The Chaser

2008 "The hunter and the hunted, the ultimate chase begins."
The Chaser
7.8| 2h5m| PG-13| en| More Info
Released: 20 September 2008 Released
Producted By: Showbox
Country: South Korea
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

Joong-ho is a dirty detective turned pimp in financial trouble as several of his girls have recently disappeared without clearing their debts. While trying to track them down, he finds a clue that the vanished girls were all called up by the same client whom one of his girls is meeting with right now.

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talibliresad Can anyone please explain me why those Koreans always come up with this style of movies??? Why??? The same disturbing, disgusting violence in almost every movie they made? Maybe some of you can say that they have other beautiful drama movies, but in fact only disgusting movies I see from them...
maknitanje I didn't expect this! I'm thrilled. First 30 minutes I thought this might be boring movie, but in the end my heartbeat was insane.The main character went from being "I don't give a damn, all I want is money" to "I'm gonna save this child's mom even if I die". He couldn't even believe these women were killed, because it's unimaginable, like we all would think. All his quotes were so normal, stupid and real. Not like in most thriller movies where you can hear just smart, serious, detective quotes.Cops who are not experienced in crimes like this and are not sure what to do.Beating scenes so incredibly real, you could almost feel it. And that poor woman, after all she's been threw was concerned he won't be mad at her for leaving prostitution. I think we all just wanted her to stay alive.And the sociopath.. Oh my God, you could almost feel him behind you, starring at you and waiting for the moment to do what he do.. And I love the fact it's not Hollywood, It was so unpredictable. Just give it a chance and watch it.
Adam Peters (68%) A super gritty cat and mouse horror/thriller that's as engrossing as it is unpredictable. The performance from Kim Yoon-seok as the film's good guy hunting for evidence in the tough streets of Seoul, while at the same time he's a sleazy pimp meaning the blend between good and bad is never quite crystal clear; although the bad guy is 100% evil and make no mistake. In terms of violence there are a couple of scenes that are very grim to watch, but actually most of the killings take place off-screen, while it's the oppressive feel and painful turn of events that make this a memorable piece. Anyone with a fondness for harder-edged, tough, dark thrillers should certainly track this one down.
Red-Barracuda The Chaser is yet another example of the excellence of South Korean cinema. Since the millennium there have been several absolute standout movies from this country. Often what makes them so good is that they have materialised from a culture hitherto sparsely represented in the movies, meaning that we in the west often find their films less predictable than we are normally used to. The Chaser is quite a good example of this because what we have is a staple of the thriller genre – the serial killer film – presented in ways that go against expectations. Structurally, it's unusual in that not only is the killer's identity revealed very early on but he is also caught near the start. This means that the focus then switches to the police bureaucracy that hinders everything bar the maniac himself. But even with this switch of direction, the plot-line still retains a high suspense narrative whereby an abducted girl remains in the killer's lair, a place totally unknown the police.The story-line itself has an ex-policemen turned pimp apprehend a man whom he believes has kidnapped one of his girls. This man then confesses to police that has murdered this girl but without any direct proof he is set to be released in 12 hours by the powerless authorities, leading to frantic detective work. This story results in a cat and mouse standoff. But with a hero who is hardly whiter than white – he is after all a pimp who is distrusted by his former police colleagues; who themselves are shown to be fairly incompetent. So the dynamic between the characters is fairly complex and leads to some unpredictable results. The two main characters are especially good here and very well played by the actors. There is great use of the back streets of Seoul too. Especially in the case of some high octane foot chases which unusually show the sheer exhaustion of such an endeavour, equally the several frantic and messy fights have a similar realism. This approach is distinctive and adds a lot. The violence is often so realistic it offers little distance to the audience, particularly horrible is the hammer and chisel sequence which made for extremely grim viewing. This grit and grime adds a further dimension to a film which has already taken a genre film to unpredictable places. It ends in a way that is neither happily wrapped up not one dimensionally nihilistic, it's something in between. In a film of many contrasts and surprises, it feels right that it does so.