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For a couple of years now, I'd worn down my region 3 DVD copy of "No Blood No Tears" and nearly despaired when the thin plastic at the center of the DVD cracked, making it hard to play. Thankfully a Region 1 DVD edition is now available, and we can all enjoy director Ryu Seong Won's fun, Tarantino-esquire crime caper/action comedy.

In a nutshell, "No Blood No Tears" is about two down-and-out women, who spy a chance to make some quick money, enough to change their dead-end lives, inadvertently setting off a six-sided gang war over the missing funds. The film is also noteworthy for the first on-screen appearance of South Korea's most accomplished action director/martial arts choreographer Jeon Du Hong ("Fighter in the Wind, Arahan") as "The Silent Man", a mob enforcer.

Stylishly shot in browns, reds and inky blacks, "No Blood No Tears" only drawbacks are two chase scenes, one on foot, the other a car chase, that are a bit unconvincing. Otherwise, "No Blood No Tears" is really fun stuff. It's definitely worth a try, if nothing else for the impromptu "cage match" between Jeon's "silent man" and Jeong's "Bulldog" a washed up ex-boxer, one of the best fight scenes I've seen in some time.

Dok-bul is a gangster who runs dog fights. He abuses his girlfriend, Su-ji, and so she decides to steal a bag full of money from him. She gets the help of Kyeong-seon (Hye-yeong Lee), a taxi driver who used to be a safe cracker and has been trying to go straight. The other significant character is Kim Geum-bok, who is generally referred to as "KGB."

While the plot has been compared to "Bound," with the two women leads ganging up on the boyfriend, this film is far less coherent than that film. Basically, everyone is after the money, and the film revolves around a number of very well done Hong Kong-style fight scenes, complete with slow motion with water and/or dirt in the air, wire work, and some swirling camera moves. If you can forgive the simplistic story, these scenes plus the performance of Hye-yeong Lee make the film worth seeing.

Seen on 11/6/2002 at the 2002 Hawaii International Film Festival.

Although at times I found the movie too dark to see what exactly was going on, I thought it was well written and well played.

The cast of characters is wide, but like Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, it all makes sense in the end. And it's funny, too. The action scenes are...quite intense, and not being knowledgeable about martial arts beyond 'that's cool!', I was really impressed.

All in all, I recommend it!

No Blood No Tears, the second feature by Corean action auteur, Ryu Seung Wan, isn't so much an action picture, but more of a pulp noir/caper movie like a number of the films of Guy Ritchie and Quentin Tarantino.

The story itself features a rather large cast of characters, but our protagonists are two women, one with an abusive ex-boxer boyfriend turned criminal and the other an ex-con turned taxi-driver who owes some gangsters some money. A somewhat complicated scheme is hatched by multiple parties to steal money from an illegal dog-fighting event and it appears as though multiple gangs are involved, as well as the police, some wannabe criminals. Once the scheme begins, all the parties go for the bag of money and multiple double crosses are revealed, along with fists flying, feet running and a whole lot of people getting beaten up and/or killed. All of which is clear, even if it's a little chaotic at times.

Humor is present in the film, more in the form of irony or just people (or the audience) reacting to the madness that's occurring, but it's not a comedy. The action is stylish and some of the choices in direction, including some crazy tracking over surprisingly long choreographed fight sequences, can be surprising both in effectiveness and audacity. The art direction is also notable, the film being drenched in dark tones, perfectly setting the atmosphere.

I think all thesps do a good job with the increasingly deranged boyfriend being the most surprising of all as his character changes. It's not an easy film to watch due to the heaping of physical non-glorified violence, so those that can't take such images should generally stay away. Also, if you don't pay attention or try to do something else while watching this film, you might lose track of what's going on due to the expansiveness of the cast. And things do get quite chaotic when multiple groups are encountering each other (and also quite amusing as well, in a maddening "can it really get any crazier?" kind of way).

Fans of crime/heist movies with a little grit and humor, like those of the aforementioned directors will find a lot to like here. I personally enjoyed the insanity, the comedy, some kick ass violence, but I did wish it would've relented just a little on some of the pummeling that happened. It sometimes just got brutal to watch such an unfair match-up. But overall, I enjoyed this energized, entertaining, funny sequence of increasingly crazy events. 8/10.

Mix several parts "Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels," a dash of "Go," a smidgen of "True Romance," and fights as brutal as "Fight Club" (but with women giving and taking beatings as much or moreso than the men) -- put it all through the filter of a Korean gangster film and you have "No Blood, No Tears," a tour de force by hot young director Seung-wan Ryoo ("Die Bad"; "Crying Fist").

The plot is complex. But not so that you can't follow what is going on as it happens. Don't plan on being two jumps ahead, however. Just let the movie come to you and you will be rewarded.

The whole issue of the heist and most of the fights (which are pretty brutal) don't really come into play until the second half of the film, but there is plenty of good stuff in the first half to get you there.

The story is centered around two good female leads. Hye-yeong Lee plays Kyeong-seon, who owes the local neighborhood loan shark a lot of money. She's got a certain past and tends to solve problems by a beer bottle across the head or a kick to the gut. Then we have Su-ji (played by Do-yeon Jeon)--the frequently smacked around moll of a low-level gangster. A chance encounter puts them together and gets the wheels turning on how they can make off with a whole lot of the high-level gangster's money.

There are double crosses, triple crosses, and lots of surprises along the way. A multitude of other characters play important roles. Inept police detectives; idiotic street punks who switch back and forth from being informants for the police and trying to get in on the goods themselves; loan collectors who don't know if they should start taking off fingers or sit down and eat lunch with the debtor. Perhaps most impressive is a gangster tough (credited as "Silent Man") played by famed martial arts action director Doo-hong Jung. He has a great fight scene where he really gets to strut his stuff.

If you are tired of the same old Hollywood plots, fights, and chases, do yourself a favor and seek this film out.