When I initially saw Good News, I did not know much about it. I anticipated a South Korean thriller that landed at Netflix. However, what I saw was extremely different. Good News instead was fashioned after a Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker spoof comedy, specifically Airplane. How this film differs from it though is having a strong discussion on capitalism vs communism and taking governments to task on how they dismiss certain movements.
In the year 1970 members of Japan’s Red Army hijacked a plane from Tokyo’s airport. But given the lack of experience, these hijackers have a and a lack of a plane they end up being continually unsuccessful at. The film follows members of the government working with intelligence agents trying to free hostages without a catastrophic incident. But the interests as they relate to their jobs and promotions becomes a bigger priority for them to the point where this incident is stretched out to mixed results.
Good News is a strong take on government policy and action because it shows how gross it can become when everyone is chasing after a promotion and the hostages are not taken as seriously as they probably should. It reminded me in that retrospect of Shin Godzilla because of how the government’s actions are escalating a situation that should not have gone on as long as it did. It also has interesting ideas about how communist movements are not inherently wrong or bad, but often find themselves co-opted and corrupted. The film also digs into the fallacy of capitalism in that human lives often get pushed aside because everything must be assigned a monetary value.
Aside from the commentary, the film has very clever visual gags involving people continually tripping over something or being oblivious to something right behind them. Good News remembers the importance of camera work to communicate an idea and shots do not feel wasted but effectively communicates the idea on the scale involved. It feels right that this releases the same year as the new Naked Gun film is out and has the same attention to detail that has made both that revival successful and this movie memorable.
While this is a more comedic bend, Byun Sung-hyun his experience in political satires and thrillers makes this a perfect blend for him where elements work pretty well together to create an interesting satire with a lot to say.
The few negative feelings I have about this film is that the pacing is a bit off and the movie could have been leaner, but overall I think we need more films like this that use satire to analyze topics that we often avoid discussing. Good News is a solid political satire and parody film that engages with its heavy themes in a digestible and interesting way.
Watch the trailer right here.
All images via Netflix.
Directed by Byun Sung-hyun
Screenplay by Byun Sung-hyun, Lee Jin-seong
Produced by Han See-hung
Starring Sol Kyung-gu, Hong Kyung, Ryu Seung-beom, Yamada Takayuki, Shiina Kippei, Kim Seung-o
Premiere Date: September 5, 2025 (Toronto)
Running Time: 136 minutes
Cinema from the Spectrum 
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