Prashast Singh Movie: The City of Violence (A)Rating: 4/5This is a film action buffs (like me) should definitely watch, because it offers a lot of well choreographed and excellently shot action sequences. The last action block is extremely mind-blowing and the moves are classic & epic in themselves. There's hardly an action scene that fails to leave an impact. Indeed, every action scene had me dropping my jaw. If I see this film again, the action would be a reason enough.But that's where it all stops.THE CITY OF VIOLENCE or JJAKPAE does have stylish and mesmerizing action scenes to leave enough of an impression on the viewer. But it suffers in the writing department. The film has some really uninteresting moments, which made me difficult to finish the film in once. But when I recalled the excellent action clip I had seen from the film on YouTube, I decided to give it a full watch today finally. And I did enjoy it, though not totally. The last 30 minutes, however save the film as in this runtime itself the film ends up entertaining to the core. Another thing that's praiseworthy is that Ryoo Seung-wan, who also stars in the lead role along with veteran action director Jung Doo- hong, has avoided unnecessary violence. Whatever we see is just integral to the story and not a single violent shot seems pointless. But both the actors are just fine when it comes to their performances; The latter excels in the fights and the energy of the duo is enough to make you enjoy this badly written action entertainer. Rest of the cast is just average in performances. The cinematography styles in certain portions are quite innovative and have a classic feel. This film could disappoint you if you like story-driven stuff.But if you're an action lover and can ignore the uneven writing and some unimpressive performances, this film is made for you. THE CITY OF VIOLENCE is not the best action film, but it does have some of the best action scenes ever.

Leofwine_draca THE CITY OF VIOLENCE is a solid action film with an engaging, gangster-focused storyline and plenty of interesting characters to keep the viewer's attention. Things kick off with a brutal murder in the street, which leads to the victim's childhood friends reuniting to reminisce about the old days. We learn that each character has gone his own way: one's now a small-time gangster, another a cop. The gradual pursuit and uncovery of the truth eventually leads to violent recriminations for one and all.Interestingly enough, the mystery-style plotting and gangster window-dressing eventually wear off until by the end the film becomes a riotous, ass-kicking extravaganza that bears more than a passing resemble to the infamous 'Crazy 88' action scene in KILL BILL: VOLUME 1. It works: the director contributes plenty of stylish flourishes and the action is well-filmed through, from huge, sprawling street fights early on to the epic bad-assery of the climax. It truly is an excellent ending, lifting what's come before and proving itself a film more than capable of holding its own against bigger productions.

BA_Harrison Policeman Tae-su (Doo-hong Jung) returns to his hometown for the funeral of murdered childhood friend Wang-jae, where he is reunited with old pals Pil-ho (Beom-su Lee), Dong-hwan (Seok-yong Jeong) and Seok-hwan (Seung-wan Ryoo). Upon investigating Wang-jae's murder, Tae-su discovers that it was one of his own circle of friends who committed the crime.The Koreans have given us some damn fine cinema in recent years, and having heard good things about The City of Violence, my expectations were running extremely high.Which is probably where I went wrong.Rather than being absolutely blown away by all aspects of the film, as I had hoped, I was merely entertained on a superficial level: the chaotic fight scenes are fun but uninspired (a few original, well choreographed 'killer moves' would have seriously improved matters); the drama is OK, but kinda clichéd, with the 'inseparable childhood friends divided as adults' theme having been done many times before; and the stylish visual touches employed by the director, whilst admittedly cool, do little to help one follow the plot and are used a tad too liberally for my liking.The film also has a tendency to flip rather uncomfortably between comic book action and more realistic violence, with the film's heroes emerging relatively unscathed from a battle against 'Warriors'-style gangs of teenagers one minute, but taking on knife wielding gangsters with suitably bloody results the next.I rate The City of Violence a reasonable 6.5 out of 10, generously rounded up to 7 for its particularly loathsome bad-guy, who finally gets his comeuppance after a prolonged battle inside a restaurant.

grandmastersik As with most action films: forget about the plot - this one holds very little surprises and the villain is obvious from his very first scene, thus eliminating any suspense from the first 45 minutes.But again: this is an action film, so who cares?Actually, this is a very stylish action film, bringing some pretty neat photography and music along to boot.It's also a rare tae kwon do mayhem-fest, so sit back and watch all those fighters leap into the air, pulling off unbelievable moves for your entertainment.Overall: cool fights and a finale almost (repeat: ALMOST) on a par with the legendary finale of A Better Tomorrow 2.Watch this film and - if you like martial arts action - you'll enjoy this immensely.