This is How Movies Should Be Made

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Though this movie was inspired by a Hong Kong movie "Infernal Affairs", it obviously become even better than its already successful predecessor. 1. Plot. Intense, fluent, surprising. Every scene, every second is not wasted. 2. Actors. Despite the fact that all actors are the best in Korea, they do delivered an elaborate level of acting - every expression, words, action carries their true feelings.

A modern Korean take on "The Godfather" and "The Departed", this film beautifully explores the nuances of Korean culture through near flawless character development, script, cinematography, and pulse (the cycling of high and low points throughout the film that keep the audience fully engaged), though is not for the haemophobic (those who fear blood). Lee Jung-jae is absolutely phenomenal in his role; easily one of the best performances I've seen of any actor, ever. I would say the same about the character development in this film as well, which is extremely difficult to pull off in a film with such a heavy flow of "events". The only noticeable flaw is that the elevator scene towards the end is unrealistic (you'll see when you get to it).Easily in the top 3 Korean films of all time.

While I admit the overall idea is great, the execution is not and this is obvious from the very first scenes. The acting is overdone by the main characters, at least for the crime/thriller movie. Maybe it would've been great as a musical :). Anyways, there are serious plot holes: man with a knife kills a person with a gun in a rather naive hand to hand combat although the person with a gun notices the killer slowly approaching from 5+ meters away; ilogical assumptions on the police database, atrocious security setup around the people that are very powerful and have everything to lose, lack of any skills by pretty much anyone (marksmanship and/or combat skills) etc. Fighting scenes are laughably naive, the script feels empty and the timing of events is always too convenient and feels obviously set-up, even for a movie. The final result is that the "New world" is kind of boring.

A highly gripping portrait of Korean crime syndicate, New World is arguably the best mob film to come out from South Korea since Kim Jee-woon's A Bittersweet Life & is an ingeniously structured, stylishly filmed, firmly composed & violently told cinema that shares a similar thematic structure with Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather. Opening with a bloodied face of a person being tortured as he is suspected of being the mole in the gang, this crime-drama sets the tone for what's to come & as the film progresses, becomes more & more engrossing until it all culminates on a rousing high with an expertly executed finale.The plot covers the conflicts between the police & the mob through the eyes of an undercover cop who has worked his way up over the past 8 years to become the right hand man of the second-in-command for the throne of Goldmoon; the biggest crime syndicate in Korea. When its leader is killed in a car accident, the crime ring is thrown into a succession struggle of which both the police & the mob wants to make the most of and which in the end comes down to our undercover cop, who must finally make a choice that'll decide the fate of this crime organization.Outstanding well written & directed by Park Hoon-jung who does a superb job in shaping the story & even better at illustrating it on the screen, skilfully photographed too with fine use of close-ups & camera angles, tightly edited as the film flies through its 134 minutes of runtime, spectacularly scored with music making its way in or out of scenes at the right moments & strongly performed by its stellar cast, New World works because of a combination of many things it does right & is one of the best films of last year plus one of the most impressive mob films in a long time. Do not miss it.