Description

Tae-su, a tough-as-nails gang-squad cop in Seoul, is drawn back to his hometown Onseong when his high school pal Wang-jae, a crook gone straight and certainly no wimp, is murdered in an alley behind his little bar. Once home, Tae-su reconnect with the remnants of his circle, Pil-ho, Dong-hwan and Seok-hwan, summoning up memories of the crazy scrapes that cemented their friendship. Tae-su’s instincts tell him that Wang-jae’s death was no random tragedy, and he elects to lurk around for a few days and beat the bushes. The bushes beat back, and Tae-su barely escapes a swarm of teenage hoods with the able assistance of Seok-hwan. The stakes are raised, the pieces are coming together, and the scrappy quartet of buddies is beginning to fall apart. Before long, Tae-su and Seok-hwan will charge headfirst into a sea of enemies, battling their way to the core of a corrupt, criminal empire with every last ounce of strength they have.

Maverick young Korean filmmaker Ryoo Seung-wan landed his first Fantasia punch in 2001 with the gritty, auspicious Die Bad, and followed that up with the one-two attack of Arahan and Crying Fist in 2005, the former a fantastic action-comedy, the latter a raw, emotionally forceful drama. With The City of Violence, Ryoo has saddled himself with a new and deceptively simple challenge: to make what may be the definitive contemporary Asian action-drama, and make it lean, mean and damn good-looking. Making little effort to conceal his inspirations (the stylish Asian combat classics of the ’70s that also fed Tarantino’s Kill Bill, never to mention Sergio Leone and Sam Peckinpah), respectful of the tried-and-true tropes of the genre, Ryoo co-stars in addition to directing, dishing out the damage alongside Korean superstar stuntman Jung Doo-hong, whose company, Seoul Action School, co-produced this whirlwind of whupass.

—Rupert Bottenberg

“An adrenaline kick and a real rollercoaster ride to watch, filled with explosive action scenes… truly entertaining, violent as hell” - EVILDREAD.COM

“Wastes no time getting to the good stuff… one helluva lean, mean ride of a movie” - David Bjerre, SHUQI.ORG

Website

http://www.zzakpai.com/

Credits

Director: Ryoo Seung-wan
Screenplay: Ryoo Seung-wan, Kim Jeong-min, Lee Won-jae
Cast: Jung Doo-hong Ryoo Seung-wan Lee Beom-soo Jeong Seok-yong Ahn Kil-kang
Producers: Ryoo Seung-wan, Kim Jeong-min
Distributor: Dragon Dynasty/The Weinstein Company