"Secretly, Greatly" tells a captivating story of three young man, trained to be killing machines, sent to South Korea as spies and assimilate into the local society. While they await further instruction from the party, they forge a friendship with the local community. The first half of the film is comedic, with the lead character acting foolish and funny. Kim Soo-hyun has a natural gift for slapstick, and director Jang Shul-soo and his co-writers make great use of it: Not only will Kim gamely throw himself down a set of stairs, but he'll shift his body language and motion from capable super-spy to doofus and back again. And for as mean-spirited as the gags where folks torment Dong-gu might be, the voice-overs of how he could snap these brats like twigs or how this would never happen in the North are great responses, with two years of pent-up frustration hitting the ears even when just reading subtitles. Park Ki-woong and Lee Hyun-woo are nearly as much fun as the laid-back guy discovering that the army doesn't really teach you how to rock and the grimly lethal kid. The ensemble around them gets both laughs and affection, especially Park Hye-sook as the outwardly cranky convenience store owner who took Dong-gu in when she saw him on the street. The second half of the film turns into a adrenaline fuelled action film, with much brutal fist fights and valiant defiance of orders. It is presented so well, that it keeps people captivated with the three men's psychological struggle and physical struggle. They manage to take down tens of tough guys in fist fights normally is unrealistic and even annoyingly silly, but in "Secretly, Greatly" their seemingly omnipotent fists provide something for viewers to marvel at. Maybe it is because they are not just fighting for the sake of fighting, but fighting for survival, both physically and ideologically against a tyrannical regime. The interspersed subplot about the idiot's longing for his mother is very touching. In the three men's native country, people are brainwashed to believe that the party is way more important than their blood family. Hence there is a constant deep seated struggle; and their longings could never be fulfilled. The plot is profoundly powerful towards the end of the film, when everything culminates to an emotional and action climax. The humor in the dialogue is sometimes unexpected, which is another plus. The parkour-style action scenes are short but thrilling, and the fight choreography are exciting to watch. Stories involving the different characters are told within the main story, creating subplots which are heartwarming and interesting for the most part. When the final order comes, the internal and external conflicts over it drive the 2nd half of the movie. And I loved and hated the ending for being so good and being so good it hurt that it didn't end any other way. Admittedly, one of the exciting things about Korean films is that genre lines are often in different places and they can surprise in ways that Western films often don't. "Secretly, Greatly" is a great gem that deserves to be seen. I enjoyed watching it tremendously!