THE GANGSTER, THE COP, THE DEVIL: Starring Korea's Biggest Badass

THE GANGSTER, THE COP, THE DEVIL (Blu-ray)

2019 / 110 min

From Well Go USA

Available at www.MovieZyng.com

Review by Mr. Bonnie, the Ballcrusher😺

In a perfect world, Don Lee (aka, Ma Dong-seok) would be a bigger star on this side of the pond. Though beloved in Korea, over here he’s best known for Train to Busan and that Marvel snoozefest, Eternals. The latter was his Hollywood debut, and he stole the entire movie from his bigger co-stars. 

But elsewhere, he’s been the kickass star of some really great action films, such as The Roundup franchise, where he plays a big, burly cop who fights crime through sheer blunt force. With his ample frame and laconic delivery, he seems like an unlikely action hero, but that’s what makes those movies so entertaining (and often very funny). If you haven’t seen any of them, get over your aversion to subtitles and seek them out.

Another one to check out is 2019’s The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil, where Lee plays Jang Dong-soo, a powerful mob boss who’s attacked one night by a mysterious serial killer. Jang survives and vows revenge, ordering his henchmen to find the man. At the same time, renegade cop Jung Tae-suk (Kim Mu-yeol) is equally obsessed with catching the killer (responsible for several murders), but is regularly thwarted by his corrupt captain. 

The Don Lee Workout.

Though professing mutual hatred for each other, Jang and Jung become uneasy allies in the manhunt. One wants the killer dead, the other wants him brought to justice, so while they’re indeed working together, each is also trying the get the upper hand on the other. Powered by strong performances from both stars, the story is built around their characters’ antagonistic relationship, which is highly entertaining and frequently funny. The film also delivers plenty of stylish, brutal and bloody action sequences…car chases, close-quarters brawling and gunplay, all executed with a lot of panache.

Apparently, there’s been an American remake in development for a few years with Don Lee set to reprise his role. But why wait? The best version of The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil is already here. Exciting, violent and fast-paced, this is an outstanding Korean action film featuring another muscular performance by a guy more people should be aware of.

This is a re-issue of a Blu-ray edition first released in 2019.

EXTRA KIBBLES

FEATURETTES - Making of; The Characters (actually just a montage of clips featuring each main character).

TRAILER

PROJECT SILENCE: Who Let The Dogs Out?

PROJECT SILENCE (Blu-ray)

2023 / 96 min

From Capelight/Dark Sky Films

Review by Princess Pepper😺

Another hybrid genre film, South Korea’s Project Silence combines elements of disaster, science-fiction and killer critters for a crazy concoction that’s both thrilling and funny, providing you’re open to what it throws at you. 

The government has been experimenting with a batch of dogs, implanting them with chips so they can be programmed to attack whatever target they choose. After the project is abandoned, the dogs are transported in an armored truck to be destroyed. But when there’s a massive multi-car pile-up on a highway bridge, the dogs get loose, led by Echo 9 (E9), the pack’s ‘mother’ since the other dogs were cloned from her. Doctor Yang (Kim Hee-win), the scientist in charge, tries to reign them in, but loses the laptop he uses to control them.

With the bridge threatening to collapse, hundreds of motorists are trapped, including Cha Jung-won (Lee Sun-Kyun, RIP) and his estranged daughter. He’s the chief aide to a presidential hopeful and, for most of the film, kind of a dick. The incident would apparently threaten his boss's election chances, so Che spends a lot of the time on the radio trying to cover it up…even as the dogs are killing people left and right. True to disaster movie tradition, there are subplots featuring secondary characters, the most amusing being opportunistic tow-truck driver Joe Park (Ju Ji-hoon, who steals the every scene he’s in).

Not having exact change can sometimes be tragic.

