalithic burial grounds of ancient emperors and other royals called Kofun, I’ve longed for a tomb raiding adventure in Asia. Korea answered my film prayers by centering Collectors around such a topic with its own form of ancient burial mounds. Using these real national heritage sites, Collectors successfully creates a new kind of tomb raiding adventure.
Collectors does a great job bringing together an eclectic crew of robbers that make the heist a lot of fun. As in an Ocean’s 11 (2001), each crew member has their own distinct personality and set of skills that they bring to the team. Lee Je-hoon (Time to Hunt, Bleak Night) anchors the gang as Dong-gil, the young grave-robbing prodigy. Lee’s return to the big screen sees him in a much more jovial role than that of recent in which fans of his softer side should appreciate. Jo Woo-jin (Rampant) as the self-proclaimed Indian Jones of Korea and Lim Won-hee (The Quiz Show Scandal) as the master digging ex-con are also quite enjoyable additions to the team.
But Collectors disappoints in how it rounds out the rest of its crew especially in regards to the females onboard. Shin Hye-sun (Innocence) as the leading actress is a big draw for the film, but she finds herself confined to a very boring and mundane role as the elite art curator of ancient artifacts. The job title is cool, but she’s stuck playing a somewhat duplicitous personal assistant to the wealthy business executive and private collector Sang-gil (Song Young-chan). So instead of having her participate in any meaningful way in regards to the fun tomb raiding and adventure side of Collectors, her role is relegated to more of a showpiece and a tool for adding contrived complications to the narrative.
Also a let down, the energetic and cheerful Park Se-wan (No Mercy) as Dong-gil’s (perhaps?) younger sister Hye-ri, who demonstrates similar levels of genius with her quick wit and perfect drone flying skills, is largely sidelined while the men take care of the dirty work. Besides being the team cheerleader, her character only contributes ever so slightly and from afar. Collectors would have benefited hugely by amplifying these two actresses roles.
Unlike other treasure hunting and heist films that span the globe or feature exotic location photography, Collectors takes only one small trip abroad to a rural Chinese area (former Goguryeo?) for some treasure extraction. While a real burial mound surrounded by the concrete jungle of modern day Seoul is a great location for a heist, and there are a few scenes aboard a large yacht in photogenic harbors, much of the film’s runtime time is spent in confined spaces like karaoke bars and antique shops, not to mention all the underground digging that takes place. So perhaps due to COVID-19 related production restrictions, the overall spectacle in Collectors feels very small in scale.
Overall, Collectors makes for good general entertainment that will most likely be enjoyed by younger audiences and those who love crime capers. There’s a lot of lingering potential within the cast too if they end up returning for a hinted-at future installment. But as a standalone movie, Collectors warms up the engines nicely for an exciting adventure, but never manages to go anywhere memorable.
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