Fridae

Korean drama Voice of a Murderer was a box-office hit in its home country, largely because it is based on a real-life 1991 kidnapping and murder of a TV celebrity's son, an event that gripped the nation.

Talented actor Sol Kyung-Gu plays an arrogant news anchor whose life is shattered when his son is kidnapped by crooks who demand $100,000 in ransom. He tries to obey all their instructions to save his son, but again and again, the potential handovers are aborted because of the bungling policemen.

This excruciating cat-and-mouse game drags on for 44 days before the boy's body is found dead by the sewers of the river.

Directed by Park Jin-Pyo, whose candid sex drama about old folks titled Too Young to Die shocked many, Voice of a Murderer is a passable movie whose consistent build-ups and false alarms in each potential handover becomes far too repetitive for its own good. Even its good acting and slick art direction can't overcome its structural flaws.