Bloody Tie

Awesome movie from South Korea. If you enjoy Drug/Drama/Yakuza movies then check this out, it is stylish and has great acting. If you are a foreign film fan like me you shouldn't have a hard time enjoying this entertaining movie!!!!! 9/10 from me.. and also comes highly recommended!!!!!! I wouldn't tell younger kids to watch this, but if you are looking for an entertaining movie that has great direction, Acting, action and a real good story then see this!!!! Yeeee! Check it out!!!! ASAP!!!!!!! YES RIGHT NOW!!!! GO ORDER IT!!!

'Bloody Tie' is one of the most exhilarating action comedies from South Korea in 2006. The story revolves around a drug pusher and corrupt cop teaming up to bring down a powerful drug lord in Pusan. While the plot seems unoriginal, the film makes up for it with its unique and kinetic style, harking back to the old Hong Kong action flicks of the 80s. This is most evident in the title screen, a homage executed so perfectly that I was convinced this film could not have been made so recently.

One thing you'll notice within the first five minutes of watching this film is the crazy, borderline drug-induced cinematography. The camera-work is often frantic, with the cinematographer often utilizing hand-held photography and crash zooms with a touch of split screen now and then. On the flip side, the film also has some gorgeous shots of the port city of Pusan. This is especially evident in the movie's brilliant and very satisfying ending, one of my favorites of all time. Another thing that makes the ending so beautiful is the music. This film has such a fun soundtrack that oozes with coolness and puts you squarely in the time period.

The characters are also interesting enough to keep you engaged. Each are corrupt to the core and yet you can always find something sympathetic about them. Director Choi doesn't bother giving you a hero but instead brings you several anti-heroes who aren't very likable but they sure are cool. A lot of why this tactic works is due to the actors' great performances, in particular actress Ja-Hyeon Chu who actually manages to be the film's emotional core with only 20 minutes of screen time.

With such a refreshing visual style, hilarious black humor, and a dash of social commentary on the negative effects of the IMF financial crisis in South Korea, this stands as one of the best Korean films of 2006 and is well worth watching.

For me, this is not the most memorable of this period of the 2000s and for the Asian crime film industry. OK it is fast paced, maybe too much, and there are too much confusion with the characters. Anyway it is the Asian trademark: Honk Kong, Korea or Japan. It is bloody, brutal, sensitive but in such a way that it is mostly hard for western audiences to perfectly follow; only die hard buffs of this kind of Asian stuff can really appreciate. But at least it is not a comedy at all, despite what some users say.

Both main actors deliver a great show here. The director tells us yet another cop-and-gangster drama, but thankfully he doesn't try to remake HARD BOILED korean style. Instead, he makes us laugh most of the time! The cop is dirty and crazy, his monologues are so funny, you wont stop laughing. All the flashback scenes are great, too. The style of the movie is kinda like SNATCH, sometime very hectic, but the camera did a great job - so did the musician. Groovy! Only the ending, damn, do korean movies always have to end so weird? All the movie is fun, until the end, then the movie changes its comedy style all of a sudden - not so good. But anyway, absolutely worth watching.

Bloody Tie was my last movie for this year's Singapore International Film Festival, and although it's an action movie, I thought it ended my festival this year with a whimper rather than with a bang.

Set in the time of the IMF (not the Mission Impossible one) making loans to a South Korean economic collapse, the populace begins to turn to drugs for their bit of escapism. The worst hit city with plenty of drug addicts happen to be Busan, and for drug dealer Sangdo, this presents opportunity to make it to the big league. On the other side of the law, narcotics police detective Lieutenant Do, known for his unorthodox and violent prone techniques, takes Sangdo under his wing as his informal snitch.

But as all things go, it's a black eat black world, with cop and drug dealer striking up an uneasy partnership, each with their own agenda to leach on the other for their own selfish reasons, in their common quest to take down the new and current drug lord. Sounds like good stuff? That's what I thought too, until the pacing switched me off for the most parts. It's full of verbal bravado, and plenty of supporting characters adding absolutely nothing to further the story. Its runtime of almost 2 hours was not justified, and some sections could have been cut short to quicken things up. One of the few saving graces is its black humour, but other than that, it's pretty serious and sombre.

If you're interested, stay tuned until the end of the credits. But given the late night, the projectionist was too trigger happy to shut the projector off halfway through the scene. Pity.