Bloody Tie

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.

When I first heard about Bloody Ties (aka Bloody Tie) many reviewers were saying that it was the Bittersweet Life of 2006. I think that characterization is misleading. Kim Ji Woon's A Bittersweet Life is a much more serious, violent, and dark thriller, while Bloody Ties is less violent and is put together with a fair amount of dark humor. I think a better comparison to Bloody Ties would be Wook-Suk Kang's Public Enemy.

Anyway, Bloody Ties tells the story of a reckless cop Lieutenant Do (Expertly played by Jeong-min Hwang) and a crystal meth dealer named Ji-young (Ja-Hyeon Chu) who works as a informant for the police. The two form an unlikely partnership in order to take down a ruthless crime lord.

One of my favorite things about Bloody Ties is how it depicts the underground South Korean drug trade. This is the first film I'd seen from Korea that dealt at length with drug use in the underworld and it was refreshing and interesting to see a Korean film that delves into that.

The acting is another reason why I liked Bloody Ties. Jeong-min Hwang performance as Lieutenant Do was just too cool for words. Every time he made an entrance with the black aviators and a lit cigarette I couldn't help but smile. Ja-Hyeon Chu's performance as a crystal meth dealer, who never samples his own product, was also done very well. To be honest, I can't find fault with any of the performances of the film from the crime lord to Ji-Young's grandfather, this film features stellar performances for everyone involved.

All in All, Bloody Ties is a very entertaining and well developed film. The direction and cinematography is well done, the performances are awesome. And I loved how it mixed dark humor with violence. If you like a good crime thriller (as I do), than you should love Bloody Ties.

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.

This is simply an excellent crime/drug movie with great acting and great cinematography. If you are an individual in the younger generation (teens, 20's, 30's) you will most probably enjoy this movie. You get a very stylish look into the life of the Pusan (second largest Korean city; also largest port in Korea) drug/crime underworld.

In fact, Busan is famous for it's gangsters, being the second largest city of Korea and also a mecca for import/export trading. It is also the closest point between Korea and Japan. After the war (WWII), a lot of Koreans and Japanese inter-migrated through this city, during a time when industrialism and yaks gangs developed tremendously.

Knowing this, you may get a better understanding of the scenery and setting of this awesome movie.

MOVIE REVIE (Title: Sasaeng gyeoldan) I have seen Sasaeng gyeoldan. It's a black eat black world. The story of a reckless cop Lieutenant Do (Expertly played by Jeong-min Hwang) and a crystal me-th dealer named Ji-young (Ja-Hyeon Chu) who works as a informant for the police. The two form an unlikely partnership in order to take down a ruthless crime lord. It's very excellent, stylish, very enterta and very gloomy. Also good crime thriller. Great performances.!!! Jeong-min Hwang, Seung-beom Ryu is very very very good actor!!!!! If you think same me, Irecommend another movie that same actor. It's 'You are my sunshine', Crying Fist. <<< Also very excellent. It's must have see.