It’s a ridiculous premise, but I suspect director/co-writer Kim Tae-con knew that long before we come to the same conclusion. When done right, throwing caution to the wind can yield great results. As such, Project Silence is goofy good time in the vein of 2022’s Project Wolf Hunting (though not nearly as gory). Wildly plotted, these dogs certainly have their day, displaying agility, intelligence and indestructibility that only CGI pooches are capable of. Still, the narrative does manage to render E9 somewhat sympathetic. The same can be said for Chu, who eventually emerges from his douchebaggery once he learns the particulars of the experiment.

None of Project Silence comes across as remotely plausible, but it’s one of those genre mash-ups that’s more fun to play along with than scrutinize. Both intentionally and unintentionally humorous, it’s a fast-paced film that boasts wild action scenes, engaging characters and good overall performances.

ESCAPE (2024): A Missed Opportunity

ESCAPE (Blu-ray)

2024 / 94 min

From Well Go USA

Available at www.MovieZyng.com

Review by Mr. Bonnie, the Beastie😾

Korean defection occurs so often that there’s a Wikipedia page on the subject, as well as quite a few movies over the years. I’m sure some of those escapees have been soldiers who’ve had enough of their government’s shenanigans to make a run for the border, and the inherent peril of such a journey would make an ideal action drama.

But Escape manages to waste its sure-fire premise. It begins well enough, with North Korean soldier Lim Gyu-Nam (Lee Je-hoon) preparing to defect to the South once he’s discharged. He’s been mapping out the locations of all the landmines between his base (near the Demilitarized Zone) and the border. Another soldier, Kim Dong-hyuk (Hong Xa-bin), is desperate to defect as well, so much so that he attempts escape on his own, but Lim tries to convince him to wait. Unfortunately, both are caught and sentenced to death. 

Luckily for Lim, childhood friend Lee Hyun-sang (Koo Kyo-hwan) is a high-ranking officer who intervenes, declaring Lim a hero for catching a defector, then giving him a promotion and transfer. However, Lim still wants to defect and uses his new position to not-only save Kim, but retrieve his map of the landmines. Once they go on the run, Lee becomes obsessed with hunting-down and killing them. 

"I told you to gas it up before we left."

This sounds a lot better than it unfolds. First of all, Lim isn’t a particularly interesting character. The only meaningful exposition really offered is his desire to defect. Conversely, Lee is initially a compelling antagonist…superficially friendly and overly arrogant. It’s even suggested that, while a successful officer, he was never permitted to follow his true calling of a concert pianist. Then his disposition changes on a dime, becoming a cold-blooded, sadistic tyrant who just boarded the crazy train.

As for the action…the film takes too long to get things rolling, and when it finally does, we’re expected to swallow some glaring implausibilities and lapses in logic. Despite being armed with machine guns, Lee’s squads are worse shots than Imperial Stormtroopers, unable to hit one guy escaping on foot. And speaking of Star Wars, North Korea is suddenly the tiniest nation on Earth, with Lee repeatedly and instantaneously able to find Lim, no matter how many miles separate them at any given time (or maybe he’s mastered teleportation).

Escape is a forgettable, underwhelming film that offers little beyond the kind of generic time killers regularly served up on Netflix. Good performances help, but considering the real-world relevance of the basic concept, I expected a little more than static characters and dubious action sequences. Ultimately, this is a missed opportunity.

EXTRA KIBBLES

FEATURETTES - Making Of; Character Trailer

MOVIE TRAILER - With Commentary

EXHUMA: Let's Dig Up Grandpa!

EXHUMA (Blu-ray)

2024 / 134 min

FROM WELL GO USA

Review by Josey, the Sudden Cat🙀

Prior to reviewing the film on Blu-ray, I’d heard quite a lot about Exhuma, nearly all of it very positive. So I approached it with somewhat elevated expectations, especially since a majority of the South Korean horror films I’ve seen have been pretty damn good. 

And there’s a lot to love about Exhuma. Establishing a dark tone and deliberate pace right away, this one bares more narrative and stylistic similarities to The Wailing than Train to Busan. But unlike The Wailing, which was good but often rambling and way too long (my minority opinion), this one stays more on-point, though the story itself isn’t without issues of its own.

