O Rei

The story line really describes Korean and many Asian countries's society. It makes audience feel like we are one of the characters in this movie. The two leading roles are excellent! It's worth my 2 hours of the day! I would like to say thank you to entire people contributing to "The King", especially the screenwriter.

The King is a movie about the rise and fall of a young prosecutor who gets involved in organized crime and politics. The film is a mixture of a drama and a crime flick but it also includes a healthy dose of social criticism that shows us a corrupt country. The movie reminds me of similar South Korean movies such as Nameless Gangster and New World. The film also recalls elements of Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street in its better moments.

One of the movie's strengths is that its story is closely connected to historic events in South Korea. This makes the story more authentic. Another strong point is the acting. Jo In-sung portrays the main character perfectly and convinces as an ambitious young man from a poor village with a solid moral compass who slowly gets corrupted by older colleagues but realizes that power and wealth don't necessarily make him happy.

On the negative side, the movie is at least half an hour too long with a total running time above two hours. Especially the middle section lacks fresh ideas and includes too much repetition that harms the movie's flow. A more concise movie would have been even more efficient.

If you are interested in recent and contemporary South Korean history and society or if you like dramatic crime movies, you should give The King a chance. This film might have its flaws but it's overall enjoyable and clearly above average. It also includes a few truly memorable scenes such as the heavy opening car crash, the protagonist's first nasty party, the protagonist's tense split with his wife and the weird interview with the ambitious journalist at his seaside mansion.

An over the top theatrical satire about corrupt prosecutors is done in an entertaining enough manner. This is a good movie to see if you have seen the Attorney for what happened to President Roh. Jo In Sung plays the prosecutor well. For those who have seen his previous melodrama he acts the conflicted person well. The big bad guy is played by Jung Woo Sung and he looks quite convincing as a disguised thug in a nice suit. It's a fun ride to see the rise and fall and justice.

I thought it was a great satire of modern Korean history, with a tongue-in-cheek approach. It was well filmed and acted, with a great soundtrack. One thing though, the subtitles were horrible (ie. missing translations, etc...), would have been nice to have a better translation. I hope the director releases the extended cut on blu ray (supposedly has more scenes with the gangster friend, wife, and last act). The movie may not be for everyone, but I really enjoyed it!