Yaksha: Ruthless Operations

Yaksha: Ruthless Operations is a South Korean action thriller set largely in Shenyang, a Chinese city where espionage networks overlap and danger is constant. An upright prosecutor, Han Ji-hoon, is sent to look into the activities of an overseas black ops team and its notorious leader, Jee Kang-in, who goes by the nickname Yaksha after a man-eating spirit. The mission draws both men into a deadly spy war, and the team must also contend with the hunt for a missing high-ranking North Korean official.

The film was directed by Na Hyun, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Ahn Sang-hoon. It followed his 2017 debut, The Prison. Sul Kyung-gu plays the ruthless team leader opposite Park Hae-soo as the prosecutor, with supporting turns from Hiroyuki Ikeuchi, Yang Dong-geun, Lee El and Song Jae-rim among a credited cast of 34. Produced by Ok Gwang-hee, it was a Korean and Taiwanese co-production involving Showbox, Sang Sang Film, 1 Production Film Company and the Taipei Film Commission, running 125 minutes.

Yaksha: Ruthless Operations was released in April 2022. On IMDb it holds a rating of 6.3 from more than 4,300 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 6.6 from 263 votes. A critics' score of 6.4 from 11 reviews sits close to the audience averages, indicating a broadly middling reception rather than a strongly divided one.