Since 2004, actor Don Lee (also known as Ma Dong-seok) has worked his way up from small supporting player (The Good, The Bad, The Weird) to scene-stealing supporting player (Train to Busan) to MCU hero (Eternals) to monster cop (Crime City series). If you know his name and see it on the marquee, you know that you’re in for a certain type of tale wherein push comes to shove and then his massive fists start swinging. After introducing audiences to Ma Seok-do in The Outlaws (2017) (and kicking off the Crime City series) and before he would portray gangster Jang Dong-su on the hunt for a serial killer, he would lead Ordinary People, now retitled as The Villagers, bringing his skillful talent for playing within tones and genres to a rote “newcomer teacher gets in over their head with the locals” story. If you’re the sort who likes to screen all of an actor’s filmography, via Well Go USA, you can explore The Villagers on digital.
Ma Dong-seok/Don Lee as Ki-Chul in THE VILLAGERS. Photo courtesy of Well Go USA.
After losing his job as a boxing instructor, Ki-chul (Don Lee) moves to a remote town where he gets as job as both gym teacher and the dean of students in charge of missing payments (tuition/lunch money). He’s already noticed the way that locals had graffitied over some missing posters for a local girl and how some instructors lower the importance of so-called “runaways,” but, when Ki-chul meets Yu-jin (Kim Sae-ron), a student diligently searching for her missing friend, he can’t let go of the responsibility in his role as a teacher. However, the more he tries to abide by his conscience, the more he seems to grate against the locals, and it may lead to dire consequences for them all.
Kim Sae-ron as Yu-jin in THE VILLAGERS. Photo courtesy of Well Go USA.
Written and directed by Im Jin-soon (Men of Plastic), The Villagers is a fairly as-expected crime thriller in which a stranger finds themselves in over their heads due to corruption and a generally accepted perception not to rock the boat. We’ve seen this before in plenty of other titles, especially within the subgenre of teacher-related tales wherein a typically new teacher to a new school discovers some hidden secret and refuses to stop pulling the thread until the truth is revealed. The Substitute did this in 1996 and Brave Citizen, a webtoon adaptation, did this in 2023, continuing the long-standing tradition. Oddly, if not for the casting of Lee who imbues Ki-chul with a strong sense of nobility and empathy, making the stocky and intimidating figure also soft and approachable, The Villagers would be far creepier. Some of this is in Lee’s physical performance which seems to shrink in the presence of the teen girls Ki-chul is trying to treat respectfully while they, without any kind of reverence, just verbally demolish the new teacher. And some is in his physical delivery, such as when Ki-chul wins a plushie from a crane game and joyously celebrates, something that feels authentic to Lee (based on his online persona and fondness for Hello Kitty) and conveys a gentleness within Ki-chul compared to the disillusion of his colleagues at the school. Again, the audience is primed to side with Ki-chul through Lee, but that doesn’t make just how quickly and how common Ki-chul finds himself in private with Yu-jin or crossing boundaries perceived in the U.S. between teacher and student (though it may be different in South Korea) such as giving car rides or having meetings in less conventional on-campus locations.
The film also features a few choices that imply heavy editing without consideration for narrative flow. This is most obvious with an adult female character used early in the film to convey exposition regarding why and where Ki-chul is headed via a phone call, who is neither identified nor explained in their phone call conversation and could quite literally be anyone. A feeling that’s made all the more strange and awkward for their inclusion because they only appear again (once more by phone) when things turn particularly troublesome for Ki-chul and, in that second late-into-the-film conversation is enough information provided in which the audience can infer what their relationship actually is. Likewise, after Yu-jin is the victim of a violent incident that lands her in the hospital, one of her visitors is Ki-chul’s former boxing student-turned-beat cop whom is shown standing by Yu-jin; however, when Ki-chul leaves her room, what is intended as a new scene in which Ki-chul is meant to talk to the cops assigned to Yu-jin’s case, his former student is now standing in the hallway talking to his superior when Ki-chul moves to find them. There was likely another scene between these or it was included without considering where the characters were previously; but, once noticed, highlights a number of inconsistencies in the film that grow even further when one thinks even a little too much about moments in the film – such as attempted kidnapping and invasions of privacy, which just seem to be glossed over in favor of getting to the next conspiracy element.
L-R: Lee Sang-yeob as Ji-sung and Kim Sae-ron as Yu-jin in THE VILLAGERS. Photo courtesy of Well Go USA.
For his part, Lee is as captivating as always. He easily comes off as empathetic and ethical, desiring to improve the lives of others, even at severe personal or professional risk, emblematic both of the sort of protagonist within this type of story and of the sorts Lee typically plays. Along these lines however, don’t take the trailer (if you’ve seen it) as truth for The Villagers is not a standard Lee film in which fisticuffs are common. There are two scenes in which there’s any kind of prolonged conflict Lee’s involved in, though both are deeply satisfying in terms of execution and narrative tension. The fights are even more pleasurable because we had to wait for them, not just because the jackholes deserved it. Truthfully, the film is far more engaging as a straight-forward drama/thriller than as a typical Lee action vehicle anyway due to the chemistry and performances by Lee and the late Kim Sae-ron.
Ma Dong-seok/Don Lee as Ki-Chul in THE VILLAGERS. Photo courtesy of Well Go USA.
With this in mind, there are far better Lee films to catch up with or rewatch than this; however, The Villagers does earn some points because the narrative leans so hard on Ki-chul’s naivete regarding how things work and the uphill battle against corruption that one starts to feel a little crazy alongside him. The film does possess a strong message regarding the ways in which the powerful commodify individuals and how society allows this to occur that at least gives The Villagers a necessary depth and internal propulsion that’ll keep you watching, regardless of enthusiasm.
Available on digital October 7th, 2025.
For more information, head to the official Well Go USA The Villagers webpage.
Final Score: 2.5 out of 5.
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