User reviews

Fans of Lee Min Ho may want to tune into this watchable violent explicit gangster movie set in the 1970s corruption world of Seoul property development. At first it may seem hard to imagine the romantic comedy drama actor in such a gritty role. But he is quite good. Kim Rae Won is better here than in more romantic roles. His face isn't right for romance. There are some out of place explicit love scenes.

Main fault is that there are too many characters. Don't like that couldn't keep straight which gangster or politician was doing what to whom. Fewer cast members would have been better. The property deals were interesting.

The fight scenes are quite real looking except the top especially funeral scene feels laughable.

South Korea, early-1970s. The government decides to redevelop the Gangnam area south of Seoul, an area that is currently essentially a shanty town. This redevelopment will mean wealth for property owners and developers and corrupt politicians waste no time in feathering their nests. Also into this vacuum steps several criminal gangs, fighting over land, and often working on behalf of the politicians. Caught up in this is a resident of Gangnam, Jong- dae, who discovers that by joining one of the gangs he can pull himself up out of his poverty.

Had heaps of potential. There are similarities with The Godfather - the turf war, the gangster connection, the unwilling civilian who becomes a crime lord, the sweeping scale of the drama. However, that's about where the similarities end. While The Godfather was a cinematic masterpiece, Gangnam Blues is mediocre.

The biggest problem is that it is unfocused. Writer-director Ha Yoo tries to cram in too many stories and sub-plots, minimizing engagement with individual characters and making the movie overly long and padded. Focusing on the lead character and keeping detours in the plot to a minimum would have made for a much better movie.

On the plus side, the movie is quite gritty and the action scenes quite good. Reasonably entertaining, in spells.

I normally is a big fan of Korean crime movie, and most of movie I've watched before are quite satisfying. This one is really a amateur movie, the one I regret wasting my time watching it. First off, Lee Minho just doesn't suit to play in this role, apart form his face, who suit more to a soft character role, his acting for crime and fighting just weak. Don't do the mistake, leave the softer actor for soft character role. They are more suited to love/drama movie.

Secondly, the story just so not interesting, too many bosses at too little scene and time, I had difficulty to determine which is Jang, Yang, Hul, etc. The movie doesn't intro each of them well in the story line. They all shown up in a group, make it hard to identify the person in our mind in later scene when the name was brought up.

This is my first IMDb review, and the reason i decided to write this because I'm so disappointed for this movie.

Fight scenes are well timed and performed (as only Asian cinema can do) but the plot didn't surprise me. My six stars are for that reason.

I expected more about Lee Min Ho but there's not original at his acting: it feels like he always does it the sme way. Maybe the korean movies fans will enjoy this film (at the cast there are many known actors) but for the rest of us it's not that interesting.

The regular gangster movies have highlighted several group fights. Unfortunately, the Mafia inside all have one mind, do not know tolerance, do not know politics. At the beginning of the film, there were too many characters, too many confused characters, too tired to recognize, and no translations or prompts for the subtitles. From the side, it also reflects who is the big winner of speculation in real estate in mainland China.

I gotta admit, the last reviewer was pretty much spot on with his/her own complaints about this movie. To sum it all up, it really is a pretetious cheap movie that really isn't worth seeing and is basically a waste of time. It's no wonder why Hyun Bin would turn down the offer to play a role as the protagonist in this movie. The movie is so bad, that no one except the women that have nude scenes put any effort into it. All the other actors just didn't seem to care and the acting goes from mundane to just awful. Sure, being a a dark underworld of the 70's era can change people. But it's another thing when the actors just didn't seem to care. The editing is bland and there just isn't any hook to the story what so ever. What this movie shows, is just manipulative gangsters and sleezy corrupt politicians trying to use one another. Which is fine when it comes to a movie form, but it's all so boring and most scenes just didn't seem necessary. I was expecting a good era film with gangster elements, but got a cheap knock off. The fact that there wasn't a single character I could get even slightest bit attached to doesn't help the score either.

3.5/10

My take on this movie comes from a gut level reaction, rather than any expertise in the gangster genre movies.

I found the movie to be a gory, but realistic, portrayal of the depths of man's capacity for greed and violence. Whereas movies made in the US have watered down the showing of violence, this movie didn't. It showed graphically how men can be pushed, by despair and need, to fight with everything they have to not just survive, but to prosper.

I thought all the actors seemed committed to their character's reasoning behind their actions, so I didn't find them to be disengaged from their roles at all. I was particularly impressed with Lee Min Ho's portrayal of such a brutal character, which was so far outside of his normal romantic lead roles.

In the end, I just felt sorry for the sad state of their lives. Whether this is the intent of the creators or not, I don't know. But I was glad I took the time to watch this movie.

What was good:

--1.-- realistic setting: quite strikingly accurate, totally relates to 70s as far as ambiance is concerned. The uncontrollable violence and crime rate are also well depicted. The whole "70s" atmosphere is totally in.

