“Nocturnal” Theatrical Poster

Director: Kim Jin-Hwang
Cast: Ha Jung-Woo, Kim Nam-Gil, Yoo Da-In, Jeong Man-Sik, Im Sung-Jae, Lee Hye-Soo
Running Time: 100 min.

By Paul Bramhall

Nocturnal dares to ask the question, what if Ha Jung-woo hadn’t become a mainstay of Hallmark channel style ‘based on a true story’ movies in the 2020’s, and instead went back to the kind of gritty roles he frequented in the late 2000’s and early 2010’s with productions like The Yellow Sea and Beastie Boys? The answer is a welcome one, with the harsh Korean winter serving as the backdrop to his recently out of prison ex-gangster, now attempting to get by as a day labourer working construction. Of course the rules of the genre mean that he can’t lead a peaceful life for long, and when his younger brother turns up dead in one of the local karaoke bars, he dons a heavyset winter jacket, throws a steel pipe in his rucksack, and begins traipsing around town looking for answers.

From the opening scene of Jung-woo strolling away from a bloody beatdown, decked out in a dishevelled suit and with blood dripping from the aforementioned pipe, director Kim Jin-hwang’s sophomore feature feels like it announces itself as a throwback to a time when Korean cinema had a harder edge. After helming a number of short films Jin-hwang would make his feature length debut in 2016 with the crime thriller The Boy Who Cried Wolf, however in the intervening years he’s only cropped in a handful of minor acting roles, with the release of Nocturnal making it almost a decade since he last directed. Like The Boy Who Cried Wolf, the script for Nocturnal also comes from the pen of Jin-hwang, and the plot settles down to focus on Jung-woo’s search for the girlfriend his brother was living with, played by Yoo Da-in (Tastes of Horror, The Suspect), who’s disappeared without a trace.

What gives Nocturnal a unique slant is the introduction of a character played by Kim Nam-gil (A Man of Reason, Memoir of a Murderer), giving the production a similar sophomore opportunity for he and Ha Jung-woo to reunite after co-starring in 2020’s The Closet. Anyone who’s a regular reader of my reviews will know I’m not the biggest fan of Nam-gil, as I often find he comes across as miscast in the roles he ends up in, a fact which is ironically offset by him also being the star of one of my all-time favorite Korean movies in the form of The Shameless (although I remain convinced that’s because he was acting alongside Jeon Do-yeon!). Here he plays a novelist, and his latest novel – titled Nocturnal – involves a character’s murder that closely resembles the demise of his brother, pointing to Da-in as the culprit. When it’s revealed the pair were acquainted, Nam-gil also scrambles to find Da-in, hoping to locate her before Jung-woo.

While Jung-woo’s reasons for finding Da-in are clear – to find out if she was responsible for his brother’s death, and if so, send her off to meet him – Nam-gil’s are less so. We know he met various attendees of lectures he was hosting to gain inspiration for his novel, and it was during one of these meetings that Da-in revealed how she’s regularly beaten and abused, and of her dream to be able to kill her boyfriend because of his ill treatment. But did she and Nam-gil end up in a relationship together, or does Nam-gil simply feel guilty for using her wish fulfilment story as the basis for his novel? Or is there a third reason – perhaps he was the one who killed the brother so that they could be together? The ambiguity behind his role in the story works effectively, however it also frustratingly concludes in a distinctly anticlimactic fashion.

I’m always keen to avoid spoilers when writing reviews, although my exasperation was such at this part of the plot that I’m going to go out on a limb, and suggest what I’m about to say isn’t a spoiler. The part about Nam-gil playing a writer of a novel that essentially predicts Jung-woo’s brothers death ends up having no bearing on the plot whatsoever, and is dropped altogether in the last third. We don’t even get to find out what the relationship was between Da-in and Nam-gil, he’s left to just silently fade out of the picture. It’s almost as if it was written as a brief sub-plot (even though the movie also takes its title from the novels name!), but in the final product came out as a prominent part of the narrative by mistake, making its sudden irrelevance to what unfolds come across like a glaring omission.

In retrospect, that leaves the heavy lifting to Jung-woo, and there’s an undeniable pleasure in seeing him back as a crumpled and world-weary antagonist prowling the back alleys of nightclubs, low rent karaoke joints, and late-night diners. I don’t know if it was because of the presence of Kim Nam-gil, but the locations of Nocturnal more than once reminded me of The Shameless, with the greyness of the Korean winter almost making the bitter cold feel tangible. As a character Jung-woo makes for an intriguing proposition, with Jin-hwang initially painting him as someone who’s understandably out to seek revenge for his brother’s death, perhaps from guilt that he was the one who brought his brother into the fold of the criminal world in the first place. He may not be the most likeable guy to grace the screen, but his motivation is relatable.

However as the narrative continues, it becomes harder and harder to sympathise with him. Even after learning what a lowlife his brother was, constantly strung out on drugs and regularly beating his girlfriend, he still pushes forward blindly seeking revenge, despite it becoming clear his brother may have gotten exactly what was coming to him. If it was an intentional move to introduce a main character who becomes more difficult to root for as the plot progresses, then it was a bold one, and for the most part Jin-hwang pulls it off. However there’s also no denying that Nocturnal feels like it should be Da-in’s movie rather than Jung-woo’s, as a karaoke bar receptionist who finds her abusive boyfriend dead, and goes on the run as the boyfriends brother, the novelist she may or may not be involved with, and the police begin to close in on her. It’s just a shame that in its current form her character her very little to do beyond running away.

While far from being action heavy, there are a couple of skirmishes that feel refreshingly old school. Technological advances have seen camerawork during group melees become increasingly dynamic in recent years, but it can also tend to lack weight, case in point being many of the action sequences found in the recently released Netflix series Mercy for None. Here there’s a grounded scrappiness to them, with an initial skirmish seeing Jung-woo and his trusty pipe going against a group of lackeys shot with a sense of brutal immediacy. Taking as many hits as he dishes out, there’s a sense of realism from Jung-woo’s choice to take out his attackers as effectively as possible – which for the most part involves hitting them in the face with his steel pipe. A clear case of quality of quantity, when the violence does hit, it resonates. Plus I think this may be the first time for me to see a frozen fish brandished as a weapon (very effective!).

It’d be a crime not to mention Nocturnal’s stellar supporting cast, with the always reliable Jung Man-sik (I, The Executioner, Revolver) cast as the gang boss that Jung-woo used to be a part of, and who his brother had continued to work for while he was inside. Similarly Seo Hyun-woo (Escape, Seire) and Lee Seol (Hard Hit, The Divine Fury) reunite from 2022’s underseen Thunderbird, this time as a pair of cops who are also looking to find the culprit behind the murder.

As the credits rolled on Nocturnal I couldn’t help but feel it was a deeply flawed movie. Important plot threads I’d expected to be resolved were simply dropped, and the narrative leaves the audience with a main character who you root for less and less. However at the same time I also can’t deny the fact that I enjoyed a lot of Kim Jin-hwang’s sophomore feature, with its story unfolding on dilapidated streets and old school marketplaces, there’s a sense of grittiness to it that gets removed in the sheen applied to so many recent Korean productions. Perhaps a case of enjoying it for the movies it reminded me of more than the movie it is, Nocturnal has the ingredients for greatness, but seems like it doesn’t know quite what to do with them.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 6/10

The post Nocturnal (2025) Review first appeared on cityonfire.com.

“The Closet” Theatrical Poster

Director: Kim Kwang-Bin
Cast: Ha Jung-Woo, Kim Nam-Gil, Heo Yool, Kim Si-A, Park Sung-Woong, Shin Hyun-Bin
Running Time: 95 min. 

By Paul Bramhall 

While the practice of shamanism has always been around in Korean cinema, it was arguably The Wailing that popularised it within the context of the horror genre for a 21^st century audience, and 2020’s The Closet was one of many productions post its release in which shamanism plays a central part of the plot. Opening with grainy home video footage from 1998 of a shaman performing a ritual in front of a closet, things turn gruesome when an invisible force possesses her to turn the knife she’s brandishing against herself, slitting her own throat before the footage cuts off. It’s a suitably unsettling opening, even if the way the scene is edited admittedly contradicts the ‘found footage’ nature of what we’re supposed to be witnessing, and sets a foreboding tone for what’s to come.

In present day we meet Ha Jung-woo (Ashfall, Ransomed), an architect and single father raising his 11-year-old daughter after the tragic death of his wife in a car accident. Played by K-drama actress Heo Yool, here making her big screen debut, since the accident she’s become increasingly detached from the world, barely speaking a word and resistant to Jung-woo’s efforts to connect. In an attempt to give her an environment where her condition can improve, he resorts to the oldest cliché in the Korean cinema textbook – relocate to an area that has “clean air” – the area in question being a remote property in the countryside.

Of course when one of the first things that happens after moving in is for a crow to fly straight into a window, leaving a bloodied mark where it hit, you know it’s going to take more than clean air to make things better. His daughter isn’t Jung-woo’s only problem, since the accident he’s been suffering from panic attacks and is popping pills to keep them in check, and with a new build he’s getting pressure from the higher ups to work onsite rather than remotely from his home office (a scenario that somehow predicted what many employees would face once the COVID-19 pandemic ended just a few years later!). The biggest problem for both of them though turns out to be what’s lurking behind the closet doors in Yool’s room.

For those with even a passing familiarity not only with the Korean horror genre, but horror in general, it won’t come as a surprise that it turns out to be a vengeful spirit. The Closet marks the debut of director Kim Kwang-bin (who at the time of writing in 2024, hasn’t done anything since), and his enthusiasm to get to the spooky stuff is sometimes a little too apparent, with the way character relationships develop sometimes making illogical jumps. This is particularly obvious when the sullen Jung-woo visits his psychiatrist and offloads his woes of how his daughter won’t make eye contact with him, only for him to return home and find her almost ridiculously chirpy and cheerful, happily running around with an old raggedy doll. You’d think it would raise alarm bells for Jung-woo the same way it does for the audience, but bizarrely he doesn’t bat an eyelid, and simply accepts that she seems like a completely different person.

