Action & Adventure > 18 years and over Action & Adventure > Korean

One of the best gangster movies

Advantages: Great acting and a well thought out script
Disadvantages: None

Kim Sun-Woo is a loyal enforcer and manager of a hotel for Kang. Kang suspects his mistress (Hee-Soo) is cheating on him and gives Sun-Woo the task of finding out if this happens to be true. Sun-Woo appears to be drawn to Hee-Soo's innocence. Sun-Woo discovers Hee-Soo is cheating on Kang but instead of reporting this to Kang he agrees to spare them provided they do not see one another again. Unfortunately for Sun-Woo, Kang finds out. I came to ...
...for the content, it is a deeper film than you will have come to expect from the action genre. It's not full of car chases and explosions. Yes there are hand-to-hand fight sequences and at least two shooting incidents but the plot itself takes centre stage. Whilst I've never been a fan of Lee Byung-Hun he delivers a fantastic performance as Sun-Woo. Well worth a look. ...

CloudRuler 16.08.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of A Bittersweet Life (DVD)

Best Served Cold

Advantages: Wonderfully crafted, shocking story, powerful performances.
Disadvantages: A slightly weak epilogue.

...his captor. Oldboy is an intense, vivid film that assaults the senses and looks to provoke strong reactions in its audience. Its shocking plot, which escalates towards a sublimely constructed twist in the tail, and the sharply rendered visuals the director creates, add up to a film high on drama and impact. Asian cinema - Korean especially - has something of a reputation for brutal depictions of violence and conflict, and Oldboy is no exception in ...
...The performances in Oldboy are excellent across the board, with Choi Min-sik putting in a turn that drives the film and makes it what it is; his character is one who reaches to the limits of emotions, stretching the role and demanding plenty of the actor. Choi, though, is up to the challenge, and portrays a tortured, driven figure who inspires sympathy and revulsion in equal measures. Around him, the supporting cast play their parts with equal skill, ...

Puggers 07.04.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Oldboy (DVD)

The final part to a fascinating trilogy of movies

Advantages: The storyline
Disadvantages: Subtitles

...film, whereas Mr Vengeance and Lady Vengeance share some common weaknesses. To begin with, the pace of the film rises and dips at different times, and sometimes has a lull that may turn casual viewers off. Secondly, the film contains some scenes that are very disturbing, such as scenes of child abuse, which I found impossible to watch, and again this will ruin it for some. The end 30 minutes of the film is the best, as we see a beautifully planned ...
...best in the revenge trilogy, Lady Vengeance is an ambitious story that causes viewers to question the point of vengeance, and does so with occasional extreme violence, torture and abuse. If you liked this film you should watch the rest of the trilogy, along with Ichi the Killer, an insane movie along a similar theme. ...

bruffyboy 07.01.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Lady Vengeance (DVD)

Stay away from this bed!

Advantages: Lovely background music, sometimes engaging story
Disadvantages: All a bit silly

...a bed made from a gingko tree that he found in a flea market. Suddenly, he is pursued by General Hwang, who for some reason wants to kill him. Eventually Su-hyun works out that in a previous life many centuries before, he was a court musician and was in love with a woman, Mi-dan, who was promised to General Hwang. Frustrated at Mi-dan's inability to love him, General Hwang kills Su-hyun, and at the spot where he died, two gingko trees grew, embodying ...
...There are certainly much better Korean ghost films out there - Whispering Corridors for example - and I really don't recommend that anyone goes out of their way to watch The Gingko Bed. The DVD is available from play.com for £11.99. Classification: 18 Running time: 88 minutes ...

sunmeilan 25.10.2007 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Gingko Bed (DVD)

Oldboy

Advantages: Good acting, original plot
Disadvantages: Somewhat overhyped

Oldboy is the second film in Park Chan-wook's Vengeance Trilogy. The first is Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and the third is Sympathy for Lady Vengeance. The plots of the three films are connected only by the theme of revenge thus you do not need to watch the previous film to understand Oldboy. Oldboy centres on Oh Dae-su, a man kidnapped and held captive in a room for 15yrs. Upon watching television he discovers himself to be the prime suspect in ...
...This causes Dae-su to begin to tunnel out of the room however just as he is about to succeed, he is set free. From there begins Dae-su's quest to find out who held him captive and why. The fights scenes are well thought out and there is little computer-generated imagery. Yu Ji-tae and Choi Min-sik deliver completely convincing performances with Kang Hye-jeong close behind. The pace is spot on, at no point are you bored or do you wish things were ...

CloudRuler 16.08.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Oldboy (Blu-ray)