Novo Mundo

There's nothing more to say in order to recommend it, but IMDb requires me to so here goes.

If this were made in Hollywood, we wouldn't even be calling it Korean Godfather or Korean Infernal Affairs or a cross between the two. It is its own beast and excels at the most fundamental aspects of film-making in a way even the aforementioned films weren't always able to.

It's not perfect, I'd give it a 8.5 out or 9 out of 10 if I really wanted to be critical but it manages to carve out a place for itself in one of cinema's deepest genres. We haven't seen this kind of heavily character drama driven take on the genre before (and lucky for us, it was done so well!).

I am surprised that more people (especially my friends from South Korea) haven't reviewed this excellent movie so far. Perhaps they know of better Korean cinema to view and review!! I for one am from India (settled in the US) and big fan of Korean films, which were introduced to me by a Korean friend of mine during my graduate school days here in the US. Anyhow, this is the only Korean movie I could lay my hands on in a theater close to me (I generally see Korean movies on Netflix or home video). Perhaps it is my excitement of having watched a Korean movie in a movie theater after so long which has me biased in favor of this film. But I think not, as the rating right now on IMDb is 7.7/10. Anyways, here goes.

This is an amazing movie. Like the only other reviewer here has said, it mixes elements of "The Godfather" with "The Departed". It also reminded me of a Hindi art house movie which is not so well known (unfortunately) called "Droh Kaal" (1994 by director Govind Nihalani). Park Hoon-Jung being an accomplished writer (I loved his "I saw the devil"), does craft an original and engaging story. Violence is heavy handed when it is depicted and makes you cringe, but I don't mind that personally. I loved the costumes (every gangster in the movie wears designer suits which should be the envy of Wall Street executives). In fact, its the law enforcement officials who are comparatively shabbily dressed. The feel and atmosphere is subtly captured by cinematographer Chung Chung-hoon. I love his camera work, which was only recently at display in "Stoker" (by Park chan-wook), which I saw the day it was out. It was also a treat to see Choi min-shik ("Oldboy") again after "I saw the devil".

Overall, the movie kept me on the edge of my seat and was really entertaining. It is definitely much better than what Hollywood is churning out these days (with a few exceptions of course). Let me hope they don't butcher my favorite "Oldboy". I would highly recommend "New World", please do go and see it in a theater to really get the feel (like I said earlier, the cinematography is top-notch and needs to be seen on a big screen to be believed!).

what a great Korean movie! the screenplay is shockingly and amazingly good. the scenario, the twists of the plots...OMG, just like a Russian artifact egg, so many smaller eggs one after another hidden inside another; a perfect onion, so many layers inside one after another, so subtly and so purposely wrapped each other. this is by far the most fantastic undercover film ever made after 'the infernal affair' and the adaptation 'the departed'. the special effects and the stunt of this film are also top notched. thank god there's no disgusting overly used visual effects done by computer, but more convincing stunts. the performances of all the actors, female or male, are also did great jobs. pay attention to the guy who played with the plant leaves, broken it, then sneakly turned the vase around a little bit to hide the broken leaf, that scene, well, was so good. the twists of the plot would make you sit up a bit straighter to the edge of your sofa or chair, 'cause it's that thrilling and suspenseful. love this movie and Hollywood, just give me a break, will you guys, don't adapt it into an inferior film again.

Maybe it's a little excessive to give this movie a 10/10 rating, but GOD it is so amazing.

1. Fantastic cast of top-notch Korean actors who DELIVER it hot n' ready in under 30 minutes.

2. Cinematography, excellent.

3. Script, wow. Never a line delivered that I cringed at how corny it was, which I find tends to happen more often for me watching a foreign film. Unlike so many American films, there's real character development and the story may be filled with some of the best actions scenes and Korea mafia tension you'd expect, but the greatest moments are the intimacies between the characters in the film. You think you're getting an action flick, but it is so much more.

I cannot recommend this movie more than I already have, I saw this almost by accident and went in with little to no expectations of quality or anything of the like. I really went because I recognize the actor from Oldboy, who is in his own right amazing in every role I've seen him in.

I don't know if it was coincidence or these actors choose a great movie all the time but when I see a movie with Hwang Jungmin, who played Jeong Chang, or Choi Minshik, chief Kang, I automatically know that it's going to be a good movie.

I didn't like Lee Jungjae at times when he was trying to correctly pronounce each syllable, but he played the role superbly.

As for the story-line and how the conclusion of the movie unfolds, wow. I was lost in words. The same feeling I got when I watched Shiri about 13 years ago.

"When everyone turned their back on me, he called me a brother."

Awesome, Awesome, Awesome. No other word can better describe how the movie is.