It may be a shortcut in terms of propelling the plot forward in an economic way, but it stretches credibility with the way it plays out onscreen. Similarly when Jung-woo advertises for a nanny, the fact that he bumps into one of the most suspicious looking nannies committed to screen as he’s heading out the door, and simply lets her in with no questions asked and continues on his way without so much as an introduction simply feels lazy. On the plus side though, what can’t be argued is that the decisions do allow for The Closet to be an economical slice of horror, telling its story in a lean 95-minute runtime. When Yool disappears all together after being coaxed into the closet by other worldly voices, it becomes clear that the genre isn’t so much one of demonic possession as we see so often, but rather demonic abduction. In that way, you could almost say it’s a Korean version of Poltergeist.

Despite the required suspensions of disbelief around some of the situational elements of the narrative, Kwang-bin does an effective job of creating a sense of underlying dread. He opts to keep the evil presence largely unseen, instead using sound as the method to ramp up the tension, ranging from violin playing at night to screams of terror from behind closed doors. They may be old tricks, but they’re still being used in horror movies today because they’re still just as effective as they were back in the day. This is offset by a tangential narrative which sees Jung-woo resorting to the media to seek help finding his daughter, only to find himself villainised as it’s revealed he was working away from home and taking prescription drugs. In part the vilification is justified since it becomes clear he’s not exactly ideal father material, preferring to buy gifts to earn Yool’s affections, and ultimately choosing his job over spending more time with her.

While the neglectful parent angle offers up an interesting direction for the plot to continue down, it feels likes its largely pushed into the background with the arrival of Kim Nam-gil’s (Emergency Declaration, The Odd Family: Zombie On Sale) ghost hunter. Playing the son of the shaman we see in the initial home video footage, he’s been hunting for the spirit responsible for his mother’s death for 10 years, and believes it’s been luring kids into the realm of the dead through closets (although notably, it’s never explained why he’s failed to catch it so far, likely another dose of suspension of disbelief). Nam-gil’s character is an odd choice, effectively played as a kind of quirky ghost catcher, the sort who has no problem discussing the quality of instant noodles while monitoring screens for ghostly activity. It’s a decision which largely dissipates any scene he’s in of any tension, adding a humorous slant which doesn’t feel like it belongs there.

At its worst, when explaining to Jung-woo about how the dead remain in the spirit realm for 49 days after their death, he ends up complaining it’s too complicated and tells him to watch the Along with the Gods movies instead. It’s supposed to be funny because Jung-woo is the star of them, and maybe it would be if The Closet was intended as a cinematic satire in the vein of 2002’s Fun Movie, but we’re supposed to be watching a horror where a girl has been abducted by demonic spirits. I’ve always been of the belief that Nam-gil is best suited to comedic roles, as he consistently fails to convince in more serious ones (with the exception of The Shameless, which I’m convinced is because he was acting alongside Jeon Do-yeon), and once things get serious in The Closet there was little on display that changed my mind.

Ultimately the pair team up to send Jung-woo into the realm of the dead, which essentially involves a lot of stab happy school kids chasing after him while attempting to locate Yool in a mist covered forest playground. It’s a fitting if somewhat underwhelming conclusion to a straight forward tale of demonic abduction, and Kim Nam-gil is certainly no Zelda Rubinstein. The vengeful spirit itself is played by Kim Si-a (Miss Baek, Kill Boksoon), and her father is portrayed by a supporting Park Sung-woong (The Wild, The Great Battle), both of whom clock in powerful performances with their limited screentime. It’s a testament to Si-a’s range at such a young age that the audience’s sympathies will likely end up resonating more with her than with Jung-woo and Yool.

While The Closet doesn’t reinvent the wheel it still ends up as a serviceable entry in the overpopulated horror genre, no doubt bolstered by it’s A-list cast. The pitfalls of Kim Kwang-bin’s first time in the director’s chair are admittedly frequent, and a closing scene twist (at least I think that’s what its supposed to be) is as nonsensical as it is unnecessary. With that being said, if all you’re looking for is a couple of jump scares and some spooky happenings, then The Closet should do the job.

Paul Bramhall ‘s Rating: 6/10

The post Closet, The (2020) Review first appeared on cityonfire.com.

“Ransomed” Theatrical Poster

Director: Kim Seong-Hun
Cast: Ha Jung-Woo, Ju Ji-Hoon, Kim Eung-Soo, Park Hyuk-Kwon, Im Hyeong-gook, Burn Gorman, Marcin Dorocinski, Nisrine Adam, Faycal Zeglat, Walid Sam
Running Time: 132 min.

By Paul Bramhall

There’s been a new kind of genre offering that’s emerged in Chinese cinema over the last 5 years, one which usually involves its military being sent overseas to rescue its citizens from troubled lands (translated: somewhere in Africa or the Middle East). Usually framed as bombastic action flicks, it was Wu Jing who could be argued to have set the template with 2017’s Wolf Warrior 2, then Dante Lam got in on the action with 2018’s Operation Red Sea, and Jackie Chan did the double thanks to 2020’s Vanguard and 2023’s Hidden Strike. However within this already somewhat limited genre there’s recently emerged an even more niche take on such stories, one which basically uses the same framework, but instead it pits diplomats as either the ones tasked with rescuing, or the ones who need to be rescued. I call it the ‘diplomat in peril overseas’ subgenre.

Korea has been leading the charge with this one, thanks to Ryoo Seung-wan’s 2021 production Escape from Mogadishu, which sees diplomats from North and South Korea attempting to escape the outbreak of civil war in Somalia. The Point Men followed in 2022, which sees a diplomat sent to the Middle East to negotiate the release of Korean hostages being held in Afghanistan. Ensuring the momentum keeps going, in 2023 Ransomed was released (pun intended), which casts Ha Jung-woo (Ashfall, Take Point) as a diplomat tasked with rescuing another diplomat in Lebanon. It’s a diplomat double whammy. Bridging the divide between the subgenre and the broader rescue productions mentioned, is that in an overwhelming number of them its Morocco standing in for whatever war-torn part of the world the story takes place in, and here it’s on duty representing 1980’s Beirut. 

What’s also specific to the ‘diplomat in peril overseas’ subgenre that Korea’s become specialised in (although I should point out China also got in on the action with 2022’s Home Coming), is that the stories are based on real events. In this case, it involves the story of Korean diplomat Do Chae-sung (played in the movie by Im Hyeong-gook – Hunt, Emergency Declaration), who was taken hostage in 1986 as the Lebanese Civil War raged between Christian and Islamic factions. However with the constant power shifts amongst the various militias, he was ultimately lost in the mix and essentially forgotten about, until he was able to make contact with Korea almost 2 years later.

Despite it being less than 2 years, South Korea had drastically changed by the time it was 1988. Army general Chun Doo-hwan, who had named himself president in a military coup in 1980, was finally removed from power in 1987, making way for the first free parliamentary elections the following year. To top it off, Seoul was hosting the 1988 Olympics, a landmark moment that the country saw as an opportunity to step out of the shadows of the dictatorship it had been in for almost 30 years, and present itself as a player on the world stage. Similar to the likes of Seoul Vibe from the year prior, the events in Ransomed also unfold in the months leading up to the Olympics, with the Foreign Services department using the political tensions of the time as an excuse to handle the mission to recuse Hyeong-gook themselves.

Disgruntled at the fact he was overlooked for a promotion to be stationed at Korea’s London embassy, it’s Ha Jung-woo who’s offered the task of heading to Beirut and bringing Hyeong-gook back, believing that if he accomplishes the mission with flying colours, it’ll put him in contention to be stationed in America. However the fact that it’s not an official government operation sees him having to navigate various back channels, from a CIA intermediary played by Burn Gorman (Pacific Rim, The Dark Knight Rises), to a Swiss art dealer who has connections on the ground in Lebanon, played by Marcin Dorocinski (Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Mission of Honor). The good news is such casting means that the foreign acting talent onboard for Ransomed all put in solid performances, which as any fans of Asian cinema will know, should never be taken as a given.

The not so good news is that Jung-woo always seems to struggle to inject any kind of nuance into his English line delivery. As an actor he’s in some of my favorite slices of Korean cinema – My Dear Enemy, The Yellow Sea, and The Handmaiden to name just a few – so it pains me to say I gave up watching the Netflix series Narco-Saints because his English heavy line delivery just wasn’t cutting it. Here the issue is the same, so it’s a relief once he arrives in Beirut, and ends up in the taxi of Lebanon’s only Korean cabbie (which yes, requires an unfathomable suspension of disbelief). Played by Ju Ji-hoon (Project Silence, Asura: City of Madness), Ransomed reunites the pair after they starred together in the 2 Along With the Gods movies from 2017 (The Two Worlds) and 2018 (The Last 49 Days). 

A mischievous scammer out to make a dollar any way he can, the pairing of frazzled diplomat and streetwise taxi driver essentially turns Ransomed into a mildly comedic buddy movie, almost as if it’s not entirely sure what it’s supposed to be. What’s surprising is that the director and scriptwriter at the helm is Kim Seong-hun, who in recent years is most well-known for creating the zombie series Kingdom. Prior to working with the undead Seung-hun had directed Jung-woo before in 2016’s Tunnel, and was responsible for the 2013 classic A Hard Day, which has spawned multiple remakes in other Asian territories. The elephant in the room though is that Seong-hun’s feature length spin-off of Kingdom that he directed in 2021, Ashin of the North, was a lamentable dud. Unfortunately, it’s his most recent feature length outing that Ransomed shares most in common with, proving to be two missteps in a row. 

Much like Escape from Mogadishu, the circumstances that Ransomed takes place in are far more interesting than anything that happens onscreen, and as an audience our investment in seeing Hyeong-gook rescued is remarkably low since he barely has any screen time (and even fewer lines). The lack of characterisation stretches to the 2 leads, with Jung-woo’s sole character motivation being to get stationed in a desirable overseas location, which only serves to make him feel rather one-dimensional and flat. In fact everything feels just a little short of the target, with comedic moments frequently missing the mark, and the action feeling largely perfunctory and uninspired. Even soundtrack composer Mowg (The Childe, Miss Baek), who can always be relied on to deliver a solid score, clocks in a terminally repetitive electronic drone which doesn’t just fail to match whatever action is onscreen, it actively drains the life out of it.

Perhaps most regrettably, rather than simply limp to its finish, Seong-hun crafts a bizarrely overstated airport set finale that’s full of unearned and slightly awkward emotion, delivered in such a ham-fisted way it threatens to become laughable. The circumstances that play out also result in what’s essentially a staggered repeat of the final scene involving different characters arriving back in Korea, which only results in the already lengthy 132-minute runtime feeling more protracted than it needs to be. Sometimes less is more, and the jarring tonal shifts from mild comedy, to tensionless thriller, to histrionic-lite drama simply fails to engage in any kind of meaningful way.

