If you're a fan of over-the-top action movies of the 80s à la Arnie, with tons of fistfights, endless car chases, truly evil villains and implausible plot twists, then the past decade has been pretty boring for you. Hollywood has substituted fights with CGI and silly but funny spy flicks with interchangeable boring superheroes, Hongkong martial arts legends have aged beyond being able to convincingly deliver hard-hitting blows, and Bollywood action movies aren't for everyone because of the singing.
Korea however still delivers pretty solid and technically brilliant action entertainment which keeps the CGI on a level with the acting. 'The Suspect' is probably the best recent example. If there was an international award for most insane car chase, it deserves it - twice, in fact, for a game of chicken where nobody chickens out, and the creative use of a pedestrian stairway. I haven't seen this many demolished cop cars since 'Gator'. It would also deserve the international award for the vilest villain, complete with satanic snickering, and the bad-assest agent, who is introduced pulling a beyond-belief stunt straight out of James Bond. Star Gong Yoo performed most of the stunts himself and studied Systema for the fight scenes, making them far better than anything coming out of Hongkong lately.
'The Suspect' is also likely to be the most heavily edited film I've ever seen, feeling like a non-stop two-hour roller-coaster ride - keep a good distance from the screen or you'll feel dizzy. The hero is of almost superhuman abilities, survives a thousand gunshots and stab wounds, and is of course motivated by revenge - so better don't expect much of a story. But for sheer action romp fun, 'The Suspect' can't be topped by anything Hollywood turned out of late.
Korea however still delivers pretty solid and technically brilliant action entertainment which keeps the CGI on a level with the acting. 'The Suspect' is probably the best recent example. If there was an international award for most insane car chase, it deserves it - twice, in fact, for a game of chicken where nobody chickens out, and the creative use of a pedestrian stairway. I haven't seen this many demolished cop cars since 'Gator'. It would also deserve the international award for the vilest villain, complete with satanic snickering, and the bad-assest agent, who is introduced pulling a beyond-belief stunt straight out of James Bond. Star Gong Yoo performed most of the stunts himself and studied Systema for the fight scenes, making them far better than anything coming out of Hongkong lately.
'The Suspect' is also likely to be the most heavily edited film I've ever seen, feeling like a non-stop two-hour roller-coaster ride - keep a good distance from the screen or you'll feel dizzy. The hero is of almost superhuman abilities, survives a thousand gunshots and stab wounds, and is of course motivated by revenge - so better don't expect much of a story. But for sheer action romp fun, 'The Suspect' can't be topped by anything Hollywood turned out of late.