Dokjeon

NC17

It is supposedly a thriller -gory at times- and an action movie but to me it is more of a black comedy.. a trip with an ?ambiguous art house movie ending all in one coherent package! What an achievement.

A cop desperate to find a vicious drug lord gets help from an underling .. or is it the other way around? Fast paced with elements that seemed to repeat with slower but no less thrilling parts set in beautiful scenery. The photography is stupendous and the music is quite good. Most importantly though, lot of the acting is amazing and quite credible however outlandish the behavior required is.

Reviewers are too hang up on the original movie that inspired this remake - ignore them. Every movie borrows more or less from others but the whole package is quite original.

Korean film industry these past few years continue to produce quality police crime tales. Acting, sets, locations and creative new twists continue despite that this genre is redundantly overloaded. For those who like the syndicate drug crime script w/usual dead bodies.

I have been watching several South Korean crime movies in a row now and I must note that they somehow manage to produce lots of terrific work over there in this crime genre.

This being a remake of the original "Drug War" from 2012, I do think that this very remake from South Korea callded "Believer" is actually significantly better than the original: better acting performances, slicker photography and direction, better suspense.

It simply is a really solid crime story, with lots of conning intrigues and double crossing, which engaged me from the start till the very finish, which had an open ending, which I didnt quite understand, but that didnt leave me behind feeling less impressed.

The story: a cop has been on the hunt for a mysterious crime boss for years on end. No one has ever seen this crime boss in the flesh. An undercover operation lead by this very determined cop must finally capture this elusive crimeboss. Will he succeed or die tyring? That's the cliffhanger...

Lots of suspenseful conning schemes. Lots of exciting fights, shootouts and a few horrific torture scenes. Well acted and directed. Beautiful photography and sound. What's not to like?

Believer is an entertaining, if not particularly memorable film. It's recommended viewing for lovers of Korean cinema who'd like something to kill a couple of hours.

When a baleful underling survives an assassination plot, and the police accept his help to crack the drug gang's mysterious Mr Big (or Mr Lee) we know we will not be witnessing anything original.

I always try and catch Korean films in a festival, and I'm glad I caught this one. Borrowing heavily from style over substance hits such as Diva, through Usual Suspects and Infernal Affairs, it keeps a Mission Impossible tempo but in the end goes for a mystery ending. The hyper violence isn't quite up to 11 but is fairly unrelenting.

While definitely a great film, with notable sound and cinematography, it doesn't quite hit the heights of some other Korean action films due to some limited character development and imprecise editing. And the editing has filed away a sometimes visible consistent heart.