While the ‘diplomat in peril overseas’ subgenre may still be a new one on the block, there’s no denying the fact that none of them have lived up to their promises, perhaps proving that casting government officials as main characters, even if they are diplomats, simply doesn’t make for engaging cinema. With a predictable plot and a lacklustre pace, Ransomed is ultimately a mediocre exercise in filmmaking, made only more frustrating by the fact it’s dealing with such an interesting moment in Korean history.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 5/10

The post Ransomed | aka Unofficial Operation (2023) Review first appeared on cityonfire.com.

“Ashfall” Theatrical Poster

Director: Lee Hae-Jun
Co-director: Kim Byung-Seo
Cast: Lee Byung-Hun, Ha Jung-Woo, Ma Dong-Seok, Jeon Hye-Jin, Bae Suzy, Lee Sang-Won
Running Time: 130 min.

By Paul Bramhall

Korean cinema went for the disaster movie double in 2019, with the low-key Exit offering up a brisk comedic take on the genre, one that saw the residents of Seoul looking to escape a steadily rising cloud of poisonous gas. On the other hand, Ashfall opted for the more traditional approach to the disaster epic, complete with the bombast of having the entire Korean peninsula threatened by the eruption of the long dormant Baekdu Mountain (which is notably the literal translation of the Korean title) in North Korea. If anything, the volcano disaster movie is certainly ripe to be re-visited, coming more than 20 years since Hollywood dabbled with the same volcanic threats in 1997’s double whammy of Dante’s Peak and Volcano.

Almost as if to say that such an impending disaster wouldn’t be enough for one director to handle, Ashfall comes with two. Sharing directorial duties are Kim Byeong-seo and Lee Hae-joon, and while neither are known primarily as directors, they’re also no strangers to the film industry. Byeong-seo is an established cinematographer, in recent years lensing the likes of Take Point and the Along With the Gods flicks. Ashfall marks his sophomore feature in the director’s chair, after also co-helming 2013’s Korean remake of Hong Kong’s Eye in the Sky – Cold Eyes – alongside Cho Ui-seok. Hae-joon is mainly known as a scriptwriter, having contributed his talents to everything from Arahan to the Korean remake of Japan’s Golden Slumber. Ashfall marks his 4^th outing as a director, having helmed 2006’s Like a Virgin (which he co-directed with Lee Hae-yeong), 2009’s Castaway on the Moon, and 2014’s My Dictator.

Perhaps most importantly though, both have worked together before, with Byeong-seo being the cinematographer on both of Hae-joon’s solo directorial outings, Castaway on the Moon and My Dictator. Backed by Korea’s leading visual effects house, Dexter, Ashfall gets straight down to business as we meet a bomb disposal expert, played by Ha Jung-woo (Tunnel, The Handmaiden), partaking in a scene that will feel familiar to anyone who’s seen Hong Kong’s Shockwave from a couple of years prior. The initial few minutes play almost like a checklist of every disaster movie character cliché in the book – it’s Jung-woo’s last job and he’s due to be discharged that same day, plus his wife is heavily pregnant (and just to top it off, he’s forgotten about their latest check-up at the hospital). Thankfully before any broader cinema cliches can be heaped on, Jung-woo’s drive to the hospital is disturbed by a powerful earthquake that hits Seoul.

It’s a kinetic sequence that has Jung-woo both out-driving and out-running a cityscape that begins to literally crumble all around him (it turns out Seoul doesn’t have too many structurally sound buildings if an earthquake hits), only undone by some variable visual effects that sometimes don’t look fully rendered. As the title indicates, it’s soon identified that the earthquake was caused by Baekdu Mountain erupting, and the government are forced to turn to an American-Korean geologist for help, one whose theories about a potential eruption have never been taken seriously. 

Played by a cast against type Ma Dong-seok (he doesn’t throw a single punch!), he brings a likeable bumbling charm to his character, one who just wants to head back to the U.S. His theory which has been shunned for so long involves the fact that the first eruption is just a small one, with an even bigger one on the way, and the only way to mitigate it is to set off a nuclear-powered bomb in one of the underground mines close to the mountain. The idea is that the bomb would blow up the largest volcanic chamber before it causes a mega eruption, dissipating the pressure inside, and averting disaster. But with the first eruption already done, the clock is ticking, so the main focus becomes about a reluctant Ha Jung-woo leading his team into North Korea to sneakily acquire a nuclear-powered bomb, set it off in a mine, and attempt to get back to the South in one piece. The Dirty Dozen had it easy! 

It’s when Ashfall turns into a ‘men on a mission’ movie, which it doesn’t take long to do, that it begins to truly entertain. The South Korean government have a double agent in the North played by Lee Byung-hun (The Man Standing Next, A Single Rider) who knows all of the key locations, however his cover has been blown and he’s being kept in a prison, the fact he’s still alive after being exposed indicating that he may no longer be able to be trusted. But with no other choice than to work with him, Jung-woo and his teams first job is to break Byung-hun out and convince him to help them on their mission. More so than any of the special effects, the greatest strength Ashfall has going for it is the chemistry between Jung-woo and Byung-hun. As 2 of Korea’s biggest stars when it comes to leading men, and the first time for them to share the screen together, the constantly simmering tension between the pair is never less than entertaining. 

It also results in Ashfall feeling more like an action movie than a disaster flick for most of its runtime, with only the occasional cutaway to Dong-seok’s character typing away in front of a monitor, attempting to increase his plan’s chance of success to be more than 3%, acting as a reminder of what’s at stake. What it does have in common with the disaster genre though is an impressive cast. Outside of the key trio of Jung-woo, Byung-hun, and Dong-seok, it’s Bae Suzy (The Sound of a Flower, Architecture 101) who has the most to do as Jung-woo’s pregnant wife. Although her range is rather limited, luckily her role here is largely relegated to one of damsel in distress – whether it’s staying afloat after a tsunami engulfs the Han River, or attempting to evacuate in a surging crowd – the sense of danger remains palpable due to circumstance rather than her performance.

If anything I only wish we saw more of Jeon Do-yeon (Beasts Clawing at Straws, The Shameless), who clocks in barely 5 minutes screen time cameoing as Byung-hun’s drug addled wife. Re-uniting with Byung-hun after their roles together in the underwhelming Memories of the Sword and underseen The Harmonium in My Memory, there’s something appealing about the pairing of them in a disaster flick. Somebody must have thought the same thing, as she’ll have a more prominent role opposite Byung-hun in Emergency Declaration, an aviation disaster movie that’s set to be released this year. Other notable names onboard for the ride include Jeon Hye-jin (The Beast, The Merciless) as a government official, the gravelly voiced Lee Kyung-young (Monstrum, The Prison) as a military general, and Choi Kwang-il (Inseparable Bros, Seven Years of Night) as the president.

There’s a certain cynicism towards the U.S. once their military forcefully enter the picture, a tone which has become increasingly prevalent in Korean cinema since the Trump era. There’s a similar feel in Steel Rain, and like there in Ashfall it once again comes down to the South and North working together to solve a problem, with American intervention portrayed as a hinderance rather than a help. It’s an interesting shift in attitude towards their presence on the Korean peninsula, one that’s come through particularly strongly in recent years, and it’ll be interesting to see if the approach continues post-Trump. Unfortunately Dong-seok is left with a clunker of a line at the end, when his U.S. loving character returns to Korea a few years later, and states that he thinks he’ll settle there. I’m sure it went down well locally though. 

While bookended with typical disaster movie genre tropes and cliched scripting, the rollicking number of daring escapes, shootouts, vehicular chases, and volcanic mayhem that takes place in-between serve to make Ashfall an entertaining time at the movies. With Ha Jung-woo and Lee Byung-hun anchoring proceedings, their combined screen presence means the special effects work (which improves significantly from the initial scene) never overshadows the human element of the story. Undemanding entertainment it may be, but in the case of Ashfall that’s far from a criticism, delivering a movie that strikes just the right balance between action, spectacle, and drama.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 7.5/10

The post Ashfall (2019) Review first appeared on cityonfire.com.

“Take Point” Theatrical Poster

Director: Kim Byung-Woo
Cast: Ha Jung-Woo, Lee Sun-Kyun, Jennifer Ehle, Kevin Durand, Malik Yoba, Spencer Daniels, Shin Hyun-Bin, Ahn Seong-Bong, Kim Sun-Hyuk
Running Time: 124 min.

By Paul Bramhall

The Korean film industry has an interesting relationship with the action genre. A mainstay of the countries cinematic output for a long time, it was ultimately an action movie which brought Korean cinema to international attention with 1999’s Shiri. Skips forward 20 years, and the dynamic has changed considerably. Korea consistently cranks out movies containing some of the most innovatively bone crunching action scenes around, however rarely do the productions that such scenes appear in brand themselves as action. Instead, the art of action has become an integral part of a wide range of genres – thrillers, crime, gangster flicks, and police procedurals to name a few.

So where does that leave the action genre itself? There have been a few titles which have fearlessly branded themselves as action movies – in 2006 Ryoo Seung-wan unleashed City of Violence, a stylish but poorly paced fight flick, and in 2013 Won Shin-yun gave us The Suspect, a well-staged action spectacle undone by overly eager editing. In short, it’s a genre that’s struggled to be what it says on the tin, too frequently undone by overly bloated plots, or people in post-production who don’t understand that how action is shot is just as important as how it’s performed. With that being said, we still seem to get a movie out of Korea every few years that proudly labels itself as an action flick, and the latest of those is Take Point.

The third movie from director Kim Byeong-woo, Take Point reunites him with leading man Ha Jung-woo, who anchored his sophomore feature The Terror Live in 2013. The opening credits lay out an intriguing premise through a mix of news clips and phone calls, as we learn that the year is 2024, and the U.S. economy has been plunged into chaos. The cause, as it turns out, began with the U.S. lifting the sanctions off North Korea after a successful meeting between the two countries leaders. Without the political restrictions, North Korea partnered with its economic juggernaut of a neighbour, China, and their combined manufacturing industries come to supply most of the world’s economies, leaving the U.S. trailing behind. Unwilling to leave things as they stand and with an election on the horizon, the U.S. president orders the CIA to orchestrate a change to the North Korean regime, and he doesn’t care how they do it.

