Agent Kim Reactivated

„Agent Kim Reactivated“ is a Korean action/revenge series consisting of ten episodes. It was produced by the enormously prolific Studio S, most recently responsible, among other things, for such hits as „Connection“, „Judge from Hell“, „As You Stood By“ and „Beyond the Bar“, together with Fantagio. As is increasingly common these days, the series is based on a webtoon, „Manager Kim“ („Kim bujang“) by Jeong Jong-taek and Namjaui Yiyagi. Unfortunately, the English title does not retain the original title but instead gives away the central twist of the story: „Agent Kim Reactivated“. In Korea, the series, which has only just finished airing on SBS, was highly successful. This is hardly surprising given the illustrious cast and the fact that the country’s perennial hot-button issue, its confrontation with its northern neighbor, occupies a great deal of space and is, well, dealt with more or less subtly.

Perhaps the producers’ most successful move was to squeeze the extensive storyline into just ten episodes. Many Korean series, especially those with considerably less action, still make the mistake of stretching a relatively thin story over sixteen episodes. Apart from the rather silly bonus feature tacked onto the end of episode ten, the running time here feels just about right, even though there are, naturally, a few detours and ellipses that could have been trimmed. But overall, „Agent Kim Reactivated“ is like an extraordinarily lavish cinematic buffet, with its ten hours packed full of action, drama and a surprising amount of humor, which occasionally provides a counterpoint to the otherwise grim proceedings.

„Manager Kim“ is initially exactly that: an exceedingly ordinary bank employee without a single remarkable characteristic. His boss treats him badly, and his female colleague Sang-a also treats him more like a subordinate. Kim lives alone with his teenage daughter Min-ji; her mother died giving birth to her. Min-ji has a hard time at school, where the upper-class girls torment her mercilessly, led by Hye-ri, the spoiled daughter of construction tycoon Ju Gang-chan. But Min-ji seems to be made of rather different stuff than her father, because one day she fights back in spectacular fashion — an act that will have far-reaching consequences. The parents of both girls are summoned to the school, and Manager Kim has no choice but to apologize to the wealthy man, even going so far as to kneel before him. Min-ji is utterly disappointed in her father and tells him so.

What she does not know — and neither do we, at first — is that the seemingly meek Mr. Kim (as the title suggests) is actually a formidable fighting machine, a top agent and professional killer who was trained from a young age in his native North Korea. After a botched assassination attempt in the South, during which his best friend is killed, he is recruited by the Republic of Korea. Exactly where his loyalties lie is one of the central questions of the series, explored through extensive flashbacks and constantly shifting perspectives. When he decides to leave the intelligence business, something that proves predictably difficult, he is made to promise that he will remain completely „civilian“. Two minders, of whose existence he knows nothing, are assigned to keep an eye on him, while there are quite a few people within the various military and intelligence agencies who do not trust him and would happily see him eliminated.

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When his daughter is kidnapped by friends of Hye-ri, Kim’s quiet existence ends abruptly, because this is something he simply will not let go. He transforms back into the top agent he once was — with a vengeance. For it is not only the military and various intelligence agencies that are after him, but also the construction tycoon, his vicious henchmen and quite a few others. Fortunately for Kim — and for the viewers — he has two extremely capable friends with similar backgrounds: Taekwondo champion Seong Han-soo and the completely unhinged former Marine and weapons specialist Park Jin-cheol, who goes around in uniform all the time and makes no secret whatsoever of his appetite for combat. He is something like Don Lee in permanent action mode. The three of them call themselves „old men with glasses“, but they are an extremely formidable trio. It has long been common knowledge that nobody does revenge quite as spectacularly and intensely as the Koreans, and „Agent Kim Reactivated“ is yet another fine example.

To reveal more of the plot would firstly be unfair and secondly hardly possible, because the story keeps zigzagging wildly between North and South, between various government agencies and intelligence services, between high-level politics and the arrogant chaebols familiar from so many Korean series. Screenwriter Nam Dae-joong constructs an incredibly intricate storyline, and one really has to admire him for managing to keep track of the action and all the various threads. The same goes for director Lee Seung-young, who can draw on considerable experience in television series.

As far as the cast is concerned, the producers really have an embarrassment of riches. Towering above everyone else is the incomparable So Ji-sub, who only recently dished out plenty of punishment in „Mercy for None“. Watching him transform from the most harmless-looking citizen, with essentially one perpetually defensive facial expression, into a full-blown action superhero is quite something. His two fighting buddies, Choi Dae-hoon as the Taekwondo master and the immensely popular Yoon Kyung-ho, who alone has appeared in eight films in 2026, as the heavily armed former Marine, are hardly less impressive. The villains, of whom there are plenty, are also excellently cast. Joo Sang-wook, above all, makes the most of his juicy role as the evil tycoon, while Lee Dong-ha has a field day as his most vicious henchman, Nam. The fact that many of the actors already know one another from previous films or series surely helps create such a strong ensemble.

The series, which was otherwise received very positively by both critics and audiences, did attract some controversy because a lengthy action sequence involving Mr. Kim’s origins as a North Korean elite soldier was created entirely with the help of artificial intelligence. According to the production team, this was due solely to financial considerations and the technical feasibility of the process. Whether this is or should be the future of filmmaking is, as we all know, currently the subject of heated debate. Whether the sequence is visibly AI-generated when you do not know that it is, however, is another question altogether. At least it does not detract in the slightest from the fun and sheer enjoyment „Agent Kim Reactivated“ has to offer action fans.

Der Text erschien auf asianmoviepulse.com im September 2026.