With an original premise, the kind of slick execution that we have come to expect from Korean action films, and the gungho performances from Ma Dong-seok and Jung Tae-seok, ‘The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil’ is thoroughly thrilling and entertaining.
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A gangster and a cop team up to nab a serial killer in director Lee Won-Tae’s sophomore feature, ‘The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil’. The intriguing premise of this high-concept action thriller is making lots of money at the Korean box office and has already attracted Sylvester Stallone to remake it.
Train to Busan’s Ma Dong-seok star as the ruthless gang boss Jang Dong-soo. When we are first introduced to him, the beefy Jang appears to be practising boxing, but is later revealed to be pounding a guy trapped in the punch bag. One rainy night, Jang is unexpectedly attacked by a serial killer who goes by the moniker K (Kim Sung-kyu, who has co-starred with Ma in ‘The Outlaws’). As a result of the attack, Jang got hospitalized and lost his reputation and face.
Meanwhile, detective Jung Tae-seok (Kim Moo-Yul) is hard on K’s case, determined to nab the serial killer. But his zeal is dampened by his superior who perceives Jung as merely a young hotshot. So determined is Jung that he decides to partner with Ma, who is out for vengeance to reclaim his reputation, to apprehend K.
In a two-hander like this one, the chemistry between the two co-stars make or break the film. Moo-Yul and Ma have that in spades, even though their characters are almost always at loggerheads. The gangster essentially wants K dead, but the cop wants justice to be served. This central conflict drives the film, which is loaded with both humorous and thrilling fight sequences. But eventually, the two find that they have more in common than previously thought.
With an original premise, the kind of slick execution that we have come to expect from Korean action films, and the gung-ho performances from Ma Dong-seok and Jung Tae-seok, ‘The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil’ is thoroughly thrilling and entertaining.
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