Plot: After a man is killed his four friends seek to find the perpetrators and punish them in their small town but find themselves dragged into a dodgy property deal run by out of town criminals that implicate one of their own.
Expecting plot or dialogue from a martial arts film is usually a losing game. There is a plot here and it's easy enough to follow provided you are good at telling Korean faces apart but it's nothing you haven't seen done before. What you're here for is the fights and City of Violence provides them. Yes it is completely unrealistic. Yes the fights are nothing special in themselves. But they are well edited, feature enough visual flourishes to win you over and are laid to a decent score. The result is a picture that never quite grabs your heartstrings like it should but is a lot of fun anyway. If you've ever wanted to watch a goon and a cop fight break dancing martial artists whilst the town lights explode above them or to see a fight set to cheesy 1980s K-Pop then this is your film.
Expecting plot or dialogue from a martial arts film is usually a losing game. There is a plot here and it's easy enough to follow provided you are good at telling Korean faces apart but it's nothing you haven't seen done before. What you're here for is the fights and City of Violence provides them. Yes it is completely unrealistic. Yes the fights are nothing special in themselves. But they are well edited, feature enough visual flourishes to win you over and are laid to a decent score. The result is a picture that never quite grabs your heartstrings like it should but is a lot of fun anyway. If you've ever wanted to watch a goon and a cop fight break dancing martial artists whilst the town lights explode above them or to see a fight set to cheesy 1980s K-Pop then this is your film.