It’s a smart premise, and one that plugs directly into current fears on the Korean peninsula, as the power-plays of both the U.S. and China often find South Korea in the crosshairs due to circumstance. As smart as it may be though, as soon as the credits stop rolling, it becomes clear that Take Point is more likely to be described as a glorified action B-movie than it is an intelligent action flick. Taking a leaf from the likes of The Dirty Dozen and Eastern Condors, a cynical CIA operative played by Jennifer Ehle (Zero Dark Thirty, Fifty Shades of Grey) enlists an off-the-radar black-ops unit comprising of illegal aliens residing in the U.S.. With the promise of citizenship as a reward, the crew gather in a sprawling underground bunker that resides between the two Korea’s, where a key meeting will take place between both countries. Their job? Kidnap an important North Korean General, and bring him to the South. Of course, things don’t go to plan.

Led by an ex-paratrooper played by Ha Jung-woo (The Handmaiden, Assassination), the rest of the group comprises of various nationalities, all of which means that for the majority of its runtime, Take Point plays out in English. Thankfully we’re a world away from the foreign ‘talent’ that used to populate HK flicks of old, instead featuring a cast with names like Kevin Durand (Legion, Resident Evil: Retribution) and Malik Yoba (Cool Runnings, Cop Land). Bizarrely, director Byeong-woo has decided to lumber them with a variety of dodgy accents. Despite this though, they’re still more comprehensible than Jung-woo. Jung-woo is one of Korea’s brightest acting talents, and while he does an amicable job, the sheer number of lines he has to get through in his non-native tongue inevitably leads to instances of needing to rely on the subtitles.

Almost identical to Steel Rain which was released the year prior, the plot device of North Korea’s Supreme Leader (amusingly referred to here as ‘King’) showing up where he’s not supposed to is used to crank up the tension, and also like in that movie, he ends up critically injured and in the hands of the South. Onscreen this all plays out via a lot of gratuitous gunfire, with Jung-woo and his crew heavily outnumbered, in a series of entertaining set-pieces which incorporate a number of high impact first-person shots. Much like The Terror Live was restricted to a studio, almost all of Take Point is restricted to the confines of the underground bunker, indicating that director Byeong-woo is a fan of one-location scenarios (and if you also consider Tunnel, Jung-woo is becoming the go-to actor for featuring in them).

For the most part it works, however Byeong-woo’s obvious fondness of ‘Boy’s Own’ style adventures leads to some painfully clichéd scenes. Jung-woo’s smoking habit comes across as more to do with looking cool than it does a genuine character trait, and if you think that’s bad wait until he whips out his whiskey hip flask as they prepare to start the mission. At its worst, when the Mexican member of the team is marked as the guy who’ll bust down the doors and secure the Take Point, we have to sit through Jung-woo giving him a stirring speech about how soon he’ll be able to open that farm he’s been dreaming of, and live a peaceful life with his family. As expected, said character bites the dust a few minutes later.

Thankfully Lee Sun-kyun (Jo Pil-ho: The Dawning Rage, A Hard Day) is on hand as a member of the North Korean entourage that becomes dependant on Sung-woo to survive, and also provides an opportunity for them both to converse in Korean, offering a welcome refrain. It’s when a member of Jung-woo’s team double crosses them that provides a pivotal moment in Take Point’s structure, as after a well-staged shoot-out that displays some great camerawork, Jung-woo finds himself incapacitated and unable to leave the room he’s in. Thanks to the technology available, involving plenty of monitors and hi-tech looking devices, he can still communicate with the rest of the team, however Byeong-soo inexplicably takes the decision to keep the audience in the room with Jung-woo as well. What this means for us is that, for almost half the movie, we’re essentially watching a series of video calls.

Sure, they may be video calls with people running around corridors firing big guns, but at the end of the day, they’re still video calls. The format unfortunately removes some of the impact we should probably be feeling to what unfolds, instead acting to remove the sense of immediacy from the action. As the majority of Jung-woo’s team lack any kind of real characterisation, they also become largely interchangeable. It often feels like the most meaningful time we spend with them is when we see the red cross get stamped across their image on a large monitor, signifying they’ve been killed off. All of this culminates to create an experience where it’s difficult to connect with the blatant crisis at hand. The stakes are sky high, but really, we just want Jung-woo to complete his video call and move onto the next one.

Byeong-woo seems to realise that, and decides to overcompensate with the finale, which ditches the bunker setting and becomes a bombastic sky-diving spectacle. Let’s have the conversation – sky-diving finales are risky. Released in a year when Tom Cruise performed a HALO jump in Mission: Impossible – Fallout (which wasn’t even the finale!), and following on from the likes of Jackie Chan’s own sky-diving finale in 2012’s CZ12, if you’re going to do one, it has to be spectacular. That starts with being done for real, which Take Point’s clearly isn’t, even if the green screen work is stellar. However the real crime here is that the pacing of it is off, and the attempt to connect it to an earlier flashback sequence fails to resonate. In short, it would have been better if they’d stayed in the bunker.

Despite these criticisms, with the right expectations Take Point is a decent enough action flick. What it could really have benefitted from, is spending less time on trying to convince us it’s a big blockbuster, and more time on embracing its B-movie roots. Wedged between Ha Jung-woo’s performance in Park Chan-wook’s The Handmaiden, and Lee Sun-kyun’s performance in Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite, if nothing else, it’s an opportunity to see both actors have some fun in an unpretentious slice of mindless action cinema.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 5/10

The post Take Point | aka PMC: Private Military Company (2018) Review first appeared on cityonfire.com.

“Along with the Gods: The Last 49 Days” Teaser Poster

Director: Kim Yong-Hwa
Writer: Kim Yong-Hwa
Cast: Ha Jung-Woo, Ju Ji-Hoon, Kim Hyang-Gi, Ma Dong-Seok, Kim Dong-Wook, Lee Jung-Jae, Jo Han-Chul, Kim Myung-Gon, Il-woo Nam
Running Time: 141 min.

By Paul Bramhall

It’s been less than a year since Along With the Gods: The Two Worlds hit cinema screens, and already the second part of the consecutively filmed pair is upon us with Along With the Gods: The Last 49 Days. Director Kim Yong-hwa took a huge gamble to plough so much money into what’s easily Korea’s most ambitious CGI heavy production, and it was one which paid off, with The Two Worlds becoming a box office success domestically. However the second instalment hit some decidedly unexpected bumps in the road on the lead up to its release. At the beginning of 2018 the #metoo movement, which saw actresses coming forward with their experiences of sexual harassment, hit Korea hard, and two of the productions cast members found themselves embroiled in the allegations.

First up was returning cast member Oh Dal-soo, an actor who’s practically come to embody the bumbling everyman role that’s a fixture of many a Korean production, and a new character play by Choi Il-hwa (The New World). Knowing that it wouldn’t sit well to have such actors (who both admitted their guilt) feature in a morally upright blockbuster, the decision was taken to re-film their scenes with new actors, with Jo Han-chul (Heart Blackened) replacing Dal-soo, and Kim Myung-gon (Steel Rain) replacing Il-hwa. While it was a decision that no doubt added a few extra zeros to the franchises already lofty budget, onscreen the modifications are for the most part seamless, a credit to the technical expertise of those working behind the scenes.

The plot of AWTG:TL49D (as I’ll refer to it from here on in) is significantly broader than its predecessor, fitting in 3 parallel storylines into its equally epic 140 minute runtime. Having secured the reincarnation of Cha Tae-hyun’s firefighter at the end of ATWG:TTW, the leader of the trio of guardians, played by the returning Ha Jung-woo, turns his focus to Kim Dong-wook (The Concubine), also returning as Tae-hyun’s murdered brother. Despite being the vengeful spirit that caused so much chaos in ATWG:TTW, Jung-woo believes he’s deserving of reincarnation, so pitches his case to King of the Underworld (Lee Jung-jae) to allow him to stand trial. Permission is eventually given, with various conditions attached, one of which takes the form of the second storyline.

A Household God has been causing trouble in the real world, by keeping an old man alive far longer than he should be, and even making himself visible to the point of being a part of the old mans daily life, which has him taking care of his abandoned grandson. The God is played my Ma Dong-seok (Champion), and one of the conditions is for Jung-woo and his fellow guardians to ascend the old man within the next 49 days, and ensure the Household God is duly punished. The roles of the guardian trio are somewhat reversed from what we saw in AWTG:TTW, with this time Jung-woo left to navigate the afterlife, and returning guardians Joo Ji-hoon and Kim Hyang-gi sent to the real world to deal with Dong-seok. However when Dong-seok reveals his connection to the pair when they were alive a millennium ago, we also get to witness the trios backstory (cue the third storyline!), and how it came to be that they’re bound to each other.

Credit has to be given to Yong-hwa for juggling so many elements with such a skilled hand. If you want a fantasy adventure filled with monsters and spectacle, you got it. If you want a modern day melodrama that pulls on the heartstrings, you got it. Not satisfied? Well how about a period piece battlefield epic? You get that as well. The talent in Yong-hwa’s handling of each of the 3 storylines lies in the way he’s able to keep each one relevant to each other for the entire duration, never allowing one to overshadow the other or to feel like unnecessary padding, all of them play an integral part to the other. This structure allows plenty of space for us to get to know the trio of guardians. While in ATWG:TTW they were defined more by their personality traits than anything else, this time we get to know their histories and who they really are, making them an integral part of the narrative rather than just enablers of it.

After a final scene tease in AWTG:TTW, here Ma Dong-seok makes for a welcome addition in an extended supporting role. As the kind hearted Household God, he’s been keeping the old man alive so that his young grandson isn’t left alone, taking on the role of the friendly uncle and keeping the loan sharks at bay. The setup is a literal tick box list of Korean melodrama tropes: House set to be demolished for new apartments – check. Father heavily in gambling debt and has run off to the Philippines – check. Mother died at birth – check. If a Korean mainstream movie wants you to know that life is tough, trust me, you’re going to get it. However for the most part it works, and Dong-seok is his usual endearing self as the protective (literal) guardian of the family. He also gets some of the biggest laughs, with his failed attempts to raise money through the stock market leaving him as possibly the only God committed to film who has debt worries.

Another element that the expanded scope of the story allows for is a greater variety of action. From Ji-hoon and Dong-seok’s hyper-speed face off when they first meet, that takes place while various plates and vases fall to the floor in slow motion, to the epic battlefield scenes set in the past, to Jung-woo’s one man rampage against a legion of hell ghouls made of lava and rock. While it was disappointing to see Ji-hoon’s oversized blades teased but never utilised this time around, the fact that AWTG:TL49D feels like a more well-rounded effort than its predecessor more than makes up for it.

