This is a most excellent onscreen pairing, and it’s an opinion I have even without watching them together, and even if the movie ends up a dud. Whoever thought to bring together Taiwanese actor Bolin Chen and Korean actress Son Ye Jin was doing more than picking popular star names out of a hat, these two have very similar acting styles that aren’t always utilized properly. They can do fun lightweight projects as comfortably as the dark gritty roles, but both needs to do more mainstream fare to keep up the broader fanbase.

Among the spate of Korean-Chinese collaboration projects, the Jeju-based chase movie Bad Guys Always Die is about to hit the theaters looking way cooler than I expected. Bolin plays that sweet spot of nice guy in a bind, while Ye Jin gets to be kickass in a way she pulls off unexpectedly well despite her soft feminine demeanor. The two leads are on the cover and pages of Chinese fashion magazine Femina in a tres cute spread, making it a reverse Song Seung Heon–Crystal Liu if you will. Continue reading →