Guns & Talks

The story is there. It's all summed-up in the movie's headline. It's a group of assassins who; after a hit; have decided to talk-out their problems and deep-analyse their entire prospects and lifestyle and love.

Except they're not as good as this as they are shooting. The opening hit is brilliant; through the window is a lovely-executed John Woo-style slow-mo cam-shot which I really loved.

The rest of the narrative is about leading up to the big hit and their purpose in life. It appears that hitmen do have a conscious even though it appears to be "arrested in development".

They attend a big Hamlet theatre play along with South Korean high-society. It's a very technical play and they have to do something truly special to get the attention of the police who really respects them at another level after the stunt.

It's got some wonderful moments in the movie but the dialogue is very heavy and sometimes too drawn-out. It could be a bit more focussed on how they became hitman and a comedic sketch on their training would be a nice adaption.

The ending is fun and humorous but the middle is a bit too long-handed for me. Three's some excellent filming techniques and it's aged pretty well. It's way before the golden era of Korean new wave and before Oldboy so refreshing to see how far Korean cinema has come since this.

It's a nice movie and another excellent addition on the aspiring Third Windows' films' label.

Enjoyable but if you want all out action it's probably not for you.

If you listen to all the promos and previews, you'll be told to expect a "Reservoir Dogs" clone. And you'll be disappointed. This movie is meant for people who like their violence semi-realistic and totally screwball. Fans of "Buckaroo Banzai", "Six String Samurai" or "High Risk" will love this. (I'm *not* saying it's wrong not to like "Guns and Talks"; I'm saying it's the wrong movie for you.)

The film is a lot of fun, with characters of varying morality that you never hope to be, but sometimes want to be. Leader Sang-yeon (Hyeon-jun Shin) is likeable and charismatic, a good moral opposite of the Detective (Jin-yeong Jeong). The rest of the cast are funny and well acted. The only flaw with how people are used is the strong and silent assassin, Ha-yeon (Bin Won) who is horribly underdeveloped.

Humourous bit worth watching: of the two men hiring the group at the end of the film, the man with glasses is the director in an uncredited cameo appearances (his imitation/homage to Alfred Hitchcock, who made cameos in all his films). ("How do I kill a man from cancer? Make him smoke?") Some bits are implausible (the escape, for example) but this is comedy, not high art.

A note on the Korean movie scene: prior to 2001, foreign films revenues were used to subsidize the Korea movie industry. But in 2001, Korean-made films *outgrossed* Hollywood and other foreign films. The quality of story, acting, direction, action, and effects have equalled European and Hong Kong films, and I think are worth watching, having seen a few.

This oddly toned movie runs entirely on silly comedy bits that some may find hilarious. However the movie does have some serious moments, which really makes it seem out of context to the rest of the movie. If you take it for what it is, then I'll say it's light hearted comedy about hitmen. Some of the more witty bits I found to be very funny, while others I felt they tried to hard.

6.8/10 Not recommended

Brilliant yarn about four hitmen who act more like a dysfunctional and often naive family of brothers than crew of killers. Of course they have the heart of gold, but the journey is dashing, the resolution is aesthetically splendid, and the ride is often genuinely hilarious. I love this film! Brilliant, needs to be released in North America immediately, then remade in English for all the cats unwilling to read subtitles! Casting is top notch in this one as well!

When I first watched this film about two years ago, the first impression I got was 'silly rubbish'. However, I now think this is the best Korean film ever. I can understand people who say this film is rubbish because I once thought that too. You think this film is totally inconsistent. Sometimes it tries to make you laugh, sometimes it tries to make you touched, and sometimes it turns into action film. People who think a film has to stick to one genre might hate this film. Yet you have to know that this film didn't fail in anything. Sometimes this film makes you laugh, sometimes this film makes you touched, and sometimes it does turn into action film when it's needed. So, what I want to say is that if you want to know why some people are so unsparing of their praise towards this film while you think it's real rubbish, just watch one more time. Jang Jin's unique wit cannot be fully understood by watching it only once.