Indeed as bombastic as these movies are by nature, AWTG:TL49D feels much more reigned in and mature. There’s a genuine sense of world building, and aspects like the onscreen text appearing every few minutes are utilised more sparingly. There’s also less focus on the many cameos by various familiar faces from the Korean film industry, with the appearance of Sung Dong-il being the only obvious nod at the audience. The downside of this is when a scene does appear which throws in velociraptors, a T-Rex, and a mosasaurus, it sticks out like a sore thumb. Such a scene may have belonged in Jurassic World, but even with the context it takes place in here it seems out of place, feeling more like a calling card for Yong-hwa’s visual effects company Dexter than a necessary part of the plot. However if you want to see a meaningful conversation take place in the stomach of a mosasaurus, you’re in the right place.

Interestingly, as the subject who has his reincarnation on the line, Dong-wook feels like a very different beast from the first instalments embattled firefighter. Rather than being overwhelmed, Dong-wook’s approach is one of curiosity, with his interest laying more in why Jung-woo is so determined for him to be reincarnated than if he actually succeeds or not. It makes for a very different dynamic, allowing for Jung-woo’s seemingly cool exterior that we took as a given from the previous outing to be constantly challenged and questioned, pushing some unexpected millennium old truths to the surface. The focus in the afterlife stays very much with the relationship between Jung-woo and Dong-wook, moving away from the trial structure of AWTG:TTW (here the first doesn’t get underway until 80 minutes in), further subverting expectations.

While still every bit the commercial blockbuster it was intended to be, AWTG:TF49D is a sequel that clearly has big ambitions, expanding and building on the characters we’re introduced to in AWTG:TTW via some bold and unexpected ways. What seemed like throwaway details in the previous instalment, like Ji-hoon and Hyang-gi having no memory of their past, here carry significant weight, which shows signs of a skilled storyteller at work. With another pair of Along With the Gods movies greenlit, it looks like we’ll be seeing more of Jung-woo and co. in the near future, and as long as we don’t get any more dinosaurs, I’ll be there.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 7.5/10

The post Along with the Gods: The Last 49 Days (2018) Review first appeared on cityonfire.com.

“Along with the Gods” Theatrical Poster

Director: Kim Yong-Hwa
Cast: Cha Tae-hyun, Ha Jung-Woo, Ju Ji-Hoon, Kim Hyang-Gi, Kim Dong-Wook, Do Kyung-Soo, Lee Joon-Hyuk, Lee Jung-Jae, Ma Dong-Seok, Jung Hae-Kyun
Running Time: 139 min. 

By Paul Bramhall

It’s been a while since Korea delivered a full-blown fantasy spectacle, with perhaps the last time being Jo Dong-oh’s The Restless, way back in 2006. However with the current trend of webtoon (online comic) adaptations that are dominating both Korean dramas and movies, it’s perhaps not surprising that the time is rife for the genre to make a return to the countries cinema screens. Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds has taken the same approach Japan opted for with manga adaptations like Assassination Classroom and Parasyte, filming two instalments back-to-back, a first for Korea. It’s a gamble for sure, with no production before (or I’d daresay after) relying so much on visual effects as its selling point, to the tune of roughly $36 million.

However the Korean peninsula has come a long way in its CGI capabilities in a short period of time. As recently as Bong Joon-ho’s The Host, the creation of the titular monster was offshored to San Francisco based visual effects outfit The Orphanage, rather than done locally. However director Kim Yong-hwa had lofty ambitions, and for his 2012 feature Mr. Go, a Korea-China co-production about a baseball playing gorilla (don’t ask) that failed to set the box office alight, he founded the visual effects company Dexter. While Mr. Go may have been a misfire, Dexter has become the go-to effects house in Asia, with the likes of Tsui Hark (for The Taking of Tiger Mountain) and Soi Cheang (for The Monkey King 2) becoming regular clients, both of which heralded award winning results.

Without doubt AWTG:TTW (as I’ll refer to it from here on in) wouldn’t exist without Dexter, and while Yong-hwa has sat in the directors chair before for the likes of Take Off and 200 Pounds Beauty, this can be considered his sophomore effort with the title of Dexter Founder on his resume. The original webtoon by Joo Ho-min ran from 2010 – 2012, and in many ways its cinematic incarnation represents somewhat of a family friendly version of Chang Cheh’s Heaven and Hell, although thankfully Yong-hwa’s version didn’t take 5 years to complete. The story focuses on a firefighter that dies in the line of duty, played by My Sassy Girl lead Cha Tae-hyun, who is promptly met by a trio of guardians whose job it is to guide him through seven trials, presided over by various Gods, which he has to pass in order to be reincarnated.

Fail any one of them, and he’s damned to an eternity in hell, custom made to whichever trial is being judged. Thankfully the trio of guardians are played by the ever cool Ha Jung-woo (last seen on the big screen in Tunnel), ably assisted by Joo Ji-hoon (Asura: City of Madness) and new guardian on the block Kim Hyang-gi (A Werewolf Boy). When viewing a production like AWTG:TTW, it’s important to remember that this is Korean filmmaking at its most commercial (re: crowd pleasing), designed as a bring the whole family along blockbuster in the same vein as Ode to My Father. Its intention is to make us laugh, gasp, and in true Korean style, ensure we have a box of tissues close to hand. While such productions aim to appeal to as wider an audience as possible, there’s a distinct feeling with Yong-hwa’s latest that the biggest demographic they’re going for is teenagers.

The afterlife is given plenty of quirky design traits that sometimes fall just the wrong side of juvenile. The entrance is presented as a turnstile, which you have to put a valid ticket through to enter, and perhaps most bizarrely, one of the shortcuts between trials takes the form of a theme park styled log flume. I was half expecting a staff member to be selling them a photo at the end of it. Pop culture references are also thrown about liberally, regardless of if they really fit the scenario, with mentions of The Avengers and Saving Private Ryan drawing more of a grimace than the desired laugh. However even those pale in comparison to the more blatantly preachy elements of the script, such as a line Ji-hoon is lumbered with when discussing examples of ‘indirect murder’, which has him declare “So don’t post mean comments online hastily.” Ok, we won’t!

While some elements of AWTG:TTW are decidedly Korean, such as the whole finale revolving around the trail of filial piety, a notion deep rooted in the countries Confucian society, the message it delivers is a universal one. Similarly the frequent onscreen text, telling us which realm is currently being trudged through, provide plenty of cultural pointers. The text can also never be accused of being dull, with references to the likes of Murder Hell and the Mirror of Karma ensuring a suitably dramatic tone. While neither the text nor visuals are able to completely immerse the viewer in the world being portrayed, it’s also worth noting that there are no glaring moments of poorly rendered green screen. The issue is more rooted in the fact it’s never clearly established how the quartet are travelling from realm to realm, they just kind of arrive there once the previous trial is done with.

Despite these less than subtle elements of AWTG:TTW, at almost 140 minutes long, at some point the unabashed heart on its sleeve nature of it all gets under your skin. Amongst the colourful visuals and elaborate costume design, there’s a story which keeps a few surprisingly dark revelations up its sleeve. With an opening scene which has Tae-hyun’s fireman smashing through a high level window of an ablaze building, sheltering a child in his arms, the time he spends plummeting through the air is literally all we see of him alive. His honourable death grants him plenty of goodwill with the guardians, who feel assured his journey through the trials should be a painless one, and considering we’re 2 trials down before the half hour mark, initially it seems they may be right. But as the plot progresses, so details of his life slowly begin to reveal a more tragic fate.

The appearance of a vengeful spirit from the world of the living puts a significant spanner in the works for Tae-hyun having a smooth journey, and it’s this revelation which comes to play a crucial part in keeping AWTG:TTW an engaging experience, rather than the trials themselves. Similar to the world skewering of Inception, whatever havoc the spirit wreaks in the land of the living has a ripple effect in the afterlife, resulting in our quartet being forced to outrun avalanches, or fend off legions of hell ghouls. The latter allows for some eye catching fantasy action sequences, as Jung-woo gets to unleash with a glowing sword, and Ji-hoon wields two oversized blades, which have the ability to connect and form a double bladed staff. My favorite action sequences though belonged to Jung-woo’s perusal of the spirit in the real world, which have him flying through the Seoul cityscape, sword in hand, as the spirit utilises power lines to travel at incredible speeds.

Another element that works in AWTG:TTW’s favour is its all-star cast. For fans of Korean cinema, the sheer amount of talent in front of the camera makes for enjoyable viewing. From Oh Dal-soo (Tunnel) and Im Won-hee (The Advocate: A Missing Body), who play a pair of judges in the afterlife, to the likes of Kim Su-an (Coin Locker Girl), Kim Hae-sook (The Handmaiden), Lee Kyung-yung (The Prison), Kim Ha-neul (Misbehavior), and Lee Jung-jae (Assassination), all of whom play various Gods. It could be argued that there’s never been a more fitting production for Jung-jae to showcase his booming voice than this one, in which he plays the King of the Underworld. Even actors like Yoo Joon-sang (The Target) and Ma Dong-seok (Train to Busan) show up as cameo appearances, the latter of whom promises to have a significantly larger role in the second instalment.

AWTG:TTW wraps proceedings up surprisingly neatly considering we know another round is on the way. Far from ending on a dramatic cliff-hanger, Tae-hyun’s journey appears to come to its conclusion, implying that whatever is coming next will turn its focus to a different character. While Yong-hwa is painting with incredibly broad brushstrokes in AWTG:TTW, both literally onscreen and with its tonal shifts, the ‘something for everyone’ appeal it’s clearly aiming for is largely achieved. While the more serious filmgoer will rightfully turn their nose up at such an approach to filmmaking, as a commercial blockbuster credit can be given for striking that precarious balance of knowing when to dial it up, and when to reign it in. As for the question of if I had to reach for that box of tissues, well, as the expression goes – some questions are best left unanswered.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 7/10

The post Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds (2017) Review first appeared on cityonfire.com.

Tunnel | DVD (Well Go USA)

Director: Kim Seong-Hun
Cast: Ha Jung-Woo, Bae Doo-Na, Oh Dal-Su, Shin Jung-Keun, Nam Ji-Hyun, Cho Hyun-Chul, Kim Hae-Sook, Yoo Seung-Mok, Park Hyuk-Kwon
Running Time: 126 min.