Professional geomancer Kim Sang-deok (Choi Min-sik), shaman Lee Hwa-rim (Kim Go-eun) and mortician Yeong-geun (Yoo Hae-jin) come to the aid of a wealthy family whose long-dead grandfather has been haunting the dreams of all the males, including the newborn son of Park Ji-yong (Kim Jai-cheol). This involves exhuming his casket from a remote gravesite and performing a ritual that would banish him to the hereafter for good. But when someone opens the coffin, the ghost is freed. Worse yet, he’s plenty pissed and hell bent killing all his heirs.

"I don't think this is gophers, Kim."

Roughly comprising the first half of the film, this is a pretty fascinating story, particularly the scenes involving the shaman ceremonies, which look and sound authentic (I don’t know, or care, if they actually are). There’s also a lot of slow building tension and dread, punctuated by the “grandfather’s” ominous presence, which is effectively depicted through chilling sequences that don’t rely much on CGI. 

But that’s only half the story. It turns out something else was buried with Grandpa…a huge, monstrous samurai ghoul that Kim Sang-deok foolishly digs up as well. Now they must contend with this entity, which has the power to possess one of their own. This aspect of the the film ups the violence and features a few wonderfully effective scenes. However, it also feels more like a standard-issue good versus evil story, rendered less effective by clearly showing - early and often - the demon our protagonists are facing. For the most part, the events of the first hour are forgotten, essentially making the film two tenuously-linked stories, and unfortunately, the second one isn’t quite as engaging.

Still, Exhuma is has enough wonderfully creepy moments to be worth worth watching, probably more than once. Intelligently written and boasting solid performances (especially Choi Min-sik’s), the narrative might be a little overstuffed, but overall, the film is immersive and atmospheric 

EXTRA KIBBLES

MAKING-OF FEATURETTE

TRAILER

ALIENOID: RETURN TO THE FUTURE: If You Liked The First One...

ALIENOID: RETURN TO THE FUTURE (Blu-ray)

2024 / 122 min

FROM WELL GO USA

Review by Peppy the Poopy😼

Just to clarify, Alienoid: Return to the Future is not a sequel, but the second half of Korea’s Alienoid saga. Like Dune: Part Two, if you haven’t seen the first film (released in 2022), this one will will utterly incomprehensible.

The first Alienoid is a bonkers mash-up of science-fiction, fantasy, action, disaster movie, comedy, historical fiction, Taoism, martial arts and family drama. It juggles two concurrent narratives. In the present day, Guard and Thunder are shapeshifting alien robots imprisoning their planet’s criminals in the unaware bodies of human beings while taking care of 10-year-old Ahn. Some of the prisoners escape their human hosts to wreak havoc while trying to find the man hosting their leader, The Controller, who’ll unleash Haava, floating balls of their home planet’s atmosphere, which is deadly to humans.

Meanwhile in the 14th Century, Muruk is a swordsman and former apprentice to a couple of comically conniving sorcerers. A grown-up Ahn also exists in this timeline, armed with 21st century weapons. Everyone is seeking The Divine Sword, which has the power to release prisoners from their human hosts…meaning the bad guys want it, too. Alienoid was ultimately enjoyable, but overlong and a bit of a challenge to follow.

"Talk to the hand."

The same kudos and criticism apply to Return to the Future, which opens with a brief recap before picking up where the first film left off. Presently, the countdown to the Haava being released has begun while the search for The Controller intensifies. In the 14th Century, it’s revealed that The Controller might inhabit one of the main protagonists, making the quest for The Divine Sword more imperative. If you’ve seen the first film, this one is obviously a lot easier to follow, with a more straightforward narrative leading up to a big, destructive, FX-laden climax in the present day. But even having seen the original Alienoid (about a year ago), it took me considerable time to get reacquainted with the huge cast of characters and numerous plot points. 

