Narco-Saints review: Netflix’s newest Korean thriller is a derivative downer

Having grown up in poverty and with little chance of transcending his station in society, Kang is lured into a get-rich-quick scheme by his old school buddy. The two travel to the former Dutch colony of Suriname, where they plan on purchasing discarded seafood and selling it to hungry Koreans for an inflated price. But a business like this can’t grow without a hitch. Soon, Kang and his friend are cornered by corrupt cops salivating for bribes and local gangsters concerned about a turf-infiltration.

The more street-smart Kang has it all covered, though; he butters up the local law enforcement chief with packs of special Korean coffee in addition to thick wads of cash. But he can’t fend off the Chinese gangster who warns him to stay out of his territory. For help, Kang and his friend turn to a Korean pastor, who presides over a rather large congregation in Paramaribo. Pastor Jeon (played by Hwang Jung-min, the star of Ode to My Father, which inspired Salman Khan’s Bharat) neutralises the Chinese threat, apparently by threatening them with the wrath of God. For a while, it seems like Kang’s plan will work after all.

But things soon go south, when Kang’s shipment of seafood is found to be laced with cocaine that neither Kang nor his buddy know anything about. Arrested on rather serious charges, Kang is hit with a bombshell revelation by an intelligence agent played by Squid Games’ Park Hae-soo — Pastor Jeon isn’t a pastor at all; he is, in fact, a drug lord. Agent Choi tells Kang that he can have his charges dropped if Kang agrees to become a mole for the cops, and lure the pastor into a trap.

Two ideologically opposed men finding common ground is familiar territory for writer-director Yoon Jong-bin, the man behind modern Korean masterpieces such as Nameless Gangster (which was marketed as the kind of film that would make Martin Scorsese proud) and The Spy Gone North (which remains my favourite espionage movie of the last decade). But as tantalising as the thought of director Yoon returning to home ground is, Narco-Saints is far too derivative and plot-driven to be truly engaging.

By focusing almost exclusively on the twists and turns of the story, Yoon neglects to flesh out either Kang or Pastor Jeon’s characters, and their unusual relationship. So, instead of writing scenes in which the two wrestle with conflicting emotions about the mess they’ve gotten into, the show would rather hurl its characters from one sticky situation to the next. Moments of introspection are what helped both Nameless Gangster and The Spy Gone North transcend the limitations of their genre. Narco-Saints, instead, leans into gangster movie tropes with more enthusiasm than is necessary.

Even at six episodes long, the show feels draining. And this is mostly because of Yoon’s relentless pacing. Besides the first episode—most of which is spent on Kang’s backstory—Narco-Saints barely ever pauses for breath. Heated conversations make way for gritty street-side shootouts as the walls close in on Kang and the cops. The performances of the cast are typically (for a Korean thriller such as this) over-the-top, although an extended scenery-chewing cameo by the Chang Chen feels more tonally aligned with the vibe of the show than I’d expected.

There’s a lot happening here, often at the same time, even though the show actively sidelines narratives that would’ve made the whole thing more meaningful. Kang’s wife, for instance, is essentially forgotten after he abandons her and their two children in the opening episode. Narco-Saints never examines the aftermath of this manipulative behaviour — in addition to leaving her high and dry, we are shown that Kang basically conned her into marrying him. Nor does the show, for all its enthusiasm to quote scripture, have anything meaningful to say about greed. Narco-Saints might be director Yoon’s most massive project yet, but it might also be his weakest.

Narco-Saints
Director – Yoon Jong-bin
Cast – Ha Jung-woo, Hwang Jung-min, Park Hae-soo, Jo Woo-jin, Yoo Yeon-seok, Chang Chen
Rating – 2.5/5