The Drug King

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.

Long, scrappy, boring, almost like Korean version of SCARFACE (1983) but much less "exciting."

The main, actually only, selling point of THE DRUG KING (2018) is Song Kang Ho. This movie is in effect his one man show. It is satisfactory as always to watch he performs, anything else in TDK doesn't worth mention. Although TDK is insignificant as such, Mr Song deserves awards before his next work -- the super-hyped PARASITE (2019).

Watch this for Song Kang Ho in a meaty role. Endearing till the end. His character is funny and not bad like Escobar. Not a wanton killer. Interesting to see a Narcos biopic of a Korean drug lord.

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.

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.