Other than a noticeably greater emphasis on broad comedy, the tone and pace of Return to the Future are the same as Alienoid, along with gobs of the same over-the-top action...swordplay, fighting, magic, gravity-defying stunts, chases and monster mayhem, with an epic train crash thrown in for good measure. The special effects aren’t always convincing, but certainly fun to watch. If you enjoyed the part one, there’s no reason you wouldn’t like part two. But if you haven’t seen the first film, forget about it.

EXTRA KIBBLES

FEATURETTES - Making of is a brief promotional featurette; Character Road Map is equally short, briefly explaining each main character’s name and role.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE OPTION

TRAILER

Craptastic CROCODILE

CROCODILE (Blu-ray)

1979 / 92 min

FROM SYNAPSE FILMS

Review by Josey, the Sudden Cat🙀

Of all the Jaws rip-offs that oozed into theaters for a slice of the killer critter pie (and there were a ton of ‘em), 1979’s Crocodile is a strong candidate for the crappiest, kookiest and most comical of them all. Considering how many hailed from Italy alone over the years, that’s really saying something…

…which means, for some viewers, this flick will be irresistible. You know who you are.

A Thai-Korean co-production, Crocodile opens with an ominous voice-over about nature striking back, followed by about five minutes impressively apocalyptic hurricane footage that’s clearly lifted from another movie. However, this disaster actually has nothing to do with the story because the giant title creature is the result of nuclear testing. 

Now when I say “giant,” it actually depends on the scene. Sometimes this ravenous reptile is as large as the awesome cover art depicts, other times he’s the size of a kayak. Either way, he indiscriminately chows down on tourists and villagers alike, including the families of a couple of doctors, who vow to destroy the beast themselves. That’s the nutshell plot, with a final act lifted right out of Jaws...the protagonists charter a boat owned by a hunkier version of Quint, leading to a similarly explosive (yet baffling) climax.

"We're gonna need a bigger budget."

But that isn’t what makes Crocodile comedy gold. As they say, the journey is more important than the destination. Along the way, this journey serves up a smorgasbord of endearing ineptitude. This is the English language version, meaning we’re treated to some truly daffy dubbing. In a scene featuring ducks in a pond, even the ducks are dubbed! And not only can this croc change size at-will, he can change eye color, too, even turning them into hellish red headlights in a night scene. 

Elsewhere, there’s plenty o’ stock footage, histrionic performances, borrowed music, weed-whacker editing, underwater sequences obviously shot in a swimming pool, and the piece de resistance, a ridiculously abrupt climax that leaves the viewer wondering what the hell just happened. I could go on, but poking fun at a movie like this is like shooting fish in a barrel, with the fish already dead. What matters is that the serious tone and sincerity of its filmmakers makes Crocodile more consistently entertaining than the smarmy self-awareness prevalent in today’s nature-run-amok cheapies.

But the fun doesn’t stop at the film itself. This disc features a 30-minute interview with director Won-Se Lee, whose recollections of the film might be a little hazy, but we're certainly convinced he thought he was making a good movie at the time. What makes the interview priceless is, when asked how he felt about his name being replaced by Sompote Sands in the credits of foreign releases, Lee was completely unaware this had happened. Upon hearing this - 45 years later! -  he’s genuinely surprised and vows to “look into this.” Poor bastard.

EXTRA KIBBLES

INTERVIEW WITH WON-SE LEE - Lee is director of the original version, titled Crocodile Fangs.

AUDIO COMMENTARY - By film historian Lee Gambin

5 DELETED/ALTERNATE SCENES

TRAILER

THE ROUNDUP: NO WAY OUT: Some Things Never Get Old

THE ROUNDUP: NO WAY OUT (Blu-ray)

2023 / 101 min

FROM MPI MEDIA GROUP

Review by Stinky the Destroyer😺

Some things never get old…date night at Starbucks with my wife, breakfast food for dinner, the Cowboys choking during the playoffs…

…and Don Lee pummeling bad guys into submission. 

