Tae-su, a tough cop from Seoul, receives news that his childhood friend, Wang-jae has been stabbed to death after a brawl in a bar. He returns home for the funeral and meets up with the rest of his friends: Pil-ho, Dong-hwan and Seok-hwan. Seeking answers and revenge, Tae-su and Seok-hwan begin their own investigation of the murder and they stumble onto an unexpectedly deeper plot behind it. Fighting ensues.
The City of Violence brings director Ryu Seung-wan back to his crime genre roots thematically, but really, it’s his chance to update classic gritty 70's action flicks with his own slick touch. Gone are the fantasy elements of Arahan and the character development of Crying Fist, as Ryu opts instead for a bit of The Warriors, some well-choreographed tae-kwon-do action and 70’s era exploitation cheese from ridiculous characters to the groovy soundtrack. This is South Korea’s attempt at an SPL, and Ryu succeeds so remarkably that it may in fact even be the better film.
But similar problems plague it as well. It’s all a blast to watch, but it’s hard to ever care about the characters or story to a degree. Revelations are hardly surprising, childhood flashbacks are a delight, but barely there, and most of the main characters undergo little to no change. The second act brings in plot development too complex for its own good when all that truly matters is Tae-su and Seok-hwan’s vengeance. Both stars Jung Doo-hong and Ryu Seung-wan (doubling up on jobs) are cool and likeable-- the action build-ups and climax need only rely on this simple, effective hook of revenge to work the magic. The rest is filler.
The first two acts are relatively low key—though there are a few inspired scenes like a wonderfully corny slow-motion flashback to the main characters’ high school days and an absurd Warriors homage where gangs of school children completely surround a protagonist for digging too deep. The strong theme of youth corruption emerges from these early scenes, but it is abruptly dropped when the third act rolls around.
Of course, no viewer will really care at this point. The extended climax is riveting and off-the-wall in its gorgeous fights and Jung Doo-hung’s stunt choreography. The sequences exude style, but the hits still hurt, whether they be baseballs to the chest or sashimi knife slashes all over. The action is captured with tight precision in a wonderful variety of locations from the city streets to restaurant interiors as Ryu pits his heroes against insurmountable numbers in a nice throwback to those epic scenarios. These days, besides Tony Jaa, it is rare to see so few defeat so many.
While Arahan’s final sequence stretched into slightly irksome excess, The City of Violence gets it just right. There’s a healthy variety in the action scenarios and the protags slowly get whittled down to the point where (gasp), the viewer cannot comprehend how they will get through the next fight and live to see their goal through. When it comes down to it, isn’t that what the action film is all about?
Reviewed by Tarun
