OICH!! Lee Dae-ro Can't Die! (2005)

Today I went to another friend's house. While I didn't choose any of his movies yesterday, I didn't really have a choice today. Of his selection I narrowed it down to City of Violence or Lee Dae-ro Can't Die! My friend had already seen them both, and when he gave me a brief description of the film he lovingly refers to as "OICH" it seemed to stand out just a little bit more. Also, the fact that nothing depicted in the box-art ever happens (there aren't even any missiles in the film) seemed funny to me. Interesting factoid, the lead actor in "OICH" is also the main villain in City of Violence! More of my impressions on this hard to find Korean cop comedy after the jump!


Lee Dae-ro, played by Beom-su Lee, is one of the laziest cops on the force. He skips out on his duties, he lets bad guys get away because it would be too much work, and he's generally just a bum. The one thing he's great at though, is taking care of his sweet daughter Hyun-ji, which he does as a single parent. The only bad part is that he often makes up stories about her being very ill as a way to get out of work. His best friend is always under the impression that's Hyun-ji is always sickly.

As it turns out though, karma bites back and he learns he has a brain tumor and only 3-4 months left to live. The only way he can think of making sure his daughter has enough money to live off of, is to get life insurance, and make sure he dies in the line of duty before the cancer takes him out. Too bad he's even terrible when it comes to dying, because everything he does not only fails to kill him, but he also keeps saving the day in some awesome way. Now the laziest cop on the force is the force's #1 super-cop!

I'm not sure why, but I just really liked the idea of this hopeless lazy cop becoming the best detective they have because of funny mishaps while trying to... well... kill himself. It's not really a funny thing on paper, but he does things like stand and shoot at the bad guys, hoping to get shot so his daughter can get the money. Ultimately he just always ends up looking super brave. Another scene he comes across a local area crime boss who is known to be amazing with a knife. Lee Dae-ro threatens him and stands right up to him, and even pulls his gun on the guy so he'll throw the knife at him. Only problem is that when he does, the butt of the knife hits him in the forehead instead of the blade.

Lucky or Unlucky? You decide.

There are some fun action scenes with car chases and police raids, but there are several other sides to the movie all going on at the same time. There are a number of scenes with the daughter, who is just as cute as a button, and she can be funny too in the way she acts. The little girl gives some good glares, that's for sure! Then there's also the plot of trying to find and reconnect with her mother after he chased her off like the fool that he is. On top of all that we were treated to an interesting crime story, trying to find the head boss of the drug ring. Luckily, they have Lee Dae-ro on their side!

Not all the characters play really well, some of the other police officers are interesting surface characters, but they have absolutely zero depth, and we never find out anything about them. Others have a bit more to them, but are basically just side-kicks to the super-cop, even though he's completely fails at everything he's really trying to do. On the plus side, I ended up really liking all the main characters like the daughter and her mom, and of course Beom-su Lee's version of a hero.

Lee Dae-ro has a rough first encounter with Hyun-ji's mother after 8 years

I'm finding it difficult to explain how I feel about this movie. It's not a perfect movie, but it is good. It's not the most memorable, but I believe it's one of those movies I could watch again and again and still enjoy. Beom-su Lee makes this great mix of good guy and bad guy all in one. At the start he's a total sleaze, but by the end he's pretty much a hero. All the while, you just want what's best for the little girl, and you share that feeling with the Lee Dae-ro even when you hate him. While the story seems like it would be pretty dark, it's actually really lighthearted and I frequently found it funny. He just dodges any and all sense of responsibility, like paying off his daughter's teacher with a bribe! I just thought it was all pretty funny. If you like foreign films, Korean films in particular, I'd suggest this one as a decent watch.

And it's true, there were never any missiles or anything of the sort in the movie. Why did they even make the cover like that? Whatever the reason, it makes me smile.