By Paul Bramhall

Not to be confused with the 2014 South Korean horror movie, Tunnel 3D, director Kim Seong-hoon’s latest effort is a decidedly 2D disaster movie, which, in the grand tradition of many a disaster movie, puts its ill-fated location as the title. For many, the concept of Tunnel will most likely bring back memories of Sylvester Stallone bringing his macho heroics to the tunnel that provided the setting in the 1996 disaster movie Daylight. While that movie used the testosterone primed plot of a tunnel filled with flames and enough air to last a few hours, Seong-hoon dials things back to a more realistic setting. 20 years on since Daylight, Kia car salesman Ha Jeong-woo finds himself trapped behind the wheel of his car (a Kia of course), when a tunnel literally caves in on top of him.

It’s unusual for me to cover the plot for a movie I’m reviewing in the very first paragraph, but the plot for Tunnel can essentially be summarised with the above sentence. Just lose the Daylight reference. There’s no doubt that the sales pitch to make Tunnel must have been a tough one, not only is Jeong-woo’s predicament limited to the caved in tunnel, for a large part he’s not even able to budge from the interior of his car, as it’s completely surrounded by rocks and dirt. The fact that Seong-hoon is the man in the director’s chair likely put the producers mind at ease, as his 2013 sophomore feature, A Hard Day, proved to be one of the best thrillers to come out of Korea in a long time. Displaying a deft hand at incorporating a number of laugh out loud moments of black humour into the narrative, he’s an obvious choice to adapt So Jae-won’s novel of the same name.

The same goes for Ha Jeong-woo as the leading man. In 2015 Jeong-woo could do no wrong, starring in Choi Dong-hoon’s Assassination and Park Chan-wook’s The Handmaiden. Ironically Tunnel is not the first time he’s had to put on the equivalent of a one-man show, with 2013’s The Terror Live seeing his performance restricted to that of a TV studio. Jeong-woo brings a likeable presence to the role, and the same applies to the actress playing his wife, Bae Doo-na. After her powerhouse performance in 2014’s A Girl at my Door, the role of the wife in distress seems remarkably slight as a follow-up (not withstanding her 2015 collaborations with The Wachowskis in Jupiter Ascending and the Netflix series Sense8), and she doesn’t have much to do except act upset and hopeful in equal measures, but it’s still a welcome sight to see her back on the movie screen.

Seong-hoon has to be given credit for cutting straight to the chase (which considering the protagonists predicament, may not be the most appropriate word to use). Within the first 5 minutes it’s quickly established that Jeong-woo is (a) a car salesman, (b) it’s his daughter’s birthday and he’s bringing a cake home with him, and (c) the elderly gas station attendant fills his car with more fuel than he asks for, so gives him 2 free bottles of water to apologize. From the moment he drives out of the gas station in the opening scene, it’s only a matter of minutes later when the tunnel he’s driving through begins to collapse around him, in an impressively rendered CG sequence which again goes for realism more than spectacle.

It’s once Jeong-woo finds himself alone, buried under half a mountainside, that we start to see the elements of Seong-hoon’s style that made A Hard Day so successful. The same streak of black humour runs throughout the perilous scenario Jeong-woo finds himself in. From the first time he manages to make contact with emergency services, and the person taking the call fails to grasp exactly how much of the tunnel has ‘caved in’, to his encounters with a mischievous Pug that’s also trapped. Contact is eventually made with the head of the rescue operation that arrives onsite, played by Oh Dal-soo, continuing his mission to appear in every other Korean movie that gets made (in 2015 alone he had roles in 6 productions). While Dal-soo constantly gets cast as the bumbling everyman, somehow he still injects enough of whatever character he’s playing to ensure his performances never blend into one, and here he’s as effective as always.

It quickly becomes apparent that Tunnel has broader intentions than just providing a straight forward tale of a man stuck in a tunnel. Ever since the Sewol ferry capsized in 2014, which resulted in 304 deaths (many of them secondary school students), followed by the government and medias subsequent poor handling of the facts in the aftermath, there’s been an increasing undercurrent of mistrust towards those in authority. This has spread to the countries cinematic output, with productions like Inside Men and Train to Busan taking the opportunity to make scathing attacks on a government which has largely lost favour with the Korean public. This trend continues in Tunnel, however it’s handled in a less angry manner than in the examples mentioned, instead using comedy to take just as effective swipes at the media and government officials.

In one particular scene, Bae Doo-na arrives on the site of the collapse for the first time, and at one point is called to meet a government official. Frantic to hear some good news, the official tells her to look in a certain direction, revealing it to be a photo opportunity for the press to grab a snap of him and the wife of the man who’s trapped together. The other officials then awkwardly step into the shot so that they can each get a photo taken with her for the press. The awkwardness is only matched by how funny it is. In another the rescue team send a drone in to gain visibility on the extent of the cave in. After the drone is airborne, Dal-soo gives the order to the press that they can activate their drones, at which point about 20 others zoom up into the air, some crashing into each other and the entrance to the tunnel in their eagerness to get in first.

It’s a completely cynical look at the way both the media and the government use tragedies to further their own personal interests, but it’s done with a razor sharp wit, easily making such scenes some of the highlights of the movie. Of course Jeong-woo is never off-screen for long, and even without any other characters to immediately interact with, his performance is completely engaging as he comes to terms with his predicament, and exactly how long he’s going to be in it. Suddenly the 2 bottles of water and birthday cake take on a significant level of importance, and the juggling act of trying to keep a cell phone battery alive for an uncertain amount of time, all bring a fitting level of tension to proceedings. Seong-hoon also wrings plenty of subtle comedy from the confined space Jeong-woo is in, such as when he decides to open a bottle of washer fluid and starts cleaning the interior of his car, simply because there’s nothing better to do.

Of course, being the most commercial movie Seong-hoon has helmed to date, it raises the tricky question of exactly how Jeong-woo is going to get out of his seemingly impenetrable burial. Like many Korean movies, regardless of all that’s come before, the tone ultimately leads to a switch towards the melodramatic. This aspect is actually handled relatively well, the main issue is that Seong-hoon aims to cram in a number of scenes regarding the bureaucracy of the rescue attempt, all of which see Jeong-woo disappear off-screen for just enough time to notice. The fact that the scenes are thrown in towards the end also hinder the pacing. From an accidental death, to the public losing interest, to the corporations decision to restart construction on a 2nd tunnel being built. None of these abruptly introduced sub-plots really add to the story, with the new characters the scenes introduce us to barely registering.

Thankfully the plot reins itself back in for the final scenes, providing an expected happy ending that, while predictable, is still very much welcome. Tunnel is clearly Seong-hoon’s most commercial feature to date, and he handles it well, faring much better than higher budgeted Korean disaster movies like 2009’s Haeundae and 2012’s The Tower. While it doesn’t feature any spectacular scenes of mass destruction or feats of heroism, instead it gets by on its sharp wit and a trio of stellar performances from Ha Jeong-woo, Bae Doo-na, and Oh Dal-soo. Its premise may be basic, but thanks to some smart storytelling and an assured sense of direction, the light at the end of the Tunnel is definitely a bright one.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 7/10

The post Tunnel (2016) Review first appeared on cityonfire.com.

The Handmaiden | DVD (Sony)

Director: Park Chan-wook
Novel By: Sarah Waters
Cast: Kim Min-hee, Ha Jung-woo, Cho Jin-woong, Kim Tae-ri, Lee Yong-Nyeo, Yoo Min-Chae 
Running Time: 144 min.

By Kyle Warner

After making his English language debut in 2013 with Stoker, Park Chan-wook returned to South Korea for his next feature film, The Handmaiden. And while obviously a Park Chan-wook film, I feel that The Handmaiden has more of a western-style than Stoker did. Stoker was Park bringing his Korean dark revenge thriller sensibilities to the west. The Handmaiden is based on a Sarah Waters’ British novel, Fingersmith, and though Park transplants the story to 1930’s Korea and gives it his own particular style, the western storytelling is always there, making this an interesting addition to Park’s filmography.

Set in Japan-occupied Korea, The Handmaiden follows the con artist Sook-hee (Kim Tae-ri) as she seeks to slip into the life and home of the reclusive Japanese heiress Lady Hideko (Kim Min-hee) with aims to claim her vast fortune. Sook-hee will be Lady Hideko’s new handmaiden and closest confidant. Lady Hideko is a hopelessly naïve young woman who’s set to marry her intimidating Uncle Kouzuki (Jo Jin-woong), who she shares her estate with. Sook-hee’s intention is to entice Lady Hideko to marry her conman comrade (Ha Jung-woo) who is posing as the well-to-do Count Fujiwara. However, though Sook-hee pushes Lady Hideko towards the count, it’s the two women who begin an attraction to one another, further complicating the plan to steal Hideko’s millions.

The Handmaiden is closer to a ‘book club’ sort of drama than any Park film that came before it, but that’s not to say that it’s lacking in chills, thrills, or a healthy dose of weirdness. The film works on a three act structure. Part 1 tells us Sook-hee’s story and we see the film from her point of view. After a shocking twist, Part 2 presents us with Lady Hideko’s story told from her point of view. Part 3 takes what we learned so far and throws it together with an extra dash of wickedness. It’s a sly film, one that keeps its secrets close, and I will divulge as little as possible in my review.

The source novel was made into a BBC miniseries in 2005 starring Sally Hawkins as the handmaiden character. And though I’ve never seen the miniseries (nor have I read the book), I’m willing to bet Park’s film is the more, ahem, mature adaptation. The Handmaiden is a sexy film. The film’s cinematography is gorgeous, the actresses are beautiful, and Park does not shy away from the lesbian sex. I feel tempted to call the film tasteful in its depiction of such scenes because, while obviously explicit, it does not feel exploitational. But the film does have a bit of a pervy streak to it.

At her uncle’s behest, Lady Hideko reads rare, literary pornography for a small gathering of upper-class gentlemen. Lady Hideko’s readings are more like performances. She acts out certain sections of the books with exaggerated performances and even saddles a wooden puppet at one point. It serves a point in the story, showing both the uncle’s perversions and Hideko’s comfort with sex and her power over men. But it’s more than just a subplot for the film. As the gentlemen watch, enthralled by tales of lust and domination, they inch to the edges of their seats in excitement. One man puts a hat over his crotch. Another keeps dabbing the sweat off his brow. The camera does not judge them harshly; it leaves the judgment to the audience. What’s interesting is that the men in the film’s audience (myself included) find themselves in a similar situation while watching the lurid love story. There is no camera to judge us, but one can sense what Park was trying to do. Among many other things, The Handmaiden is a film about voyeur thrills, and we filmgoers are counted among those who vicariously get their kicks through observing feminine sexuality.

