The Drug King

Though obviously ship would be more fitting, but that other movie I was riffing off is called Train to Busan, so ... anyway, just a small joke in the summary line, hope you don't mind. The movie itself has Kang-Ho Song in the lead and if you are as bad as I am in remembering names at times, you might not immediately know who that is, but if you've watched more than 1 Korean movie, it is more than likely you've seen him.

Netflix has gotten into the producing movies market and not a minute too late if you think about Disney shortly coming up with their own streaming service. And with content like this Netflix might have a chance against other giants. This is a straight up crime story with really good acting and the comedy you might already know from other movies. Violence is also there and quite something, so also not for the squeamish ... A good movie with a really good cast then

Its a decent movie if you like the Narcos driven hype and drug kingpin storyline at the moment. Korean cinema is generally very interesting with a lot of brilliant movies. The story is interesting , the directing overall is good but the movie in a few places lacks a smooth fluid transition between the different chapters of the storyline. The movie is a bit too long and feels dragged out by the time you reach the end they should have prioritized a bit better with what could be left out. The lead actor has done a good job along with many of the co-stars who have performed very well.

Based on Lee Doo-sam's true story, I like South Korean humor, slightly unpretentious and in disconnected moments, but here I missed the humor, as they were not successful, and ended up becoming overwhelming, Kang-ho Song is great as calm citizen, a common and ambitious man, almost clumsy, there is no way not to associate it with the wonderful "Breaking Bad", but here we lack the humor ... We have great photography, ambiance, soundtrack from the 70s, delights, but a bit long and almost dispersed ... That ending, almost "heroic", was crazy and fun, that dark humor that we love, #MadeInKorea.

The story is pretty much the same as Scarface, so it's impossible to not draw a comparison. If you take away the legendary cultural status the movie Scarface has in the "West" and just put the two side by side, I would say this one's actually almost as good. What I liked even more in this film, is that it highlights a little bit more the detrimental effects of drug dealing on the community as a whole, instead of just glorifying it Hollywood style. Certainly worth a watch.

Better than Scarface because it it is part dark comedy part blood and guts thriller. If you watch a lot of Korean movies you will get the style a lot sooner. The tension between Japanese gangsters is as much political as it is territorial. The movie straddles the Yushin (4th Republic) and 5th Republic eras including the assassination of Park chung-Hee. I watched on Netflix and it kept me engaged throughout. So good I will watch again very soon.