Brave Citizen Korean Movie: Recap & Review

I’m probably the biggest Shin Hae Sun stan in all of history, so it was a no-brainer that I would check out her last project of 2023, Brave Citizen – a Korean movie about a teacher who goes incognito to punish a wicked, relentless, unrepentant bully.

Before we get into this, remember that everything here is mainly my feelings about the movie & I’m literally not being paid for these reviews.

Let’s get into it!

Recap

Starring Shin Hae Sun as Teacher So Si Min and Lee Jun Young as Han Su Kang, this movie is all about one part time teacher’s attempt to bring down a nasty bully.

Every actor in this Korean movie played their parts so well (as expected from a drama with lots of veteran actors), but one other person who stood out was Cha Chung Hwa – Yes, THE Cha Chung Hwa!

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I love the chemistry between our dearest aunty and Hae Sun and everyone seems to love them together as well, because if I’m correct, this is probably their third joint project – One is Mr Queen and the other is 2023 Kdrama, See You In My 19th Life.

And, just as an aside, if you watch the movie or you’re reading this review, you might recognise our male lead — His face was so familiar and it kept nagging at my brain until I remembered that he was the male lead in the 2022 Korean movie Love and Leashes – clearly, he has AMAZING range!

While he was all rainbows in Love and Leashes, he took on a completely different role in Brave Citizen and I 100% forgive myself for forgetting where I had seen him earlier.

There have been lots of dramas in the past decade about bullying in South Korea and while I bite my tongue when it comes to saying anything even remotely political, I dearly hope this isn’t the reality in the country.

So, as I said earlier, Brave Citizen follows So Si Min who gets taken in as a temp at this super massive school.

She’s out of a job and in massive debt because of her dad, so she desperately wants a permanent spot in the school.

Ironically, the school is lauded as a bullying-free institution, but it turns out everyone turns a blind eye (parents, teachers, and students) while Han Su Kang mercilessly tortures both students and teachers.

In fact, Jae Kyung (played by Cha Chung Hwa) pretty much tells Si Min that she should turn the other way when she sees this happening – If I’m being honest, I hated her a little at this point, but we later learn that she had also tried to help but failed.

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Anyway, Si Min does interfere and she’s brutally humiliated (and the bullying of the student she wanted to protect intensifies), so what does a girl do when this happens? She wears a mask and goes into the street.

Shin Hye Sun was literally so stunning as the masked hero who appears at the oddest places to beat Su Kang up until he’s bloody, and needless to say, this pisses him off to no end.

A lot of things happen and then there’s this epic showdown in a boxing ring where Si Min hands Su Kang his ass and makes him apologize to the victim – in the epilogue, he’s arrested and Si Min goes to another school to deal with the bullies there.

Review

In case you can’t tell, I absolutely loved this Korean movie and I would totally recommend it to anyone who wants to watch a movie about revenge that’s served chilled.

And one thing that stands out (and I’m sorry it does) was the chemistry between the leads and I know I’m not supposed to be looking at that, but wow — I NEED a noona romance starring both of them ASAP.

Also, I feel the storyline was tight, if a bit short, and super, super easy to follow.

My problem with Korean movies is that they always manage to bang, but since they have a duration of less than three hours, it feels sort of undeveloped.

For example, we would get clues here and there that ultimately wouldn’t be completed – like the mixup about one of her students who’s also a boxer and I sort of expected that he would take the fall for her actions while in the mask.

Either way, I still think this movie was so awesome and I think anyone who likessssss revenge and an underdog who decides to stop taking shit is going to totally love it!