It blew up on opening day. The Jo In-sung and Park Jung-min–led film Human Intelligence shot straight to No. 1 at the box office, kicking off a blockbuster run. But alongside rave reviews, a wave of "incomprehensible" critiques has erupted, igniting a fierce debate.
According to the Korean Film Council's integrated box office system on the 12th, Human Intelligence drew 116,741 moviegoers on day one to rank first. After racking up nearly 200,000 tickets in presales and drawing explosive interest, Human Intelligence is currently holding the top spot in overall advance sales. The CGV Golden Egg Index, which reflects real audience feedback, sits at a strong 93% (out of 100), while the Naver portal score is 8.7 out of 10—clear signs of positive word of mouth.
Human Intelligence follows a National Intelligence Service (NIS) agent who, while tracing North Korea's drug distribution route, uncovers evidence of a human-trafficking connection between a North Korean diplomat and the Russian mafia. The agent activates HUMINT in Vladivostok, setting a deadly chain of events in motion. Jo In-sung plays Manager Cho, an NIS operative. Shin Se-kyung is Chae Song-hwa, a North Korean restaurant worker who serves as Cho's HUMINT source. Park Jung-min portrays Park Geon, a Ministry of State Security officer from North Korea with a special bond to Chae. Park Hae-joon's Hwang Chi-seong is North Korea's consul general in Vladivostok, secretly linked to the local mafia.
Dominating both audience scores and word of mouth, the film delivers punchy gunfights, raw hand-to-hand combat, and nerve-racking car chases—the kind of visceral thrills you can only feel in theaters—while carefully layering the characters' emotional arcs. It's rapidly emerging as a must-see for the Lunar New Year holiday box office.
However, negative "dislike" reviews are spreading in some corners. From here on, spoilers follow.
Toward the end, a so-called "glass chamber scene" appears: women are confined in glass cases, displayed like a museum exhibit, and controlled by the Russian mafia. In this sequence, Chae Song-hwa is trapped behind bulletproof glass, and Manager Cho and Park Geon appear to rescue her. Outside the cases, stickers indicating "grades" based on appearance are attached—details that some moviegoers found deeply off-putting.
Some viewers reacted, "I don't understand why they put living people in those glass boxes," "Are they grading people?" and "What's with the grade stickers?" One netizen added, "If it had been animals inside the bulletproof glass instead of women, given Korea's sensibilities, the uproar would've been even bigger." These heated reactions are spreading quickly across social media and online communities, drawing widespread agreement.
Despite powerful performances and gripping direction, this one polarizing scene has split opinions on what was otherwise showered with praise. Still, if you're searching for this month's standout action, thriller, and melodrama, the answer may well be Human Intelligence.