Dear Watchers,A few of this summer’s biggest movies (“The Odyssey,” “Backrooms”) have been quite serious, so we’re going to lighten things up on this Genre Movie Wednesday, with a buddy action comedy featuring kidnapping wives and goofy husbands. Our action expert Robert Daniels thinks the movie is a blast. We hope you will, too. Also recommended this week: a period Japanese picture about a female assassin. The movie may be set in the 1920s, but its action choreography feels very up-to-date. And it’s fun to watch an assassin kick butt in lace and pearls. Read below what Robert has to say about each of these films, then check out more of his selections here. Happy Watching. ‘Husbands in Action’
Where to watch: Stream “Husbands in Action” on Netflix. Park Gyu-tae’s “Husbands in Action” is an ingenious action comedy that lovingly pokes fun at the genre’s clichés. The film begins with the arrest of Do-jun (Kim Ji-suk) by the narcotics detective Choong-sik (Jin Seon-kyu) for selling high-tech synthetic drugs. In retaliation, Do-jun’s wife (Lee Da-hee) kidnaps Choong-sik’s ex-wife, Si-nae (Kang Han-na), and their only daughter (Oh Eun-seo) to demand that Choong-sik free Do-jun. To save them, Choong-sik teams with Si-nae’s new dweeby veterinarian husband, Min-seok (Gong Myung). “Husbands in Action” initially leans into the stereotypically masculine rivalry between Choong-sik and Do-jun, but then it undermines those conventions with unexpected comic flourishes, like a patently circuslike score during a car chase. Park also adds the tattooed Yong-gang (Yoon Kyung-ho), recently released from prison, who takes aim at Do-jun for occupying his territory. But Yong-gang’s bumbling old-school gangster ways further prove the film’s point: Hyper-masculinity is absurd. ‘Revolver Lily’
Where to watch: Stream “Revolver Lily” on Amazon Prime Video. Set in Japan in 1924, Isao Yukisada’s “Revolver Lily” is a stylish period piece about Yuri Ozone (Haruka Ayase), a female assassin who comes out of retirement to protect Shinta (Jinsei Hamura), the only son of her former boss, who was killed by army officials in search of his embezzled money. Now, it’s up to Yuri and her gang to protect Shinta from a greedy army and navy and from the vicious killer Minamishi (Hiroya Shimizu). Yukisada’s film is filled with smartly composed shootouts, including one at Lily’s hide-out between herself and two dozen army officials. Another, toward the film’s end, stands out: Navigating through a dense fog, Yuri manipulates her pursuers into killing each other with friendly fire. Ayase’s gunplay in this moment is smooth and elegant, and her cunning expressions keep viewers captivated and guessing.
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