Illang: The Wolf Brigade

Illang: The Wolf Brigade
Theatrical poster
Hangul
인랑
Hanja
人狼
Literal meaningHuman-Wolf
Revised RomanizationIllang
Directed byKim Jee-woon
Screenplay byKim Jee-woon
Jeon Cheol-hong
Based onJin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade and characters created
by Mamoru Oshii
Produced byKim Woo-sang
Starring
CinematographyLee Mo-gae
Edited byYang Jin-mo
Music byMowg
Production
company
Lewis Pictures
Distributed byWarner Bros. Pictures
Release date
  • July 25, 2018 (2018-07-25)
Running time
138 minutes
CountrySouth Korea
LanguageKorean
BudgetUS$17 million
Box officeUS$6.2 million

Illang: The Wolf Brigade (Korean: 인랑; also known as Inrang) is a 2018 South Korean science fiction action film directed by Kim Jee-woon and starring Gang Dong-won, Han Hyo-joo, Jung Woo-sung and Kim Mu-yeol. It is a live action adaptation of the 1999 Japanese animated film Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade, itself based on Mamoru Oshii's manga Kerberos Panzer Cop and his wider Kerberos Saga.

Unlike the alternate history postwar Japan setting of its source material, Illang is set in 2029 Korea, when North Korea and South Korea are preparing to reunify after heightening tensions in East Asia lead to destabilization and the rise of an anti-reunification terrorist group known as "the Sect". The South Korean government establishes the "Special Unit", a counterterrorist paramilitary law enforcement agency that is tasked with battling the Sect. The film follows Special Unit soldier Lim Joong-kyung who, after witnessing a young terrorist kill herself to evade capture, befriends Lee Yun-hee, a girl who claims to be the terrorist's sister; together, they attempt to navigate an increasingly violent interservice rivalry within South Korea's counterterrorist apparatus.

Illang was released on July 25, 2018. Distributed by Warner Bros. Korea, the film received mixed reviews and underperformed at the domestic box office, selling around 897,000 tickets against its break-even point of six million tickets and only earning 8 billion won (US$6.2 million) on its 19 billion won (US$17 million) budget. The film competed in the San Sebastián International Film Festival for the Golden Shell, becoming the second South Korean film to do so.