The Boys (2022 film)

The Boys is a 2022 South Korean crime drama film directed by Chung Ji-young and starring Sol Kyung-gu, Yoo Jun-sang, Jin Kyung, Heo Sung-tae and Yeom Hye-ran. The film based on the true story of the 'Samrye Nara Super Incident' (ko) that occurred in Wanju County, depicts the story of re-investigation of the boys who were identified as the culprits of a robbery and murder case that occurred at a supermarket 'Woori Super' in a small town. It had its premiere at 'Korean Cinema Today - Special Premiere' section of 27th Busan International Film Festival on October 6, 2022. It was released in South Korea on November 1, 2023.

Premise
The film is based on the true story of the 'Samrye Nara Super robbery incident' that occurred in Wanju-gun, Jeollabuk-do in 1999, and tells the story of the head of the investigation team who reinvestigated the boys who were pointed out as the culprits.

Cast

 * Sol Kyung-gu as Hwang Jun-cheol
 * Yoo Jun-sang as Choi Woo-seong
 * Jin Kyung as Yoon Mi-sook
 * Heo Sung-tae as Detective Park
 * Yeom Hye-ran as Kim Kyeong-mi
 * Kim Dong-young
 * Yoo Su-bin
 * Kim Kyung-ho
 * Han Soo-yeon as Shin Eun-hee, lawyer in charge of the retrial of the three boys

Special appearance

 * Cho Jin-woong
 * Yang Min-hyeok
 * Seo In-guk

Production
On June 9, 2020, cast of the film was revealed. Sol Kyung-gu, Yoo Jun-sang, Jin Kyung, Heo Sung-tae and Yeom Hye-ran were cast in main roles.

Release
The film premiered at 'Korean Cinema Today - Special Premiere' section of 27th Busan International Film Festival on October 6, 2022. It was also screened at the 52nd International Film Festival Rotterdam in February 2023.

The film opened the 2023 London East Asia Film Festival on October 18, 2023; before its release in South Korea on November 1.

Home media
The film was made available for streaming on IPTV (KT olleh TV, SK Btv, LG U+ TV), Home Choice, Google Play, Apple TV, TVING, WAVVE, Naver TV, and KT skylife from November 27, 2023.

Box office
The film was released on November 1, 2023, on 1037 screens. It opened at 2nd place on the South Korean box office with 57,436 people viewing the film.

, with gross of US$3,406,306 and 468,631 admissions, it is at the 19th place among the South Korean films released in 2023.

Critical response
Jeong Jin-young writing in Daily Sports described the film as "the weight of a true story without being flashy". Jeong praised the performance of ensemble writing, "ensemble of talented actors, including Yeom Hye-ran, who works as a married couple with Sol Kyeong-gu, Heo Seong-tae, who walks a strange tightrope between good and evil add to the attraction." Kim Na-yeon writing in Star News opined, The Boys is a film with a great dilemma that resonates with a true story." Kim quoting director Jeong Ji-young felt that "after watching the movie, you will be able to look deeper into the inner workings of this incident."