4 reviews
In Wild Card a group of police detectives try to find the identity of a gang of muggers who are killing people in the course of their robberies, while also dealing with their other case loads and with their lives at home.
On many levels this movie is a run of the mill police action/comedy. There really aren't any unique twists or anything that in and of itself that makes its special. However, the combination of great acting, great characters, a good script and a well done production all come together to make a damn good little movie. While it may not strive to hit one out of the park for a grand slam home run, it does come up with a nice inside the park triple.
The violence can be intense, usually of the hand to hand or inanimate object to body sort. The police are hesitant to use their guns since that causes protracted investigations which ultimately get them into trouble. To prevent this there are a good number of fist fights and beatings.
The humor is almost constant, with everyone busting on everyone else with a steady stream of one liners. Its clever and amusing and having spent a good deal of time around police I've found it on target, although I've never heard of cops dickering over who's going to get the collar while the suspect shakes his head at the craziness of it all.
The film has taken some heat for being very meandering and not being a speedy rush against time. Some people don't care that the film focuses on other things. For the most part, I liked that the film wasn't 100% focused on the chase. I liked that the cops dealt with the crime as I've seen them do in real life, namely going after all leads they have, while also being forced to pursue other crimes. Rarely do cops have one case, and rarely are they so dedicated as to never go home, or not to try to pick up a pretty girl on the street. I liked that there were lulls by the killers where the cops had nothing to do or go on because the bad guys couldn't be found. And I liked that there were times where the cops sat bored on stake out while absolutely nothing happened. Still, I do have to admit that some time in the second hour there was one or two moments where the meandering did take its toll and I did wish the film would move forward just a tad faster (forgetting of course that I was enjoying what ever digression we were in the middle of.)
Yes, this is a run of the mill, you've "seen" it all before sort of movie but its done with enough style and skill that if you take it for exactly that you'll have a good evenings entertainment. If you're looking for the next big thing, or two hours of breathless excitement, look elsewhere. If you just want two hours of laughs and police style action this is the ticket. This is a movie thats the run of a very good mill. See this.
On many levels this movie is a run of the mill police action/comedy. There really aren't any unique twists or anything that in and of itself that makes its special. However, the combination of great acting, great characters, a good script and a well done production all come together to make a damn good little movie. While it may not strive to hit one out of the park for a grand slam home run, it does come up with a nice inside the park triple.
The violence can be intense, usually of the hand to hand or inanimate object to body sort. The police are hesitant to use their guns since that causes protracted investigations which ultimately get them into trouble. To prevent this there are a good number of fist fights and beatings.
The humor is almost constant, with everyone busting on everyone else with a steady stream of one liners. Its clever and amusing and having spent a good deal of time around police I've found it on target, although I've never heard of cops dickering over who's going to get the collar while the suspect shakes his head at the craziness of it all.
The film has taken some heat for being very meandering and not being a speedy rush against time. Some people don't care that the film focuses on other things. For the most part, I liked that the film wasn't 100% focused on the chase. I liked that the cops dealt with the crime as I've seen them do in real life, namely going after all leads they have, while also being forced to pursue other crimes. Rarely do cops have one case, and rarely are they so dedicated as to never go home, or not to try to pick up a pretty girl on the street. I liked that there were lulls by the killers where the cops had nothing to do or go on because the bad guys couldn't be found. And I liked that there were times where the cops sat bored on stake out while absolutely nothing happened. Still, I do have to admit that some time in the second hour there was one or two moments where the meandering did take its toll and I did wish the film would move forward just a tad faster (forgetting of course that I was enjoying what ever digression we were in the middle of.)
Yes, this is a run of the mill, you've "seen" it all before sort of movie but its done with enough style and skill that if you take it for exactly that you'll have a good evenings entertainment. If you're looking for the next big thing, or two hours of breathless excitement, look elsewhere. If you just want two hours of laughs and police style action this is the ticket. This is a movie thats the run of a very good mill. See this.
- dbborroughs
- Aug 13, 2005
- Permalink
"Wild Card" is an average South Korean cop film. If you've seen enough films in this genre, then there's absolutely nothing about "Wild Card" that will surprise you. The surprising thing is just how much "Wild Card" toes the genre line. The film is by-the-books when it comes to South Korean cop films, so I can't give it too many points for originality.
The film does have an excellent cast, although its narrative does meander quite a bit. Also, the movie takes great pains to mention South Korean cops and their deference to using guns on criminals, but that seems a rather moot point when suspects are repeatedly beaten to within an inch of their life with a variety of instruments, including baseball bats.
Again, "Wild Card" is not all bad, but it's not very original. It's formulaic, by-the-numbers, but still worthwhile.
6 out of 10
The film does have an excellent cast, although its narrative does meander quite a bit. Also, the movie takes great pains to mention South Korean cops and their deference to using guns on criminals, but that seems a rather moot point when suspects are repeatedly beaten to within an inch of their life with a variety of instruments, including baseball bats.
Again, "Wild Card" is not all bad, but it's not very original. It's formulaic, by-the-numbers, but still worthwhile.
6 out of 10
- NIXFLIX-DOT-COM
- Aug 23, 2003
- Permalink
It's got a love-story. A lot of fighting. Ruthless thugs going around killing randoms for money. Violence. Desperation. Low-life scum.
The cops are hard-working on the trail of the gang but the problem is they get to a prostitution den and find under-age girls working; BUT they don't do anything about it other than a shake-down and trying to find out where their 'boys' are.
This is the biggest flaw of the movie. In other movies they would have all been arrested for this. I don't understand why this did not take place in this movie and their operational license being revoked. I am so confused.
Otherwise this is a solid but standard cop action flick taking inspiration from films of this era and the Hong Kong films of the 1990's.
There's some good sequences of violence and chases. The score is actually descent. The acting carries this movie a bit better than the script and the tension between characters and character development is very solid.
It's just a bit lazy with some aspects of the script. It's from over two decades' ago now and a lot has changed with technology and CCTV. South Korean film improved massively in a short space in 2000's.
However the actors were very notable and strong and I enjoyed it. It's a fun popcorn movie to relax to. 7/10. A Third Window Films' DVD.
The cops are hard-working on the trail of the gang but the problem is they get to a prostitution den and find under-age girls working; BUT they don't do anything about it other than a shake-down and trying to find out where their 'boys' are.
This is the biggest flaw of the movie. In other movies they would have all been arrested for this. I don't understand why this did not take place in this movie and their operational license being revoked. I am so confused.
Otherwise this is a solid but standard cop action flick taking inspiration from films of this era and the Hong Kong films of the 1990's.
There's some good sequences of violence and chases. The score is actually descent. The acting carries this movie a bit better than the script and the tension between characters and character development is very solid.
It's just a bit lazy with some aspects of the script. It's from over two decades' ago now and a lot has changed with technology and CCTV. South Korean film improved massively in a short space in 2000's.
However the actors were very notable and strong and I enjoyed it. It's a fun popcorn movie to relax to. 7/10. A Third Window Films' DVD.
Basically this is just a lot of cop movie cliches strung together, even to the point of the obligatory stepping on a victim's glasses and the good cop/bad cop scenes. But what's most distressing is the attempted "theme" of how bad it is to shoot a criminal with a gun while at the same time the characters have no hesitation of beating one to death -- it rather makes the "serious" theme moot.
- Lord Quixote
- May 20, 2003
- Permalink