Film Analysis: Midnight Runners, Technology, and Bureaucratic Futility

This essay presents a critical analysis of the film Midnight Runners, focusing on its portrayal of technology misuse and the futility of bureaucratic systems. The analysis examines the film's setting in urban Korea, the characters of Ki-joon and Hee-yeol, and the plot involving the kidnapping of women for egg harvesting. The essay argues that the film satirically juxtaposes the actions of aspiring police officers with the harsh reality of the crime scene and the bureaucratic inefficiencies of the police academy. Ultimately, the film delivers a message about the importance of responsible technology use and the need for bureaucracy to serve rather than hinder the welfare of society. The essay concludes that Midnight Runners effectively blends satire, social commentary, and humor to create a harmonious and thought-provoking cinematic experience. Desklib provides access to similar solved assignments and resources for students.

Running head: MIDNIGHT RUNNERS
MIDNIGHT RUNNERS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1MIDNIGHT RUNNERS
Introduction
Technology and advancement has been tailored to ensure that the problems of human
being becomes easy, and ensuring that the difficulties and the seemingly impossible aspects of
human lives could be solved. However the misuse of technology is supposed to be an issue worth
giving importance, and must be tackled effectively or else that could be leading to the
exploitation of human life for seeking the maximum benefits. Hence the law and order system
must be strong enough to tackle this issue of misuse of technology.
Statement of purpose
This particular essay shall be dealing with the analysis of the film Midnight Runners. In
the following sections of the essay, the discussion shall be dealing critically with the film on the
basis of the plot, setting and the characters of the film. The thesis statement of the essay is to
provide an critical assessment of how the film relates to the issues of misuse of technology and
the futility of the bureaucratic order for the sake of executing the welfare functions of the nation.
Body: Critical Analysis
Synoptic view of the film
The critical summary of the film shall be provided by dividing the discussion into three
sections, which has been deemed necessary in order to provide a critical undertone to the essay.
Setting
The film is set against the urban setting of Korea, which is evident from the technological
expertise and the bureaucratic set up that had been shown in the nation. The film is purely a

2MIDNIGHT RUNNERS
science fiction and has bears no resemblance to any particular incident or any person in real life.
The film has been set as a action comedy apart from being a science fiction meant for
entertainment purposes. The setting of the themes of the film has been done in a way that the
satire and the hint of reality could be juxtaposed to each other in a harmonious way. The satirical
setting has been showcased by means of the actions of the young aspiring police officers. While
on the other hand the element of reality has been showcased by means of showing the setting if
the crime scene which shows the girls being kept as captive to harvest their unfertilized eggs and
also of the bureaucratic set up of the police academy through which the futility of the procedural
stricture has been shown.
Character
Ki joon, played by Park Seo joon and Hee yeol played by Kang Ha neul have acted as the
students pursuing their training at the Korean National Police University in order to become
police officers. They are the protagonists of the film and the film is based entirely upon the
making the other characters of film not as important as they have tangential importance to
accentuate the characters of Ki joon, played by Park Seo joon and Hee yeol played by Kang Ha
neul, who are the heroes of the film as they dedicate themselves to the task of saving the girls
kidnapped for the purpose of harvesting their unfertilized eggs (Gopalan, Nor and Mohamed).
Plot
The film begins with the incident of the kidnap of a high profile businessman and the
police officers are thus forced to take the incident seriously and neglect the other cases. The main
characters of the film Ki joon, played by Park Seo joon and Hee yeol played by Kang Ha neul
get the news of a kidnap whereby several girls have been taken as hostage by a group of
kidnappers who run a racket of illegally harvesting unfertilized eggs from women. Ki joon and

3MIDNIGHT RUNNERS
Hee yeol wanted to infirm the police but they were not respsonding to their complaint hence they
sought to devote themselves to the rescue mission of the girls despite the danger of getting
penalized for indulging in the job of a police even before getting qualified as a police officer.
Their zeal to do good to the society made them forego the bureaucratic complicacies and take the
responsibility of saving the girls from the captivity and they be saved. They become successful
and they escape any prosecution (Clegg, et al).
Message of the film
The film does not intend to provide any negative image about the technology, scientific
discoveries or the bureaucracy rather it tends to provide an understanding that they should not be
misused. The issue of egg harvesting or that of the existence of the bureaucracy is for the sake of
ensuring that the life of the human beings are facilitated by means of those things and they must
not become the cause of the troubles of the people (DiLorenzo).
Conclusion
Thus at the concluding section it can be said that the film has been a perfect mix of satire,
social message and humour whereby all the aspects of the film are harmoniously related to an
complements each other.

4MIDNIGHT RUNNERS
Annotated bibliography
DiLorenzo, Thomas J. "The Futility of Bureaucracy." The Free Market 20.7 (2002).
In this particular essay the author has discussed about the futility of the bureaucracy as
they tend to create more problems than solving given the fact that bureaucratic orders tend to
delay the speed of actual work.
Gopalan, Nishakanthi, Siti Nurani Mohd Nor, and Mohd Salim Mohamed. "Global Human
Embryonic Stem Cell Laws and Policies and Their Influence on Stem Cell Tourism."
Biotechnology Law Report 37.5 (2018): 255-269.
In this particular essay the issue of unethical methods deployed in the harvesting of the
human eggs have been discussed. They focus on the stricter law and regulations so that unethical
practices could be avoided.
Clegg, Stewart, et al. "Kafkaesque power and bureaucracy." Journal of Political Power 9.2
(2016): 157-181.
In this particular the critique of bureaucracy has been provided as that tends to delay the
welfare work of the state and also has provided effective measures to counter the ills of
bureaucracy.

5MIDNIGHT RUNNERS