The Bad Guys: Reign of Chaos

No pun intended - and I had no idea there was a TV show before they did the movie. I assume that the show is good too. It has my favorite Bud Spencer "clone" - Korean clone I reckon is also something one could say. And I really say it as endearing as I can - of course he is not an exact replica. He is his own man - he just reminds me of him, stature and all that.

Having said all that, the movie is way more than just him. And while the story is quite paper thin and very well known, it is character moments and action/comedy beats that will win you over. Some of them (containing both action and comedy) belong to the actor I have mentioned.

The ending will not really surprise you - well the "twist" they have reserved for you. By then you will have fallen in love with the .. well "Bad Guys" ... no pun intended and no second thoughts needed either!

The film's plot is about a policeman putting together a team of imprisoned criminals who were once good at their job to catch bad guys, in return for decreased jail time.

The storyline is simplistic and quite predictable and the movie starts out slow when introducing the characters and their backstories. The characters at some point can be annoying especially the lady No-soon. The action and fight sequences are fantastic, and fun to watch but they're very far-fetched especially toward the climax where they take on at least a hundred henchmen. The villains are clichèd but are terrifying and threatening enough so that does the job. The cinematography is good; it captures the intensity and struggle of the fight scenes well with some close up and long shots. The soundtrack and effects are satisfactory. And the performances are all good.

All in all, there's nothing refreshing about Bad guys, but if you're in for entertainment, you're surely be entertained. 6/10.

I gave it 6 stars because Dong-seok Ma is always fun to watch, otherwise I would have given it 5 stars. It's not a boring movie, there are some cool fight scenes, but the story is not very exciting and there's just something missing to make it special and interesting. I also didn't like the cliché "strong" female role they seem to have copied from Hollywood movies. It's so tedious to watch a woman beat up men and act like one of the boys in this try-hard pseudo-cool way.

You can watch it, but don't expect too much.

I started watching this Korean movie for the presence of the always great actor Dong-seok Ma, a big dude version of Arnie. He is always fun to watch, but this movie unfortunately has a lot of flaws...

The bad: the action is the main point of my criticism. It has got way too much talk and way too little action. Half an hour could have easily been cut OUT of this story. And the few figthing scenes that we do get to see are average at best, which is kinda disappointing. There really is only 1 truck disaster scene which was impressive.

More bad: the characters arent true to life. Of course one shouldnt take these movies seriously but SOME kind of credibility would enhance the joy of watching it.

Lacking severely in thrill or suspense. A few jokes are okay. But the biggest fault with this movie is way too much boring talk and way too little original riveting action.

Lazy evening, good pop corn, this is the right movie to add to the mix.

It has a good balance of deadpan comedy and over the top action, it has the usual Korean production values and a great roster of well known faces delivering manichean characters, no risks of brain clusters but a definitive zygomatic exercise.

To sum it up, if you've done your monthly duty of high brow movie going, treat yourself to this couple hours of pure entertainment.