Remember Los Pollos Hermanos, the fast-food outlet in TV’s Breaking Bad that serves as a front for the Southwestern United States’ most lucrative methamphetamine distribution network? That idea is turned on its head in this action comedy feature from director Lee Byeong-heon (What A Man Wants, 2018), as an incompetent and dysfunctional five-person police team takes over a run-down chicken shop in order to observe and infiltrate a drug syndicate’s headquarters across the road. When their special chicken recipe becomes a massive hit with the public, it is a case of stakeout meets takeout, as cooking and crime-busting get ever more confused, until this ensemble of misfits finally learns why they were put together in the first place, and why their leader Captain Ko (Ryu Seung-yong, Seven Years of Night, 2017) has the nickname ‘Zombie’.
“There’s lots of absurdity in what we do,” says Ko – and when it comes to crazy laughs and over-the-top fighting, Extreme Job delivers to order.