Deiteam What was good: --1.-- realistic setting: quite strikingly accurate, totally relates to 70s as far as ambiance is concerned. The uncontrollable violence and crime rate are also well depicted. The whole "70s" atmosphere is totally in. --2.-- the mud fight scene is totally dramatic and professional. Impressive feel for movement and coordination. --3.-- high tempo. A lot is happening within 1.5h while the story does not feel rushed or superficial.What was bad: --1.-- A lot of mature content, which is not bad as it as as long as it contributes to the story line, makes it deeper, explains some hidden motives. In this case most mature scenes seemed put in just to shock the audience and get the scandalous 18+ rating. So, in my opinion it was not intelligently used. Sort of - the director wanted to have the tough reputation...but missed on intellect. -- 2.-- Kim Rae Won character was very accurate - wild, cunning, uncontrollable, which probably was a one-sided role to begin with, so, psychologically easier to capture. Almost everyone else didn't get it right. Ex: people were portrayed as "good" while still having the evil background - these angles didn't match up. So, I was missing intrinsic psychological logic in most of the characters. --3.-- along the lines of the above point, Lee Min Ho (LMH) was a disappointment. Although not into his romantic mode, but was playing the old good sane Min Ho. That does not explain how such a normal person with morals and principles could carry out series of brutal murders purely for the sake of money. I think he needed to consult a professional crime physiologist before going into such complex role. The lead character missed badly on something important in his psychological portrait and because of that the whole film felt diluted. I remember the movie for the brutal history, not for the lead personality. LMH had all the chances to become the Korean God Father, but was probably mentally too young to make it.All in all, the film didn't teach life lessons or bring out memorable main characters, was unnecessarily sex-filled and sickly gory. However, quite informative in terms of history.

Hasi This movie elaborates the struggles people in Gangnam district had to go through with various changes with power. As a non Korean viewer, I recommend this to watched in terms of power corruption, brutality and rejection in society. However the end is not what most would expect, however it gives the story more realistic appeal. The incredibly played character is that of Lee Min Ho. I was pleasantly surprised by the acting of Min Ho. As I have always seen him as a cheerful, melodramatic flower boy in many of his dramas. In fact quite shocking. This really shows his capabilities of adjusting to various roles as a great actor. He has changed his experience to suit this character and delivers a noteworthy performance.I recommend this movie and it is worth the time spent to watch.

didjanoit My take on this movie comes from a gut level reaction, rather than any expertise in the gangster genre movies.I found the movie to be a gory, but realistic, portrayal of the depths of man's capacity for greed and violence. Whereas movies made in the US have watered down the showing of violence, this movie didn't. It showed graphically how men can be pushed, by despair and need, to fight with everything they have to not just survive, but to prosper.I thought all the actors seemed committed to their character's reasoning behind their actions, so I didn't find them to be disengaged from their roles at all. I was particularly impressed with Lee Min Ho's portrayal of such a brutal character, which was so far outside of his normal romantic lead roles.In the end, I just felt sorry for the sad state of their lives. Whether this is the intent of the creators or not, I don't know. But I was glad I took the time to watch this movie.

BasicLogic what we got here is a very badly scripted clichéd screenplay with very pretentious dialog, then we got a very deadbeat director who failed to ignite those who signed up for playing the roles in it. there were several segments of this film that made me feel like watching a lousy Korean pornographic crap. those intercourse, fornication scenes are just absolutely unnecessary, yet this brain-dead director just added and inserted those love-making scenes. every time when the clueless sexual stuff suddenly showed up, i just couldn't help myself to curse. this film was trying to portray the Korean politicians using the gangsters to rip the land from the poor, and the real estates business and values in Korea were starting to boom. the storyline is very weak, and most of the acting performed by almost every actor in this film was not good, therefore it failed to get me connected. a very bad film that the Korean movie industry rarely under achieved in recent years, since most of their recent products are very good, some of them are even light-year better than what Hollywood did in recent years. i have to confess that i didn't finish it, because it's one of the worst Korean films.