Banghwanghaneun Kalnal

South Korean trademark genre "Revenge Thriller" is back with Jeong-ho Lee's "Broken" based on the novel by Japanese novelist Keigo Higashino.

A widowed father Lee Sang Hyeon (Jeong Jae Yeong) is seeking vengeance after her only daughter is raped and murdered. He is utterly disgruntled by ineptitude of police until he finds a clue about the murderers, he takes the law in his own hands and kills one of the murderers. Now he becomes a fugitive and detective Eok-Gwan (Lee Sung-Min) is in his pursuit. Broken is a carefully crafted film with gloomy and revolting notions. It raises questions about juvenile felony and adult crimes. It rather blemishes of Korean law regarding juvenile delinquency. Is it veracious to kill minors who are involved in heinous crimes because Korean Law does not have a rigorous imprisonment system of minors? We can hear a lot of conversations in the movie regarding the moral or ethical verdict.

"Broken" unveils many contemporary concerns: adolescent bullying in schools, teenage prostitution and incompetent judiciary system. Jeong-ho Lee makes you embroil up with the characters and their dilemma is felt in every manner. The begrimed mood goes very well with immaculate cinematography.

The actors are perfect in their roles; every character has been played with utmost solemnity. Lee Sang Hyeon gives a stunning performance as a devastated and unforgiving father.

"Broken" is a thoughtful look at vehemence and violence with use of definitive elements of film-making.

My Vote 7.5/10

Pretty darn good. I thought the acting in this was great. I loved all the rain and snow scenes. The were shot nicely and really created a somber atmosphere. The lead male gave a moving performance. His portrait of grief, shock and somber irrationality really pulled me into his character. The story was solid enough to keep me engaged and I am glad I came across it.

But a bit too over dramatic , however the plot , writing, etc are all good

8/10.

Story, Character, Scene everything is so good...but in the end of the movie....i was so disappointed.....movie was good but storytelling is not good

This movie was a bit stale for me. The constant focus on the emotionally dark, bleak and nasty parts of the world when involving the loss of a loved one is getting a bit old. Especially when it comes to Korean films, which focuses on the dark side of things in a lot of cases. Watching this movie was like watching a rehash of other Korean movies that deals with vengeance and the loss of a loved one. It has been done so many times, I lost count of it. And there is almost nothing that makes this one stand out from the rest. Yes, I did have empathy towards the father that lost his daughter to sadistic teenagers. And yes, I did like the message about how messed up it is how certain criminals will get off with basically a tap on the wrist. Also how it gives a message about teenage deliquency. However not only did movie started to get really tedious, it really seemed to drag like really bad after the first 1 and 30 minutes. It's like they were trying really hard to make this movie at least 2 hours long (which is not a good thing). Again the directing is well done and it does get emotional near the end because of the sense of empathy you will feel towards the father of this story. But it all seemed so rehashed and narrow.

6.5/10