Recently, Jung Hae In has been a trending star on the Korean screen. Most recently, he topped the list of TV actors in September with a brand reputation index of 3,843,986 thanks to the drama "Mother's Friend's Son".
However, contrary to this achievement, the actor's work has been embroiled in a series of unfortunate controversies. In the most recent development, the character Choi Seung Hyo played by him was criticized in the scene where he followed the female lead Bae Seok Ryu (Jung So Min) in a dark alley but did not speak up.
Fearing that someone was following her, Seok Ryu panicked and ran away. Only when she reached a dead end did she turn around and realize that the person following her was Seung Hyo. But, instead of calming her fear and apologizing to her best friend, he told her to be quiet because they were in a residential area. He even blamed her, asking why she had to run and only looked forward without looking back to check.
The male lead's behavior made viewers angry. They said that for men, this was just a normal scene, but for women, the fear was real. Especially when news about women being attacked, even murdered, was constantly being published.
Along with that, Seok Ryu's relapse of stomach cancer right before he wanted to confirm his relationship with Seung Hyo was also criticized as old-fashioned, outdated and not suitable for a romantic comedy. This is also the reason why the movie "My Mother's Friend's Son" recorded an average viewership of 3.9% and 6.4% for the last 2 episodes.
This figure shows that Jung Hae In's reputation or even his dating rumors with his co-star cannot save the film. This makes some audiences worried about the revenue of the film "I, the Executioner" - the new action comedy of the male star and Hwang Jung Min.
However, with the success of the first part of the movie “Veteran” (Where Can You Run) in 2015 with a large fan base (13.41 million views) and the fact that this year’s Mid-Autumn Festival (taking place on September 17) did not have many big-budget movies shown in Korea, the movie “I bet you can’t handcuff me” quickly won the box office.
According to KOBIS (Korean Box Office Statistics Unit), upon its release on September 13, the film recorded 516,054 tickets sold. As of the afternoon of September 14 (after more than 1 day of screening), the film surpassed the 1 million ticket mark, faster than the 1 million ticket mark (in 3 days) of “Veteran”.
Previously, the film recorded 497,000 pre-orders. According to Kyung Hyang, if it maintains its good form, the film will soon reach 10 million tickets.
Meanwhile, Korea Herald highly appreciated the film when it focused on the issue of justice: "Is it right for someone to kill a criminal, when the public is influenced by YouTube users and does not trust law enforcement?".
Along with that, Jung Hae In's acting is also a highlight. He takes on the role of Park Sun Woo - a passionate rookie police officer with somewhat distorted thinking. The actor revealed that he had to do a lot of research because he could not fully grasp the character's distorted personality.
“I focused on portraying Sun Woo, who is imprisoned by her beliefs and value system. Not only was filming physically tiring due to the action scenes, but there were also some psychologically challenging moments because I had to understand why Sun Woo was the way she was and why she did what she did.
But my solution was to act without having to find a clear answer. There were no clues in the script, so I imagined the life Sun Woo might have lived. But then the director said, I don't need to improvise such stories to play Sun Woo. So I can focus on acting more simply."
After being shown in Korea, the movie "I bet you can handcuff me" will also be released in Vietnamese theaters on September 27.
