Akinjeon (2019)
Genre: Action / Crime
Duration: 109 minuten
Alternative titles: The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil / 악인전
Country:
South Korea / United States
Directed by: Lee Won-tae
Stars: Ma Dong-seok, Mu-Yeol Kim and Kim Sung-kyu
IMDb score:
7,0 (32.598)
Releasedate: 15 May 2019
Akinjeon plot
"Don't let the devil win."
Jang Dong-su is the boss of a gangster gang. He barely manages to survive a violent attack by an elusive serial killer. He is terrified. He then forms an unlikely partnership with local detective Jung Tae-seok to apprehend the sadistic killer known simply as "K".
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Actors and actresses
Jang Dong-su
Jung Tae-suk
Kang Gyeong-ho
Choi Moon-sik
Heo Sang-do
Choi Jeong-gyu
Kim Dong-chul
Cha Seo-jin
Ahn Ho-bong
Mr. Ahn
Reviews & comments
Shadowed
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- 11421 messages
- 6719 votes
Reasonable.
Film with an extremely interesting setup as it attempts to mix completely different worlds, to which the title is also a reference. A serial killer, a mafia boss and a police officer are the central characters here, and the worlds are connected nicely.
Especially since the worlds themselves are not very deepened, giving them all the space to just connect the characters. Story is not very intelligent in that, but director Won-tae knows how to get a nice portion of entertainment out of it. Despite the serious set-up of the film, it seems to me that it is a central objective that it all continues to look nice.
The acting is nice and the characters have enough whimsy not to fall into dullness. It is sometimes violent, although I miss the really cool scenes. The hardest moments come from torture, but when it comes to action it all feels very out of tune. As if the film forgets for a moment what it is supposed to represent.
Chemistry is also hard to find, which should have been in this film. The serial killer is fleshed out in a limited way, which I found surprising since you get to see who it actually is fairly early on. I know I've said before that the characters are nicely developed, and that's true, but I still found the weirdness a bit lacking from the killer.
Entertaining film that has little story, too little to actually justify such a running time. Fine in terms of cinematography, but apart from some unique forms of color play, no above-average moments either. This film keeps balancing around the midline. Almost a 3.5*, but the real lack of wow! made me take a step back in terms of grades.
Translated from Dutch · View original
El ralpho
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- 1485 messages
- 1096 votes
Beyond mediocrity
Here and there I read that The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil has well-known twists, but that these are executed with style and verve. This would make this crime drama a solid, if not excellent, time entry. For me the opposite turns out to be true and I see it rather as an achievement that I have watched this one at all. The main reason for this was Ma Dong-seok as a gangster. He plays an excellent role. It's just a shame this is in such a mediocre movie.
The cooperation between the mafia and the police sounds nice.. on paper. The effect, however, succumbs to mediocrity and imbalance. This is no more a full-fledged action film than it would be a comedy, crime or thriller. It is a bit of everything and does not look good at all because one can never find a real tone. I also found it strange that the character that it ultimately revolves around (the serial killer) was only developed to a limited extent. I also found playing Mu-Yeol Kim as a detective very annoying. He had a certain kind of overconfidence and arrogance about him that seemed to radiate more from the actor than it came purely from his character.
A number of action-packed moments could sometimes briefly grab my attention, but I lost them just as quickly when the police force and a team of gangsters from the underworld started bickering against each other again. This was often verging on theatrical and came across as affectionate and exaggerated.
The story they put up was quite nice, but at no point does it feel fresh or original. If the effect is also so disappointing that I really had to struggle through this, I think it's a shame that they couldn't have just put Ma Dong-seo's character in a better movie.
1.5*
Translated from Dutch · View original
mrklm
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- 11629 messages
- 10041 votes
A South Korean Agent [Mu-Yeol Kim] is desperate for clues to the identity of a serial killer [Kim Sungkyu] who hits the cars of random victims before stabbing them to death. The case takes an unexpected turn when a powerful mobster [Ma Dong-seok] survives an attack. The cop and the gangster know each other and (obviously) can't stand each other, but realize they need each other to find the devilish killer. Dark crime thriller in the best Korean tradition with excellent, perfectly edited action scenes, beautiful camera work and a solid dose of violence. The three protagonists are very evenly matched in every way.
Translated from Dutch · View original
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