As a big fan of the current South Korean cinema who has seen the amazing vengeance thriller "I Saw The Devil", I was excited to watch an earlier collaboration of director Kim Jee-Woon and actor Lee Byung-Hun in this movie that got internationally known as "A Bittersweet Life". This movie is definitely completely different from the recent masterpiece they have created together and also from "The Good, The Bad, The Weird". This movie is rather influenced by Japanese Yakuza flicks and portrays an enforcer and manager that has faithfully served his brutal boss for seven long years. This man is suddenly led by his emotions when he gets the task to keep an eye on his boss' new young girlfriend during his absence. The loyal man falls for the charming, naive and vivid young woman and doesn't contact his boss when he discovers that his boss' doubts were right and that his new girlfriend was cheating on him and meeting another guy with whom she wants to leave the city. When the boss comes back home, he soon discovers that something is wrong and gets to the conclusion that his faithful right arm betrayed him. He wants to punish him but the manager gets away with his life and takes revenge.
What seems intriguing as a story line at first sight turns out to be quite redundant. First of all, there is no chemistry at all between the manager and his boss' girlfriend and it's hard to believe that he risks everything he has done and become for a beautiful doll and her imprudent boyfriend.
Second, there is a second story line that centres around a conflict between the main actor and a mafia gang that spreads some trouble in his hotel that soon gets quite personal. This side story is also about betrayal and loyalty and is quite interesting but the two stories feel somewhat unfinished and simply don't glue together. It is as if you were watching two different movies from time to time and this doesn't help the film to improve.
Third, the middle part of the story is way too long without explaining the important details. For example, we never really get to know what finally happens to the boss' unfaithful girlfriend or her young lover.
Fourth, there are too many pseudo-philosophical dialogues that create many lengths and from time to time, we even get some completely misplaced slapstick humour. For example, the whole story line around the weapon deal with the Russian mafia is just silly.
Fifth, the vengeance chapter only takes a few minutes and doesn't impress with much action, gripping tension or some brutality. Instead, emotionally driven dialogues are put in between fighting sequences and slow the flow. The main character suddenly gets quite tender in between all the shooting scenes which feels unreal and weird.
Each time, you expect something gripping to happen, it just doesn't. There are some appetizers and promising turnings now and then but the rhythm always quickly slows down. The movie has many ups and downs and is ultimately too long and a little bit hard to sit through. Something really gripping, surprising or twisted as in a Takashi Miike movie is definitely missing here. The acting is only of an average quality and the story more or less predictable. Only a couple of vivid passages and the good job of some supporting actors made this flick at least watchable and enjoyable from time to time but I have really expected more. In the end, I wouldn't recommend to watch this kind of overlong and emotionally shattered mafia thriller.
What seems intriguing as a story line at first sight turns out to be quite redundant. First of all, there is no chemistry at all between the manager and his boss' girlfriend and it's hard to believe that he risks everything he has done and become for a beautiful doll and her imprudent boyfriend.
Second, there is a second story line that centres around a conflict between the main actor and a mafia gang that spreads some trouble in his hotel that soon gets quite personal. This side story is also about betrayal and loyalty and is quite interesting but the two stories feel somewhat unfinished and simply don't glue together. It is as if you were watching two different movies from time to time and this doesn't help the film to improve.
Third, the middle part of the story is way too long without explaining the important details. For example, we never really get to know what finally happens to the boss' unfaithful girlfriend or her young lover.
Fourth, there are too many pseudo-philosophical dialogues that create many lengths and from time to time, we even get some completely misplaced slapstick humour. For example, the whole story line around the weapon deal with the Russian mafia is just silly.
Fifth, the vengeance chapter only takes a few minutes and doesn't impress with much action, gripping tension or some brutality. Instead, emotionally driven dialogues are put in between fighting sequences and slow the flow. The main character suddenly gets quite tender in between all the shooting scenes which feels unreal and weird.
Each time, you expect something gripping to happen, it just doesn't. There are some appetizers and promising turnings now and then but the rhythm always quickly slows down. The movie has many ups and downs and is ultimately too long and a little bit hard to sit through. Something really gripping, surprising or twisted as in a Takashi Miike movie is definitely missing here. The acting is only of an average quality and the story more or less predictable. Only a couple of vivid passages and the good job of some supporting actors made this flick at least watchable and enjoyable from time to time but I have really expected more. In the end, I wouldn't recommend to watch this kind of overlong and emotionally shattered mafia thriller.