The cast is excellent. Kim Min-hee (No Tears for the Dead) has the most complex character and her performance is nothing short of amazing. Newcomer Kim Tae-ri is also excellent, here playing the role which the audience must relate to in order to navigate the world of the film. As Count Fujiwara, Ha Jung-woo (The Yellow Sea) is really good because, like the egotistical Count himself, you believe he’s the smartest character in the room right up until the film throws a twist our way. And as Uncle Kouzuki, Jo Jin-Woong (The Admiral) is that disquieting blend of elitism and sleaze.

The Handmaiden may be a different, more mannered film for bad boy Park Chan-wook, but I take that as a good thing. The film shows the director trying new things, taking risks, and yet managing to maintain his own particular style in the process. By the end, it is impossible to imagine the film being made by anybody else. The Handmaiden is a triple layer labyrinth of sex, secrets, and lies that I consider to be one of the best films of 2016.

Kyle Warner’s Rating: 8.5/10

The post Handmaiden, The (2016) Review first appeared on cityonfire.com.

“Assassination” Korean Theatrical Poster

Director: Choi Dong-hun
Cast: Jeon Ji-hyeon, Lee Jung-Jae, Ha Jung-Woo, Cho Jin-Woong, Choi Duk-Moon, Oh Dal-Su, Heo Ji-Won, Lee Kyoung-Young, Kim Eui-Sung, Park Byung-Eun
Running Time: 139 min.

By Paul Bramhall

Director Choi Dong-hoon has built up an impressive resume since he burst onto the scene with the heist thriller The Big Swindle in 2003. With each successive movie, both the budget and the stakes have increased, with his last effort, 2013’s The Thieves, ticking all the boxes of what audiences want to see from a summer blockbuster. Assassination sees him return to the director’s chair once more to try his hand at something a little different, with a piece that revolves around espionage and spies set in 1930’s Japan occupied Korea and China.

Dong-hoon obviously clicked with a lot of the actors who worked with him on The Thieves, as a total of four key cast members return for similarly significant roles in his latest effort. Jeon Ji-hyeon takes the lead, in what can really be considered her first headlining role since 2009’s ill fated adaptation of Blood: The Last Vampire, with Lee Jeong-jae, Oh Dal-soo, and Kim Hae-sook all back on board as well. Rounding off an impressive cast are Ha Jeong-woo, Jo Jin-woong, and Choi Deok-moon.

The seven players I’ve named above though are just the tip of the iceberg, as Assassination throws a whole heap of characters into the mix, all with their own agendas and intentions, wrapped around a sprawling 140 minute runtime. Thankfully this isn’t the first time Dong-hoon has juggled so many elements at once, as demonstrated by The Thieves, which sported an identical run time and just as many characters entering in and out of proceedings. While under a lesser director Assassination could easily become an unruly mess, Dong-hoon shows an assured hand with his fifth movie, and keeps things moving along at a brisk pace.

Book marked by scenes which take place in 1949, the central story takes place in 1933. A trio of independence fighters (Ji-hyeon, Jin-woong, and Deok-moon) are brought together in Shanghai and given a mission to assassinate several high ranking Japanese officials, as well as a Korean who’s working for Japan, in Seoul. Little do they know though that the man who hired them, played by Jeong-jae, is in fact also working for the Japanese, who pays two guns for hire to take the trio out. The pair of hired guns, played by Jeong-woo and Dal-soo, believe they’re going to be killing Japanese sympathizers, setting the stage for double-crossings, revelations, and a healthy dose of action.

There’s been a streak of highly patriotic Korean movies of late, driven by the likes of The Admiral: Roaring Currents, which paint the Japanese as evil stereotypes devoid of any humanity. Assassination continues this theme, however it deserves points for making the decision to have many of the central villains actually be Koreans who’ve decided to work for the Japanese. It gives the movie a welcome layer of complexity, as the central trio are essentially going to kill their fellow countrymen, rather than a one dimensional Japanese villain who simply acts as a plot device to give a cheaply earned happy ending.

When I say welcome layer of complexity, it’s really because Assassination is first and foremost about delivering a series of high octane set pieces. Dong-hoon showed a considerable grasp of how to put together big budgeted action in The Thieves, and Assassination builds on the promise that was shown in his previous effort with a variety of entertaining sequences. Despite it’s lengthy run time, you’re never too far away from a shootout or vehicle chase. Ji-hyeon acquits herself especially well, often front and center in many of the action scenes. Whether it be running down a street while firing a machine gun, armed with a pistol while strapped into a wedding dress, or running across rooftops while wielding a sniper rifle, she conducts herself with aplomb, and is never anything less than convincing.

Indeed the action on display in Assassination sets a new bar for the quality of what we expect to see out of a Korean action flick. The many shootouts show a touch of John Woo, only without the slow motion, with surroundings being blown away and splintered by countless bullets, all with a satisfying absence of CGI. This can be appreciated the most in an extended action scene that takes place inside a grand wedding hall, which sends bullets and grenades in every direction, resulting in gratuitous amounts of collateral damage that will leave any action fan smiling. Ha Jeong-woo also gets to further develop his action persona after satisfying turns in Kundo: Age of the Rampant and The Berlin File (in which Ji-hyeon also starred), here getting to channel his inner Chow Yun Fat as he brandishes some double fisted pistol firepower.

Some viewers may draw comparisons to Kim Ji-woon’s The Good, The Bad, The Weird, in that the era and feel of both movies strike similar chords, utilizing their respective environments to allow for a series of impressive set pieces. Assassination even sees Dal-soo getting involved in a chase sequence that sees him behind the handlebars of a motorbike with an attached sidecar, a scene which will no doubt draw comparisons to the finale of Ji-woon’s western with Song Kang-ho riding an identical vehicle. However both movies stand up on their own, and if anything would make for a great double bill of Korean action.

If any criticism can be held against Assassination, it’s that the number of plot threads which are set up ultimately result in the movie lasting an additional 10 minutes beyond the point which seemed like its natural ending. While the closing minutes are by no means an after-thought, following on from the adrenalin rush of what’s come before, it’s a shame the threads couldn’t be resolved any earlier. However this is a minor gripe in what’s arguably one of the most satisfying action movies of 2015. The fact that it’s bolstered by a solid plot, which doesn’t just rely on going through the motions to get to the next big set piece, is a bonus.

Starring a sizable percentage of Korea’s top talents, high end production values, and a cast which gets to speak Korean, Mandarin, Japanese, and French, Assassination provides a rich history lesson that just happens to be told within the framework of bullets, explosions, and stunts. If only history was always this exciting.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 8.5/10

The post Assassination (2015) Review first appeared on cityonfire.com.

“Kundo: Age of the Rampant” Korean Theatrical Poster

Director: Yun Jong-Bin
Cast: Ha Jung-Woo, Kang Dong-Won, Lee Kyung-Young, Lee Sung-Min, Jo Jin-Woong, Ma Dong-Seok, Yun Ji-Hye, Ju Jin-Mo, Song Young-Chang, Jeong Man-Sik, Kim Byung-Ok, Kim Jong-Gu, Kim Seong-Gyun
Running Time: 137 min.

By Kelly Warner

I went into Kundo: Age of the Rampant expecting something like a Korean take on the Robin Hood tale. What I got was a Tarantino-infused post-modern historical action movie that tries to be both a martial arts film and a spaghetti western at the same time. There’s a whole lotta movie in Kundo’s 137 minutes.

The film opens on bodies left to rot in the fields. Birds and dogs dine on the carcasses. Decapitated heads are left on pikes. It’s a time of famine and oppression. The poor are left to beg for the smallest favors from the corrupt and cruel nobility. But there is a resistance. A Robin Hood-like gang of bandits called the Kundo put the corrupt on trial, take their riches and redistribute them among the poor.

The lowest of the low is the foolish butcher Dochi (Jung-woo Ha). Barely scraping by, Dochi is tempted by a big payday when a nobleman named Jo-yoon asks him to assassinate a whore. “She’s little different than a pig,” reasons Jo-yoon. But when Dochi backs out of the deal, he angers the nobleman and is sentenced to death. Moments before his execution, Dochi is rescued by the Kundo and is given the opportunity of joining the gang so that he may one day have his revenge.

When Dochi joins the Kundo, he transforms from the lowly butcher into an infamous fighter. Jung-woo Ha is one of Korea’s finest actors and he disappears into the character. Admittedly Dochi is not one of Ha’s most complex roles, but after this and other great performances in The Chaser and The Yellow Sea, I am convinced that Jung-woo Ha can play basically anybody.

Despite Ha’s notable screen presence, I believe the film belongs to the villain Jo-yoon as played by Dong-won Kang. I’ve never been terribly impressed by Kang in the past, but here Kang is in complete control, bringing a cool detachment to a villain that could have easily gone over the top. His villain can do more with a single cold stare than other lesser villains could do with a three page monologue.

Period pieces are all the rage in Asia right now. Some have a difficult time finding fans in the West because they focus too much on history and politics, and not enough on action. And though the plot of Kundo may make it sound like a dense retelling of Korea’s history, one full of backstabbing noblemen and political strife, Kundo’s much more focused on having a good time.

The film is self-aware, but never in an annoying way. An Ennio Morricone inspired score dominates the film. The major characters are introduced in flickering freeze frames (one is simply named ‘The Vicious Monk’). The screenplay is full of humor and the characters have a tendency of dropping some ‘motherf-ckers’ and other modern lingo to make themselves understood (one such line goes something like, “Attain your f-cking Buddhahood!”). I think that director Jong-bin Yun (Nameless Gangster) is clearly a fan of Quentin Tarantino, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say his movie is a rip-off of Tarantino’s style. Like Tarantino is fond of doing for the directors who have influenced him, Kundo: Age of the Rampant plays like a love letter to Tarantino’s films and his particular style of movie making.

Kundo: Age of the Rampant is a movie that knows it’s a movie. Now, that’s going to turn some people off who will wonder why they couldn’t just play it straight, which is a reasonable question. Personally, I like this stylistic choice as it sets Kundo apart from the rest of the historical actioners, making it a rather unique film.

