The Man Standing Next

This gripping period potboiler tells the shocking story of the events leading up to the assassination of South Korea's president in 1979. A high-profile defection, government in-fighting and an increasingly restless populace all set the stage for reserved intelligence director Kim Kyu-pyeong (Lee Byung-hun) to gun down President Park (Lee Sung-min) in cold blood. Director Woo Min-ho presents the political complexities with impressive clarity, creating a terse atmosphere that occasionally bursts into action - a prolonged chase sequence around the mid-point is particularly involving. Lee Byung-hun is fantastic as the conflicted, impossibly cagey director Kim, smartly drawing out the nuances of a figure whose reputation remains under debate. The real Kim has been considered both a democratic patriot and a self-serving traitor, and Lee's performance, along with Woo and Lee Ji-min's screenplay, conveys this with admirable subtlety. A slightly protracted and dramatically mishandled climax rather undercuts the careful build-up, but, overall, the film's involving period detail and simmering intrigue allow it to stand alongside those classic American political thrillers of the 1970s.