Running Wild

I like Korean action cinema. They don't have to hide behind US Blockbusters, quite the contrary, there are movies that excel some of the Hollywood fare. But this movie is not quite up to that task, which is a shame.

The outline overall is quite good, the main actors are real enough (although their motives and intentions might be unclear and stay that way for some western audience members). The action set pieces are good, but a bit too shaky for my taste. A previous reviewer compared this movie to the wonderful "A bittersweet Life". I'd steer away from that comparison. A bittersweet Life is much more philosophical than this movie is, but more about that movie under it's own IMDb page (I highly recommend you to watch "A bittersweet Life")

What? The Korean viewers are satisfied with such a cheep feeble imitation? Such a pity! It has a tremendous amount of pathos, authors are trying to squeeze a tears, but it doesn't work. Why? Look, there is a marvellous Korean movie in the genre: Public Enemy (Gonggongui jeog (original title), 2002). It was so impressive because it has a strong charge of dark humour in it. It's some kind of comedy from behind of which appeared the tragedy. It creates a sound contrast and effect, it makes the fictional characters believable. And why Running Wild (2006) doesn't work? Because it is uncreative set of clichés, poorly linked, unnecessary and affected dialogs, flat non-realistic characters (even if the actors are good and attractive), stupid behavior and fighting tactics (the main hero have failed almost every fight, but he, to everybody's surprise, is still alive and still arrogant — may be he's just incredibly stupid? assault team stuffs single target with bullets and keep shooting even when target already turns in a mess — may be they are lately not so busy and feel bored?)… And all this are taken bloody seriously. O, man! But in hands of Master it could be not a feeble imitation, but a really movable story.

'Running Wild' stars Kwon Sang Woo (Love So Divine) as chain-smoking jaded homicide detective Jang, who has lost faith in the judicial system and now pursues a maverick line of police inquiry. He's after a cruel crime lord called Yu, but thus far he's been unable to pin the guy down. Also after Yu is an elite prosecutor, Oh, played by Yoo Ji Tae (Old Boy). In contrast to Jang, this character is obsessive that rules and procedures must be obeyed. I think you can guess the next bit! Jang and Oh's paths cross and this mismatched pair form an uneasy alliance to bring the bad guy down. But to do this, they have to fight fire with fire and break the rules.

This sounds quite good on paper but sadly it doesn't work on screen. Maybe it was too ambitious as a directorial debut from Kim Sung Soo and most certainly it was miscast. Kwon Sang Woo is best known for light romantic comedies and a host of tear-jerking TV dramas in which he excels. I can't blame the actor if he wants to break away from that mould, but somehow he's just too handsome. So having unkempt hair, sporting an incongruous moustache and shouting a lot doesn't convince me that he's been through hell and high water in a police department.

There are a lot of action scenes, most of which sadly fail to impress. Apparently, director Kim Sung Soo is a protégé of Park Chan Wook. He still has a lot to learn. If you want to see a great Korean film about a maverick cop, then check out 'Public Enemy'.

A very passionate cop with low impulse control and a burning hatred for gangsters and a principled prosecutor team up to take down a mob boss. There is some great acting, some brutal fight scenes and some touching family drama, but the movie doesn't really have any suspense, it drags on for too long and the story stops being exciting after the first half.

Another OK Korean movie. A fine police drama, but without the cool fights. Nah, they don't kung-fu-or-whatever they way throughout the movie, they are regular dudes.

Some parts actually left me with a huge knot in the throat. I liked the acting.

Plot is fine and nothing special, but it has its nice aftermath. An OK movie to watch on a Sunday while drinking a few cold-ones.