Purely Joyful Movie!

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

Expected more

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Director and writer Jee-woon-Kim who also directed and wrote another classic flick, I Saw the Devil 2010 has created a gem in A Bittersweet Life.Starring Byung-hun Lee wha was also in Jee-woon-Kim classic flick I Saw the Devil and another classic flick, Terminator Genisys 2015.Also starring Jung-min Hwang.Also starring Dal-su Oh who has also been in another classic flick in Oldboy 2003.If you enjoyed this as much as I did then check out another classic South Korean crime flick, The Man from Nowhere 2010.

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.

A Bitter Sweet life adds a hardcore blood fest to the list of films under the revenge flick genre. It's a pretty stereotypical revenge film about mobsters and the backstabbing behind the scenes. If A Bittersweet Life was to add anything new to the formula it would be the 'how big is a mistake' question into play, which ultimately starts the onslaught of gangsters in all sorts of gory fun fashion.Though nothing truly original, A Bittersweet Life adds a Korean twist on all things gory and revengey. You wont be telling your friends about this one in too much of a hurry, but for the most part it does it's job, despite some off-paced story.

I sat down to A Bittersweet Life wondering how long I would be able to watch it. Not being a big Korean film aficionado and having not watched a huge amount of subtitled films, I didn't know what I would make of this. It didn't take me long to realise I was watching something special...Gripping, clever, dramatic and sometimes funny (in a dark way) this film has clever action scenes, grit and more emotion than you could shake a stick at. From very early on you actually care about Kim Sun-Woo even though we don't find out all that much about him. His motives are always driven by events around him and conflict with everything he had ever experienced and that makes him vulnerable, even as he breaks more than a few bones.This film is right up there among the best I've ever seen and it sends shivers down my spine just thinking about it. Watch it if you love watching true class.