Action & Adventure > Korean Action & Adventure

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
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Review of Oldboy (DVD)

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
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Review of A Bittersweet Life (DVD)

A haunting in Vietnam (or is it Cambodia?)

Advantages: Creepy, never obvious what direction the film will take
Disadvantages: The uniform makes it hard to tell the characters apart

It is 1972 and the South Koreans are stationed in Vietnam when a radio transmission is received, apparently from a platoon of men thought dead, begging for help. The leaders quickly put together a small team, under the direction of Lieutenant Choi, a man known for his cruelty and ability to get the most of out his men. Choi is to take his men to R Point, the area where the missing platoon was last thought to be. On arrival, the team find an old mansion ...
...are unsettled by a tombstone that tells of the many Vietnamese who were killed by the Chinese in the previous century. Then strange things begin to happen, starting with a visit from a team of Americans who shouldn't have been there. Can Lieutenant Choi find his compatriots and lead his men to safety? Or are they all doomed to die at R Point? Lieutenant Choi is the leader of the group and, played by Woo-Seong Kam, is really the only recognisable ...

sunmeilan 08.10.2009 · Read full review
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Review of R-Point (DVD)

remember the dead, remember the mortal

Advantages: Convincing, lots to take in
Disadvantages: Confusing in some parts

...visuals and characters. Memento Mori is a part of three-film series (along with with Whispering Corridors and Wishing Stairs) Wishing Stairs being about girls at school that believe if you walk the wishing stairs and reach the 28th the 29th will appear and grant you your wish. Whispering Corridors, involving the female school, with brutality and abuse, by the teachers - and previous suicides of the school goers. The films are only linked through ...
...Memento Mori is part three in the film series. Memento Mori is not much of a horror movie, but focuses on the tragic events and the relationship between two girls. Min-ah (played by Min-sun Kim) a student who films a diary that is kept by two girls at the school, which were involved in a secret relationship with one another, basically the friendship is just intense relationship, without any sexual content, which would add tension to the movie. The ...

inbetweendaysx 29.05.2007 · Read full review
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Review of Memento Mori (Subtitled) (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)