City of Violence

City of violence is an action movie. And when it comes to action movies the plot isn't that important. At least as long as it never forgets to be in function of the action and not the other way around. But I was surprised to see that, (although not very original) the plot was quite interesting. The actors also did a great job in carrying this plot. They were believable as childhood friends who reunite after the death of one them. Doo-hong Jung (Arahan) who has the lead as the friend who is a cop also is the martial arts director for this movie. And it shows. He choreographed some excellent fighting scenes. Especially at the ending you will be in for a treat. One of the highlights of the movie is one big action scene in he middle of the city where Doo-hong Jung has to fight several gangs of kids on his own. He does gets assistance of a friend, Seok-hwan played Seung-wan Ryoo who is the director of this film. Not to be confused with his brother (actor Seung-beom Ryu from Arahan) who looks very similar to him! When these two get together the fun really begins. I don't know if it was meant as a parody or tribute to The Warriors, but it was sure a spectacular sight to see the Korean hoodlums dressed as the gangs from that movie. They were just as dangerous and menacing. The good mix of comedy, drama and action makes this a movie that has to be seen. It's one big and fun ride!

Policeman Tae-su (Doo-hong Jung) returns to his hometown for the funeral of murdered childhood friend Wang-jae, where he is reunited with old pals Pil-ho (Beom-su Lee), Dong-hwan (Seok-yong Jeong) and Seok-hwan (Seung-wan Ryoo). Upon investigating Wang-jae's murder, Tae-su discovers that it was one of his own circle of friends who committed the crime.

The Koreans have given us some damn fine cinema in recent years, and having heard good things about The City of Violence, my expectations were running extremely high.

Which is probably where I went wrong.

Rather than being absolutely blown away by all aspects of the film, as I had hoped, I was merely entertained on a superficial level: the chaotic fight scenes are fun but uninspired (a few original, well choreographed 'killer moves' would have seriously improved matters); the drama is OK, but kinda clichéd, with the 'inseparable childhood friends divided as adults' theme having been done many times before; and the stylish visual touches employed by the director, whilst admittedly cool, do little to help one follow the plot and are used a tad too liberally for my liking.

The film also has a tendency to flip rather uncomfortably between comic book action and more realistic violence, with the film's heroes emerging relatively unscathed from a battle against 'Warriors'-style gangs of teenagers one minute, but taking on knife wielding gangsters with suitably bloody results the next.

I rate The City of Violence a reasonable 6.5 out of 10, generously rounded up to 7 for its particularly loathsome bad-guy, who finally gets his comeuppance after a prolonged battle inside a restaurant.

A must see for any fans of Asian extreme cinema. This is all that Kill Bill was unable to be and shows that Tarantino is but a poor imitator of the best Asia has to offer.

20 years after 5 childhood best friends close a bottle of alcohol with a serpent inside one of the five, Wang-Jae (Kil-Kang Ahn) is murdered by a bunch of young hooligans. Before his death Wang-Jae was an ex-mafioso boss, that settled down and opened a bar, still remaining an influential figure in the neighbourhood. Tae-su is a Seul cop, the best on the force and a real terror for everyone that has to do with crime. Dong-hwan (Seok-yong Jeong), a geeky teacher and Seok-hwan (Seung-wan Ryoo), a small-time crook, are brothers jointly caring for their 60-year old mother. Pil-ho (Beom-su Lee) is the crime lord of the city after Wang-Jae's retirement.

After the funeral Tae-Su in search of the killers of Wang-Jae decides to stay for a bit longer in the city. It quickly turns out that the case will force brother to go against brother and for the best friends to fight each other...

The movie lost a couple of points for not being able to properly balance the comedic with the dramatic with certain fragments standing out as if from a totally different movie. Also some of the fight sequences were too long and tiresome. There are better Asian movies out there, but still a recommended, if flawed movie. And no Tarantino hack can capture the strengths of the Asian revenge flick.

I just cant quite put my finger on the great work of this director and these actors...it just kicks @$$! The action packed fight sequences in this film have so much tooth and nail intensity that i can almost feel the pain...esp. the sequence of the hall of gangsters with knives.

"The City of Violence" had gotten some fairly great reviews on Amazon, that is one of the main motives for why I bought it, that and also because I enjoy Asian cinema.

And now having seen "The City of Violence", I must say that I was thoroughly entertained and somewhat surprised by the movie. Initially, I found the story to be a little bit jumpy and not all that easy to grasp at first, as there is a lot of jumping to and fro and a heap of characters thrown into your face all at once. But once the dust settles and the movie trots on, it becomes really great. The story really isn't the main issue to carry the movie; the action and fighting is.

The action and fighting scenes and sequences were really nicely choreographed and executed. Lots of adrenaline and in-your-face fighting here. It is not the type of action as seen in many Chinese action movies, with wires and crazy jumping going on, no! This is done very realistic and believable. Though I do wonder how one manages to stay afoot after receiving such a beating as the two main characters did towards the end and final showdown (I guess they just had that Jean Claude Van Damme gene in them, eh?).

The people cast for the various roles were doing really great jobs with their roles, and I think it was nice to see so many unfamiliar faces on the cast list, which for me, means there are no associations to prior movies and roles hanging in the air. I enjoyed the performances by all people in "The City of Violence".

"The City of Violence" is a movie that you just have to watch if you are a fan of Asian action movies, it is an amazing Korean movie that is well worthy up along side some of the 'classic' Hong Kong action movies. And "The City of Violence" goes to prove that action doesn't have to come from Hollywood. And speaking of action, then the final showdown at the restaurant was one of the best fighting scenes I have ever witnessed in a movie, it just went on and on (but in a good way) and it was done so nicely.

Thumbs up for this movie, way up!