Image provided by Fantasia Festival
South Korea churns out intense and dark thrillers like nobody’s business. Not only that, but the level of quality over the past 20 years has been quite remarkable. Even those that don’t quite change the game tend to be interesting, engaging, and entertaining. The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil may not be the most remarkable South Korean thriller but somehow manages to be insanely entertaining by seemingly shoving every previous film into a blender and just letting rip. Add to that two charismatic leads, and a fairly short runtime for South Korean standards (1 hour and 48 minutes), and you have a mishmash genre flick that doesn’t fail but can confuse.
This is a crime thriller, a gangster movie, and a serial killer film all in one. The gangster in question is Dong Soo, played with threatening charm by Ma Dong Seok. He’s currently the head of his crime family and enjoys making bank by supplying rigged fruit machines. Dong Soo’s operation is constantly interrupted by idealistic rogue cop Tae Suk (Kim Moon Yul). Tae Suk is also preoccupied by a series of murders his superiors don’t believe are connected, but Tae Suk decides to investigate on his own. Tae Suk and Dong Soo are forced to come to a very shaky alliance when Dong Soo becomes serial killer K’s (Kim Sung Kyu) next target. K gets more for he bargained for though and Dong Soo survives the attack, while also injuring K. Both Dong Soo and Tae Suk want to stop the killer, but in their own ways, and for their own reputation.
Lee Won Tae navigates the many crisscrossing themes, narratives, and tones fairly successfully, but rather than create one mixed atmosphere that permeates throughout, scenes switch genre at the flip of a switch without any transition. This is both original and fun to see playout, but also fairly jarring. The opening scene is straight from a serial killer film and bears resemblance to the likes of I Saw the Devil, while Dong Soo’s early scenes often carry the tension of a Scorsese gangster epic. Tae Suk’s scenes however come from an action movie. These genres never quite merge, but adapt to play into other tropes. As Tae Suk and Dong Soo each brief their teams on how to go after the killer, the music and editing suggests we’ve suddenly entered a heist film. When Dong Soo and Tae Suk are attacked by a rival gang, the choreography that materialises would make you think you’ve flicked over to a martial arts spectacular. This makes the film an absolute joy to behold, and boredom never has the chance to settle in, but it is detrimental to the more emotional aspects.
Kim Moon Yul and Ma Dong Seok have brilliant chemistry and excel when butting heads in a playful way, or bantering back and forth. But suddenly the dialogue can turn to focus on their moral conflicts. Ma Deong Seok is particularly great at being a ferocious entity, an example of calm, and somebody with a heart (though rarely). Kim Moon Yul on the other hand, is cocky, arrogant, but stubborn. They work well together, and Kim Sung Kyu keeps a creepy glare, manic smile, and bizarre laugh to make him a constantly threatening foe.
The film is bonkers and fun in parts and dark and broody in others. It’s no surprise that the film has already been put forward for a Hollywood remake, and even less of a surprise that Ma Deong Seok is set to reprise his role, as well as just being announced for Marvel’s Eternals. You may feel as though you’re watching a few films stitched together, but at least they are all good films.
The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil was reviewed at Fantasia Festival 2019.