On top of the surplus of style, we also get a heavy dose of well-done action. Director Yun shoots the large scale battles and the duels with equal skill. The swordplay is fast-paced and in your face, but it’s easy to follow and we never lose the characters in the action. Jung-woo Ha has an interesting fighting style as he swaggers onto the battlefield with some serious meat cleavers in either hand. And Dong-won Kang makes one believe that he is the unbeatable fighter his character requires him to be.

The film does feel a bit crowded at times. There are a lot of characters and many are not as defined as one would like them to be. It also takes a long time for Dochi to announce himself as the hero of the story. And one could argue that Jong-bin Yun would’ve been better off coming up with his own particular style instead of so openly mimicking others. Overall though, the movie works. It’s often dark and violent but it’s a lot of fun thanks to its playful style and an awesome villain.

I’ve read that when Kundo debuted in South Korea it broke the opening weekend box office record… only to have its record beaten in the very next week. Whether that says anything about the movie—like does it have staying power and will we remember it a year from now?—I have no idea. One thing it helps make clear is that this is an important time in South Korean film. The South Korean film industry is cranking out great, stylish movies made by some truly gifted filmmakers and the audiences are showing up. Kundo: Age of the Rampant may have clearly been inspired by international cinema, but it makes for an interesting addition to Korea’s ever-expanding list of quality films.

Kelly Warner’s Rating: 7/10

The post Kundo: Age of the Rampant (2014) Review first appeared on cityonfire.com.

“The Yellow Sea” Korean Theatrical Poster

AKA: The Murderer
Director: Na Hong-jin
Cast: Ha Jung-Woo, Kim Yun-Seok, Chul-Min Lee, Seong-Ha Cho, Jae-hwa Kim, Kwak Do-Won
Running Time: 140 min.

By Jeff Bona

The director of 2008’s The Chaser returns with The Yellow Sea, a down and dirty thriller that doesn’t exactly have the most catchiest title – personally, I would have titled it The Chaser Part II: Even More F*cked Up, which is pretty much the gist of the entire movie.

Gu-nam (Ha Jung-woo) is a depressed cab driver who lives in Yanji City, a region between North Korea, China and Russia. It’s been six months since his wife left Yanji City to take a job in South Korea to make more money. Sadly, Gu-nam hasn’t heard back from her ever since. Where is she? Why hasn’t she come back? Did she take off with another guy? Unable to support himself and his daughter with his low paying salary, Gu-nam turns to gambling, where he makes matters worse by running up a serious debt with thugs who operate the local gambling den.

Aware of Gu-nam’s financial problems, a gangster (Yun-seok Kim) offers him a one-time gig, which involves crossing the Yellow Sea to assassinate a man living in Seoul. In return, the gangster promises to pay off Gu-nam’s debt upon delivered proof of the deceased man’s finger. Gu-nam accepts the job; after all, not only will his debts be paid off, but it will be the perfect opportunity for him to track down his missing wife.

If you’ve seen I Saw the Devil and The Man from Nowhere, and you’re begging for more carnage, then The Yellow Sea is right up your alley; just keep in mind that it’s not as polished as the other two, which isn’t a bad thing. With The Yellow Sea, you won’t find any clean-cut Korean guys prancing around in tailored suits; nor is there any elongated knife fights or martial arts scenes edited with grace and pizazz. What you will find is pure grit, brutal violence and agonizing situations. In short, the The Yellow Sea is like a uncontrollable pit bull that’s just been let out of its cage.

If The Chaser proved that Na Hong-jin was a director to watch out for, then The Yellow Sea proves he’s one of the best filmmakers in the game. With just two movies under his belt, I already consider him to be up there with Park Chan-wook (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance) and Kim Ji-woon (A Bittersweet Life). Come to think of it, I actually prefer Na Hong-jin over the latter two in a heartbeat. Na Hong-jin has a more raw approach to filmmaking. He doesn’t rely on style or novelty to reinforce his craft, yet he still delivers an edgy intensity that very few filmmakers are able to capture. Mind you, this is only his second film, but hopefully he’ll remain consistent.

Na Hong-jin reunites himself with both Yun-seok Kim and Jung-woo Ha, the two leading men from The Chaser. If you’re a straight guy, Yun-seok Kim’s performance will having you questioning your sexuality. If you’re a woman, you’ll be fantasizing about him doing inappropriate things to you. I’m not talking about his physical appearance either; I’m talking about the badassness of his character, his ability as an actor and his overall execution. I’ve only seen him in two movies, but he’s already made it on my top 10 list of favorite actors of all time.

Jung-woo Ha doesn’t get to have as much fun as Yun-seok Kim, but he’s just as important to what makes The Yellow Sea so great. Not only is his character bleak to begin with, but he’s also a troubled soul looking for a way out of his harsh position. Once again, the chemistry between him and Yun-seok Kim’s contrasting personalities work, just as it did with The Chaser. Because of Jung-woo’s shaved head, he looks like a completely different person than he did in The Chaser. It wasn’t until 80 minutes into The Yellow Sea, that I realized he was the same actor.

My only complaint I have about The Yellow Sea is there are a few minor things, within its simple plot, that went over my head. These confusing elements were responsible for making the film’s duration a whopping 140 minutes (even The Godfather was only 35 minutes longer!). In a perfect world, I think some of it could have been simplified or cut out completely; hence, having a shorter, tighter film.

Even so, The Yellow Sea is still a must see. What really breaks my heart is I have to wait another few years for Na Hong-jin’s next film. What a drag.

Jeff Bona‘s Rating: 9/10

The post Yellow Sea, The (2010) Review first appeared on cityonfire.com.

“The Chaser” Japanese Movie Poster

AKA: Chugyeogja
Director: Na Hong-jin
Cast: Kim Yun-Seok, Ha Jung-Woo, Seo Yeong-Hee, Park Hyo-Joo, Jung In-Gi, Jo Duk-Je
Running Time: 123 min.

By HKFanatic

It took me a second viewing to realize it but “The Chaser” is probably one of the best films I’ve ever seen. It’s also an extremely frustrating experience. “The Chaser” is a thriller that refuses to behave like one as writer/director Na Hong-jin embraces the sad and pathetic nature of existence. The screenplay takes its inspiration from the real life case of South Korea’s worst serial killer. As the police narrow in on the murderer, they continually bungle the operation due to their own incompetence or bureaucracy tying their hands. Viewers can’t be blamed for posing the question: are these plot contrivances meant to express how absurd the universe can be or merely a way to increase the film’s runtime? Ultimately, I’ve decided “The Chaser” is a dark, dark film that delivers popcorn thrills at the same time Na Hong-jin acknowledges that life is often without hope.

The main character of the film is an ex-cop turned pimp, played by Kim Yun-seok. When several of his prostitutes go missing, he suspects they’re being kidnapped and sold off. That is, until he puts the pieces together and realizes they’ve all recently seen the customer. When Kim Yun-seok tracks the client (Ha Jung-woo) down, the two begin a cat-and-mouse game that sends their night spiraling out of control. Meanwhile, across town, an angry protestor tosses feces at the mayor of Seoul. Yes, these two plot points do converge!

What “The Chaser” excels at is atmosphere. It is a film shot entirely at night and yet the image never looks too grainy or dark to see. It completely immerses the viewer in that vibe of being behind the wheel of a black Jaguar as it cruises down the bustling streets of Seoul at night. The sense of ‘life after dark’ is unparalleled here.

To back up the crisp cinematography and directing are two excellent performances from Yun-seok and Jung-woo. To say that these two men carry the film would be an understatement. Yun-seok begins the story as someone not exactly deserving of the audience’s sympathy, being a money-grubbing pimp and all, but he undergoes a transformation into a protagonist the audience feels vindicated in rooting for. Jung-woo brings to life his worthy adversary, possibly one of the creepiest killers to ever grace the screen – a make who looks and acts normal on the surface but below is completely deranged.

Much like Ryoo Seung-wan’s 2010 film “The Unjust,” “The Chaser” portrays Korean society as entirely shot through with corruption and strife. Bumbling detectives make every kind of mistake in trying to catch the killer; the top brass only care about their image in the media; and the only person we have to root for is a low-budget pimp.

But that’s exactly what makes “The Chaser” work – the film doesn’t play fair. Much like “I Saw the Devil” or “Memories of Murder,” it’s a thriller that seems to get off on denying viewers the catharsis that is expected of the revenge genre. The fact that it became the #3 highest grossing film of all time in Korea despite its bleak subject matter is a testament to Na Hong-jin’s talent as a filmmaker. He’s got us right in the palm of his hand during the film’s entire 125 minute runtime – and we love him for it. “The Chaser” is a film that fits comfortably alongside other modern Korean classics and it’s one that cinema buffs will be talking about for quite some time.

HKFanatic’s Rating: 8.5/10

By Mighty Peking Man

What a sigh of relief. A Korean thriller that’s not trying to be some Hollywood bullshit with big explosions, insane action scenes and cg-effects. Come to think of it, I don’t think there’s one gunshot in the whole movie. But then again, I’m talking out of my ass since The Chaser isn’t exactly that type of flick. It’s more of a thriller-drama but with enough sloppy beat-ups and gruesome visuals to keep the action-addict happy.

The Chaser is about an ex-cop turned pimp (yes, you read that right) who realizes his “bitches” are sporadically disappearing one by one. He backtracks through his paperwork and figures out that the latest missing girl was sent to the same guy the previous missing victim was sent to…

That’s basically all I’m going to tell you about the plot. Telling you any more would be too much typing for my lazy ass; more importantly, I’ll probably give too much away in the process.

The Chaser is director Na Hong-jin’s first full-length feature film (prior to this, he received some buzz for some short film he made). I like his directing style and his approach to story-telling. He’s a director with balls and not some lame filmmaker who has to reference the feel of Hollywood movies to please the mass audience. I’ll definitely be keeping a close eye out for his work.

Both the lead actors (Kim Yun-Seok and Ha Jung-Woo,) put on amazing performances. I could tell you right now that Yun-seok Kim is special. He’s got that certain something about him. He’s one of those cool Asian cats that you just love seeing on screen. You know, another Chow Yun Fat, Song Kang-Ho, Lau Ching Wan or Tony Leung… get my drift? I really should get off my ass and seek out more of his films.

The Chaser is entertaining as hell. Paced just right. It’s brutal, dark, funny, bloody and beautiful. The best flick I’ve seen this year. Period.

Mighty Peking Man’s Rating: 10/10

The post Chaser, The (2008) Review first appeared on cityonfire.com.