There are a few Korean actors who I'll see in anything: Song Kang-ho, Choi Min-sik, and Choi Eun-hie. Add Ma Don-seok to this short list. The hunky actor memorably came to my attention in the peerless zombie thriller Train to Busan in which he played one adorable, indestructible husband whose battles with the undead remain a highlight of the film. Since then I've seen him in Ashfall, Unstoppable, and Along with the Gods: The Last 49 Days and this guy always delivers. Impossibly charismatic and appealingly rough, he's a true seducer who manages to balance danger and deliciousness in a marquee-worthy way.
Those two contrasting qualities play out in a strange way in Lee Seong-tae's savage crime pic Derailed since his character here is an uneasy mix of the likeable and the despicable. On the good side, he's a doting father, a flirtatious husband, a righteous fighter who recognizes integrity; on the bad, he's a pimp, a swindler, a bully, and a dumbkoff. Do you root for him when he's pitted against a young car thief (Choi Min-ho) trying to rescue his runaway girlfriend (Jung Da-eun) from "the life" and a recently released, psycho ex-con (Kim Jae-young) who has some justifiable grudges? I couldn't decide. Derailed is one of those movies in which no one looks like a potential friend. Ever. It's also a very violent film where people are punched, pummeled, kicked, and baseball-batted only to recover impossibly quickly. There's blood and bruises aplenty but no swelling. Perhaps there are myriad ice-packs off-screen?
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