--2.-- the mud fight scene is totally dramatic and professional. Impressive feel for movement and coordination.

--3.-- high tempo. A lot is happening within 1.5h while the story does not feel rushed or superficial.

What was bad:

--1.-- A lot of mature content, which is not bad as it as as long as it contributes to the story line, makes it deeper, explains some hidden motives. In this case most mature scenes seemed put in just to shock the audience and get the scandalous 18+ rating. So, in my opinion it was not intelligently used. Sort of - the director wanted to have the tough reputation...but missed on intellect.

-- 2.-- Kim Rae Won character was very accurate - wild, cunning, uncontrollable, which probably was a one-sided role to begin with, so, psychologically easier to capture. Almost everyone else didn't get it right. Ex: people were portrayed as "good" while still having the evil background - these angles didn't match up. So, I was missing intrinsic psychological logic in most of the characters.

--3.-- along the lines of the above point, Lee Min Ho (LMH) was a disappointment. Although not into his romantic mode, but was playing the old good sane Min Ho. That does not explain how such a normal person with morals and principles could carry out series of brutal murders purely for the sake of money. I think he needed to consult a professional crime physiologist before going into such complex role. The lead character missed badly on something important in his psychological portrait and because of that the whole film felt diluted. I remember the movie for the brutal history, not for the lead personality. LMH had all the chances to become the Korean God Father, but was probably mentally too young to make it.

All in all, the film didn't teach life lessons or bring out memorable main characters, was unnecessarily sex-filled and sickly gory. However, quite informative in terms of history.

This film avoids the trap of trying to make the great mob movie by flying low, and it works, it is a rich experience. I will be watching it again. The biggest similarity with the Godather is that Gangnam can evoke what it wants just through the visuals. The meaning, and meanings, of the story are interlayered in what you see and how you see it. The lighting was I thought great, I rarely do. If you've known crime, criminals, cities, politics, family, hard times this film will speak. You get a tapestry of human personalities, and the faces speak about life, choices, chances, death. Pretty violent but surprisingly gentle. I guess it is because it is all symbolic of life's struggles and of cultural changes during the 1970's. It gave me the feeling of a (the) true story of Gangnam. Novelistic. Music, A-1. Acting, too. It's the only mob movie since the Godfather which could be compared to it.

Though it isn't the best gangster movie ever made but surely it is one of the best because it makes you sit on the seat and think what's gonna happen next. Plus it isn't fancy at all, that's the best part of it. Despite the story has its flaws especially the ending, the character portrayal by the actors were outstanding.

I just started watching this movie as a fan of lee min ho, and every scene of this movie showed his great potential as an actor.

So as a normal viewer as well as a fan girl this movie is worth spending time..

What a plot, what an acting from lee min ho and ray won, The story a bit complicated because you must be aware of the characters name to understand the Situation. This was a great movie I really enjoyed it. I hope MinHo will come with another movie like that .

==I will give him== **10/10**

This movie elaborates the struggles people in Gangnam district had to go through with various changes with power. As a non Korean viewer, I recommend this to watched in terms of power corruption, brutality and rejection in society. However the end is not what most would expect, however it gives the story more realistic appeal.

The incredibly played character is that of Lee Min Ho. I was pleasantly surprised by the acting of Min Ho. As I have always seen him as a cheerful, melodramatic flower boy in many of his dramas. In fact quite shocking. This really shows his capabilities of adjusting to various roles as a great actor. He has changed his experience to suit this character and delivers a noteworthy performance.

I recommend this movie and it is worth the time spent to watch.

what we got here is a very badly scripted clichéd screenplay with very pretentious dialog, then we got a very deadbeat director who failed to ignite those who signed up for playing the roles in it. there were several segments of this film that made me feel like watching a lousy Korean pornographic crap. those intercourse, fornication scenes are just absolutely unnecessary, yet this brain-dead director just added and inserted those love-making scenes. every time when the clueless sexual stuff suddenly showed up, i just couldn't help myself to curse. this film was trying to portray the Korean politicians using the gangsters to rip the land from the poor, and the real estates business and values in Korea were starting to boom. the storyline is very weak, and most of the acting performed by almost every actor in this film was not good, therefore it failed to get me connected. a very bad film that the Korean movie industry rarely under achieved in recent years, since most of their recent products are very good, some of them are even light-year better than what Hollywood did in recent years. i have to confess that i didn't finish it, because it's one of the worst Korean films.

Perfect example of what a neo- noir genre film is- depicts violence and sexuality; a little too violent for me so I closed my eyes in some parts, however the soundtrack was so realistic that it didn't help much. This movie puts the "gang" in Gangnam. At the first moment when I turned it on I instantly recognized Lee MinHo and he had that famous global charisma. Fantastic acting as always with him and the others casted as well. Despite the violence, still gave it 10 stars definitely for the acting and would never deduct for a genre of a film as maybe other people like that type and the stunts and fight scenes had to take much work and talent. Sad story.

#LeeMinHo #GangamBlues.