Yaksha: Ruthless Operations

Movie review by Brian Costello, Common Sense Media
Yaksha: Ruthless Operations Movie Poster

Common Sense says

age 15+

Violence, language in fast-paced Korean spy thriller.

NR 2022 125 minutes
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  • Yaksha: Ruthless Operations Movie: Scene One
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A Lot or a Little?

The parents' guide to what's in this movie.

What Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Yaksha: Ruthless Operations is a South Korean spy thriller in which a prosecutor joins a black ops unit in China. Expect action movie violence throughout: fighting with assault rifles, guns, swords, punches, kicks, plus car chases, accidents, and explosions. It has profanity throughout, including "f--k," as well as cigarette smoking and wine, champagne, and beer drinking. Drug paraphernalia is visible on a table, and there's brief sexual innuendo. In Korean, Chinese, and Japanese, with English subtitles.

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What's the Story?

In YAKSHA: RUTHLESS OPERATIONS, Ji-hoon Han has been humiliated after his department failed to prosecute a CEO for his crimes. As a result, his boss is sending him to Shenyang, China, to find out why a black ops unit of the NIS (South Korea's spy agency) has been sending her fabricated reports for the past several months. Upon arrival, he meets Kang-in Ji, aka "Yaksha," the leader of the black ops unit. It doesn't take long for Han to realize that Yaksha's "by any means necessary" methods are the opposite of his beliefs that justice must be served without blurring any ethical lines, as Han is thrown immediately into the intrigue after getting into an ambush from North Korean operatives. Yaksha and his team have been searching for someone named Moon, who is in charge of a slush fund for the North Korean government. This "Moon" is also being hunted by the North Koreans, Chinese, and Japanese. As the double-crosses and questionable loyalties surface, Han and Yaksha begin to realize that the corruption from this slush fund goes much deeper than Moon or Shenyang. Han and Yaksha must work together to stop their rivals from compromising the operatives working under Yaksha and reveal the government officials behind these schemes and those who are bankrolling this corruption.

Is It Any Good?

This is a spy thriller that takes the proverbial "web of intrigue" to new levels. Yaksha: Ruthless Operations also takes the "blurred ethical lines" so indicative of the antihero stories to incredible extremes, as operatives from South Korea, North Korea, China, and Japan all face off and quadruple-cross each other and have secret affairs and have their own reasons for doing what they're doing. Some of these reasons are likely to surprise American audiences who are, even after decades of Tony Soprano, Walter White, and The Batman-style stories, still likely to view such stories through a good-vs.-evil prism and not the battle royale framework that emerges in this movie.

Surprisingly, the chaos of the story holds together, and the two-hour-and-five-minute length doesn't tax attention spans. Sure, there's bombast straight out of the Michael Bay Film School: Functionally pointless large computer monitors count down in pointlessly large numbers as the world teeters in the balance, for instance. But instead of moments like these coming across as laziness or banality, it merely heightens the action that's already happening. Somehow, it works, and for once, the obligatory hint of a sequel during the credits is welcomed rather than scorned.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about spy thrillers like Yaksha: Ruthless Operations. How is this similar to and different from other spy thriller movies you've seen?

  • How were the different countries represented in this movie? Do you think the way these countries were presented is accurate or was it exaggerated for the sake of story?

  • How does the violence compare to that of other spy thrillers? Was it necessary, or excessive? Why?

Movie Details

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