Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

This spectacular movie came out nine years before John Wick, but because I am a westerner I saw J.W. and J.W.2 before this. After watching this masterpiece, I was compelled to write my first movie review. This movie is just as good as J.W. and in many ways similar to it, but it is something completely different at the same time. The movie is two hours long, but it didn't feel too lengthy or boring at all.Dalkomhan insaeng tells the story of a respected, talented, and merciless mafia enforcer named Sung-Woo whose devotion to martial arts is beyond ordinary mobsters. He seems like a person who is used to doing everything his boss tells him, but one job makes him hesitate, and the mafia goes after him.The way Sung-Woo's situation changes from being respected to hunted is expected yet perfectly subtle at the same time, and watching his character develop during the movie was rewarding. Every single character in the movie was believable and had a unique personality. The acting of all actors, both lead and support, was spot on.What really made this movie a perfect 10 for me was how basically everything is shown. Just like in John Wick, the action scenes are filmed with steady cameras so the viewer can appreciate the choreography of the combat. And even so, there is still something even more visceral, gritty, and violent about this movie that I haven't seen before in cinema. Sure, there are super violent movies out there, but the violence in Dalkomhan insaeng didn't have a single sign of over-the-topness. We get to see dead bodies laying still in a growing pool of blood, stabbing, smashing, bullet hits and blood pulsating through bullet holes via the now rare medium of a still movie camera frame that truly lets the viewer see what's going on.The movie had a few implausible events regarding main character Sung- Woo's abilities, fitness, and pain tolerance, but this movie definitely ranks closer to 10 than 9.5 in my books. After all, it is obvious from the start that Sung-Woo is not an ordinary guy. Also, the soundtrack was nice, different, and refreshing.

Ah...the Korean revenge genre. I only recently got into it so I'm not even going to attempt posting character or actor names. Way too exotic for me.The thing about a good K-Revenge movie, is that you put all your sympathies into the character. Even in Oldboy, you mostly retain your sympathy for Oh Dae Su (there...I got one right).With this film, the model looking protagonist plays the cat and mouse game just as he eventually did in I Saw the Devil (the "villain" play by Choi-Min Sik..maybe I'm not as bad at this as I thought).However, there is a phrase uttered in one of the scenes that implies him to not be without blood on his own hands.Regardless, you sympathize with him for most of the movie and can't help but root him on. His touching monologue to the man he's seeking revenge against is a great emotional forebearing of the final fist, leg and gunfight show.Being an older movie, I'll forgive it's flaws. Even with them, it's still worth watching if you're into this fascinating subgenre of foreign film.

I first bought A Bittersweet Life not knowing what to expect, but was already in love with Korean cinema!I hadn't heard of its star Jeong-min Hwang, and the DVD wasn't giving away much. Then I watched it. And I was blown away!A Bittersweet Life quickly jumped to the top of my re-watch pile and I was telling everyone I knew about this awesome movie.Leading star, Jeong-min Hwang is Korea's Chow Yun Fat without a doubt. Handsome, fantastic actor, and great at action (further seen in his Hollywood debut - the p*ss poor GI Joe movies), Hwang is a star!His role in A Bittersweet Life just confirms that, and instantly earns him fans as viewers become hooked by him in this incredible film.I can't praise it enough and don't want to give anything away. Just see it before Hollywood remakes it and no doubt messes that one up too!

This is my first review on here, only because I felt compelled to tell someone about this film… When I say "coolest," I don't mean it in a that-movie-was-really-cool kind of way… Coolest, in this case, means that it is the smoothest, well-crafted, stylish, and beautiful films I have ever seen. Everything about the film has a you'll-never-be-this-cool feel, like Jules and Vincent from Pulp Fiction. Not to mention the fact that it has the same sort of humor.Now, I am a film student who has actually gotten a lot of praise from students and teachers and whatnot for my first film project… That's great and all, but after seeing this film I am reminded of what Steven Spielberg said after he saw The Godfather; "I guess I should quit now, because I will never make something this good." I am, in no way, comparing myself to Spielberg, I'm just describing the feeling of, "holy s***, this is amazing," and "wow, I could never do this ever…"See this movie before you die… Or before it gets remade.