“The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil” Theatrical Poster
Director: Lee Won-Tae
Cast: Ma Dong-Seok, Kim Moo-Yul, Kim Sung-Kyu, Kim Yoon-Sung, Oh Hee-Joon, Choi Min-Chul, Ahn Sung-Bong, Yoo Seung-Mok, Heo Dong-Won
Running Time: 110 min.
By Z Ravas
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, chances are writer/director Park Hoon-jung is somewhere in Korea blushing a bright shade of crimson right about now. In fact, the biggest surprise about this year’s The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil is that the Witch: Part 1. The Subversion filmmaker had nothing to do with it: the action/thriller’s high concept could be boiled down to pitting the deranged serial killer from I Saw the Devil against the swaggering gangsters of New World. Instead, the movie arrives from relative newcomer Lee Won-tae.
As the film opens, a knife-wielding murderer (played by The Outlaws’ Kim Sung-kyu) continues to elude Kim Mu-yeol’s (War of the Arrows) cop on the edge. As it turns out, Sung-kyu is crazy as a fox – or at least crazy enough to randomly stab the imposing Ma Dong-seok (Unstoppable), here playing a gangster who barely survives the attack with his life. Seeing as how Ma Dong-seok is the only victim to walk away from a run-in with the killer, Kim Mu-yeol realizes his best hope of catching the serial murderer is to form an uneasy alliance with Ma Dong-seok and his criminal cohorts.
It’s the kind of elevator pitch that Hollywood execs tend to greenlight in a flash, such that you have to wonder why this simple but clever hook –– good guy teams up with bad guy against even worse guy –– has never been done before, at least not in this particular configuration. Writer/director Lee Won-tae seems to know he has a hit on his hands; despite the fact that this is only his second film, after 2017’s Man of Will, he directs the material with a relaxed confidence.
In fact, given the film’s title and moody poster art, I went into The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil expecting a somber and graphically violent thriller; but the tone here is breezy. For the most part, the movie plays as a buddy action/comedy, and the graphic nature of Kim Sung-kyu’s crimes are largely implied rather than shown. I have to admit, the movie’s almost jovial attitude threw me for a loop, considering I thought I was wading into grim territory akin to a Na Hong-jin (The Yellow Sea) picture. Director Lee Won-Tae’s influences are unmistakable –– at times, his movie can feel like a greatest hits album of the last two decades of Korean cinema, from The Chaser to Confession of Murder –– but his motivation here is to deliver pure mainstream entertainment, not to scar the viewer’s mind.
Fortunately, Lee Won-Tae’s mission to entertain is made easier by his charismatic performers and at least two high-tempo action setpieces, including a brawl in a poker machine warehouse and a car chase. Kim Mu-yeol is an actor who’s transitioned from supporting roles to a leading man in recent years, and he’s suitably brash as a dogged cop butting up against both corrupt superiors and his city’s criminal element. Meanwhile, Ma Dong-seok might just be the most recognizable face in Korean cinema right now, after his star-making turn in Train to Busan and a future slate that includes Marvel’s The Eternals. The duo make for an ideal odd couple, and half the fun of the movie is watching as Kim Mu-yeol and his police squad form a begrudging kind of respect for Ma Dong-seok’s scrappy gangster, and vice versa. The other half of the film’s fun might be anticipating what Ma Dong-seok is going to do once he gets his considerably-sized mitts on Kim Sung-kyu’s killer. In that regard, the movie does not disappoint.
The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil is not out to reinvent the wheel; it’s not a film aiming to win accolades or probe the darkest places of man’s subconscious a la The Wailing. This is slick but effective commercial filmmaking, to the point that you’ll start casting the Hollywood remake in your head long before the credits roll. Considering how many memorable killers South Korean cinema has delivered to the screen, it’s disappointing that Kim Sung-kyu never truly lives up to his billing as ‘the devil’; and part of me can’t help but feel like the movie just goes down too easy. Still, you’ll want to overlook such quibbles every time Ma Dong-seok swaggers down a hallway in one of his tailored suits or tosses a rival hood into an eletronic poker machine. The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil is the equivalent of a cinematic cover band, paying tribute to all the Korean action/thrillers you know and love. Sure, it’s not exactly original, but the onstage jam session never hits a bum note.
