mrrcott
Or hacksaws, bricks, plant pots. Its seems that anything can be used as a weapon In Korean films. This one has corrupt politicians (is there any other kind) doing shady deal with a newspaper boss for re-election. Corruption is embedded deep in every corner. Like sauna rooms. Or hostess bars, where slimy politicians perform sex acts involving escorts and soju glasses. When an ambitious prosecutor gets on the case , he teams up with a crippled gangster (Lee hyung Byun) to break open the whole sordid business. It could have been so clichéd and this story has been seen many times over. Still. it has been directed with style. Recently I watched Asura as part of the London Korean fIlm festival, and i questioned why they would want to promote such a wrong-headed and pretentious film when they could have chosen so many others. This was a much better choice and a good showcase for the actor Baek Yun-shil. A word about the title: it really is all men, apart from a small part for Lee's actor girlfriend. It really is a shame that they didn't give her more to do.
kanyeezy-28832
Do you want to know more about Korean actors? Then this movie is exactly what you've been looking for. Including Hollywood-famous Byung-hun Lee, Korean actors in this movie presents overwhelming performances. However, this is the movie's strength and there's obvious downsides too (a lot). First, the storyline has a wrong tempo. Sometimes, it's too slow and sometimes it's too sudden. This causes a lack of suspense. Second, the clichés in this movie are quite troublesome. I don't know how foreign people would feel about them, but to Korean people those clichés are definitely overused and used only in one pattern in this movie. This makes the story quite predictable. Third, the message of this movie is in vain. The director should have given more thought about how to resolve social corruption or how to give an alert about it more effectively. Since the resolution shown in this movie is so simple (I won't tell more specifically. Just watch the movie), it sounds so empty. It just doesn't resonate in my mind Yes, in conclusion this movie is quite cheesy and has many flaws. But still, actors' performances are so amazing that they make this movie look well-made Crime/Thriller movie with authentic aura. Should you watch it? Well, if you are into Korean movies I would say 'definitely!'
Jack Hunter
Story itself is fairly boring, tired, overdone, practically cliché corporate corruption nonsense. The kind of film nobody needs to be making in a market flooded with far superior choices.Then it goes from bad to worse. Bad camera angles, horrid lighting, predictable ending. Frozen acting, emotionlessly delivered lines.I'd actually give it a 3/10, basically +1 point for each of two scenes I found passable, but too many obviously fake reviews making this films score 7.1 force me to lower mine to counteract abuse of rating system here.
KineticSeoul
This is actually a dragged out story that is more about the cinematography and the style of it all over a deep story that intrigues. It's a watchable movie but it does feel like the plot is really drawn out. It is a a movie with high quality cinematography for a Korean movie. With some topnotch actors, that really bring a bit exaggerated and yet it works when it comes to the style of this movie. When it comes to the plot it delves in the nasty side of politics, the corruption within it and how some old farts take advantage of the system. While screwing young women during there meeting together and giving idealistic speeches. Lee Byung-hun is a good actor but not really a guy that has integrity in real life. So he puts on a believable performance as a thug that built his way up to the top by doing errands from top officials. He sort of reminded me of the character he played in "A Bittersweet Life" except not as charismatic. Anyways besides the style of this film and some nasty underground stuff that happens in Korean night life. This is actually a forgettable film. The end has the typical clean wrap up that works but isn't all that impactful. Mainly because the build up wasn't all that interesting. It's watchable and I was able to sit through it without checking my time but again it's still a forgettable movie.6.5/10
AD