The Roundup: No Way Out is the third film of a franchise (with a fourth on the way) featuring Lee as Ma Seok-do, a tough, burly detective whose most formidable skill is beating the shit out of people. I still haven’t seen the first film, The Outlaws, which isn’t available on physical media in the U.S., but 2022’s The Roundup was among the best action films of that year, a deft combination of action and comedy anchored by Lee’s terrific performance (and he’s a lot more agile than his heftiness would suggest). Best of all, watching the first film wasn’t required to enjoy this one.

If you haven’t seen The Roundup, it’s widely available and definitely worth seeking out. But if you have, No Way Out is just as entertaining, with Lee returning to take on a bevy of bad guys while his subordinates try to keep up. This time, a crew of corrupt cops led by Joo Sung-cheol (Lee Joon-hyuk) is trying to sell 20 kilos of a new drug called Hiper to a Chinese triad, which he stole from a vicious Yakuza organization. Following an arrest by Lee and his team, the package is stolen yet again. Now everyone is looking for it…the good cops, the bad cops and the Yakuza boss’ most ruthless assassin, Ricky (Munetaka Aoki). 

Some fashion choices are punchworthy.

The particulars of the plot are more intricate than that, perhaps overly so. But while the story is interesting, it ultimately takes a backseat to the action and characters. Lee continues to make Ma an engaging, atypical action hero. There’s no finesse in his methods, mainly just bluster and brute force, both of which are served up in sequences that are both rousing and funny. But he’s not the whole show here. Like The Roundup, he’s pitted against formidable antagonists, while his allies - willingly assisting him or not - are engaging as either beleaguered straight-men or comic relief.  

Other than a final scene which apparently sets-up the next film, The Roundup: No Way Out presents a self-contained story. Like The Roundup, the only connecting thread is the protagonist’s punishing approach to police procedure, which never gets old. As long as Don Lee is willing and able to keep dispensing justice with his fists (and no guns!), this is one franchise that probably won’t wear out its welcome.

DR. CHEON AND THE LOST TALISMAN: The Beginning Of A Franchise?

DR. CHEON AND THE LOST TALISMAN (Blu-ray)

2023 / 98 min

FROM WELL GO USA

Review by Pepper the Poopy😽

Dr. Cheon and the Lost Talisman is based on a popular Korean “webtoon,” and after watching this one, it’s clear that those behind it have franchise aspirations. Whether or not it actually becomes one remains to be seen, but if viewers keep their expectations in check, these characters might be worth revisiting in another adventure. 

The premise is pretty straightforward. The title character (Gang Dong-won) is the grandson of a legendary shaman, but doesn’t actually believe in all that spiritual hokum. Instead, he uses his knowledge and skills as a fake exorcist, visiting families who pay him to save “possessed” loved ones. We see Cheon and beleaguered tech savvy assistant Inbae (Lee-Dong-hwi) at work during an amusing prologue, which sort of sets the tone for the rest of the film.

Too cheap to hail a cab.

His next client, Yoo kyung (Esom) offers Cheon a huge sum to perform an exorcism on her little sister. In a plot turn that will surprise no one, the girl turns out to be really possessed. This demonic entity, Beom-Cheon (Huh Joon-ho), has also taken control of an entire village with his ability to possess people at-will to do his bidding. Not only that, flashbacks reveal he’s the man who killed Cheon’s grandfather and wants his half of a broken sword that banished him to the netherworld in the first place.

Storywise, there aren’t many surprises. Dr. Cheon and the Lost Talisman is mostly a fantasy film with a few vivid horror elements, along with welcome bits of humor that seldom feel shoehorned in (the banter between Cheon and Inbae is especially amusing). The film is briskly paced, with likable main characters and decent special effects. And of course, the door is left wide open for a sequel or two.

Will Dr. Cheon and the Lost Talisman leave viewers waiting with bated breath for another chapter (if there is one)? I dunno…this one isn’t likely to knock your socks off or leave a lasting impression. But even though the film serves up little we haven’t seen before, it’s generally pretty entertaining. 

EXTRA KIBBLES

CHARACTER BIOS

TRAILER