Daewoebi: Gwonryeok-ui Tansaeng

This political crime thriller by Lee Won-tae (The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil) is a very effective ride through an amoral world full of scheming politicians and gangsters. There is hardly a non-corrupted official to be seen here, so don't expect a classic heroes-VS-villains premise.

Cho Jin-woong, Kim Mu-yeol and Lee Sung-min are all really good in the leading roles. They play characters who try their best to survive and gain whatever power they can in a scandalous game behind the political scenes. The plotting is complicated and demands your full attention, but rewards it with very well written scenes of dramatic payoff. In contrast to Lee's previous film, there's little humor and action here. Instead, you get endless manipulating and verbal intimidation, but it's still really exciting and fun.

Lee has simply proven once again he's got the directorial chops needed for beefy crime thrillers, except this time he's in a more low-key mode than before. This is a good-looking, often intense but constantly entertaining film for the same crowd that loved Asura and Inside Men. Highly recommended!