Z Ravas’ Rating: 7.5/10
Great review Zack, you have me sold! I’ll be checking this one out once it hits Blu-ray.
“In fact, given the film’s title and moody poster art, I went into The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil expecting a somber and graphically violent thriller; but the tone here is breezy.”
These were pretty much my exact same expectations for ‘Unstoppable’, with the end product delivering the same result as what you describe here.
“For the most part, the movie plays as a buddy action/comedy, and the graphic nature of Kim Sung-kyu’s crimes are largely implied rather than shown.”
The irony of this is that, if my theory is correct, the lack of onscreen violence is actually the influence of Ma Dong-seok himself. When he was promoting ‘The Outlaws’ he did an interview with The Korea Times, and was asked a similar question as to why so much of the violence in that particular movie takes place offscreen, to which he answered “I personally hate violent scenes with blood everywhere. I like comedy and action.”
As much as it pains me to say it, I have a feeling that Dong-seok’s grittiest role is likely to be one of his supporting turns from the past, rather than one of his headlining turns in the future.
It’s possible that Ma dong-seok is an empath. As one myself, I can see where he’s coming from, and I’m glad there’s no I Saw the Devil styled “exploitation.” I only like my violence when it’s happening to bad people.
It’s interesting to note that about Ma Dong-seok! I would say, honestly, “The Outlaws” felt darker and more violent to me than “The Gangster, The Cop, the Devil,” despite the latter’s more foreboding title. So, if anything, it seems like you’re right, Paul: Ma Dong-seok is continuing to soften his image and his grittiest roles might be behind him.
Fortunately, “The Gangster…” is still far more entertaining than “Unstoppable,” a film that might be more aptly called “Unwatchable.”
I just finished watching this movie, and I really enjoyed it.
As someone who’s not familiar with Don Lee, I found his on-screen presence and physicality to be awesome. What are some other movies where I can see him kicking some ass?
Definitely The Outlaws which gets talked about here often. The Villagers (aka Ordinary People) also has him in action, and even though it got a mixed response, I liked Unstoppable as basic entertainment.
I got through watching this one recently, and didn’t enjoy it as much as Mr. Ravas, although mainly because I’m less forgiving to the “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” approach that it takes. There’s barely a discernible shred of originality in here, with almost every scene lifted from other more competent thrillers, filtering all the way down to scenes like when the homicide squad come in to takeover the case from the local cops and the subsequent altercation that breaks out between them. We haven’t just seen this type of scene before, we’ve seen it 100’s of time before. Sure, the storyline is a unique setup, but that’s where the originality ends.
The issue was only exasperated by how 1 dimensional all of the characters are. The title is fitting because that’s all each of the 3 main cast are. Ma Dong-seok is a gangster and does stuff you’d expect a gangster to do, and Kim Mu-yeol is a cop that acts like cops do in Korean movies. We learn precisely zero about who they are, their background, and what they do outside of being a gangster and a cop. While a skilled director may be able to get away with this, the biggest problem is Kim Sung-kyu as the devil.
Korean cinema has become increasingly lazy with the villains that appear in its thrillers over the last 10 years, and this is the lamest example yet. It’s mentioned in a throwaway line that he had an abusive relationship with his father and became an orphan, but that’s the only reason we’re given as to why we watch a heap of scenes of him stabbing random people in the same repetitive fashion. It made me crave for villains like Lee Sung-jae in ‘Public Enemy’ and Ha Jung-woo in ‘The Chaser’. The whole “he just enjoys killing people” reasoning was already old with movies like ‘The Witness’.
Let’s face it, it’s always fun to see Ma Dong-seok put the beat down on hapless cannon fodder, and the scene involving the karaoke parlour here is a gratuitously brutal highlight. Other than that, I’ll stick with ‘Bad Guys: Reign of Chaos’ and ‘The Outlaws’ as superlative slices of the burly bruiser in action.
“This is slick but effective commercial filmmaking, to the point that you’ll start casting the Hollywood remake in your head long before the credits roll.”
Very perceptive! –
https://cityonfire.com/paramount-and-stallone-are-developing-a-u-s-remake-of-the-gangster-the-cop-the-devil-with-ma-dong-seok-aka-don-lee-reprising-his-role-from-the-original/