Customer Reviews

Bloody Ties

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

BLOODY TIES (aka. Stoned City) is another stab by South Korea on crime drama. Gritty, at times a bit humorously dark and violent; it hits the right spots with the effects of illegal drugs to people, the politics around them and goes on a direction that a lot of mainstream crime drama do not explore.

Plot synopsis partly derived from the dvd back cover:

A successful drug-dealer with a tragic past named Sang-do (Ryu Seung-beom, ARAHAN, Crying Fist) is forced to team up with a renegade cop; Detective Ho (Hwang Jeon-min) to take down a powerful crime lord protected by a division of the government itself.

Bloody Ties is a character-driven film. Its premise may be a bit simple, it is not be something we haven't seen before. However, with its interesting characters, good cinematography, and with its flashy editing it flourishes and succeeds as a dark and gritty crime thriller. It packs a good wallop with the depth of its characters and the actors' performances. The film has a very straight-forward vision to illegal drugs; its consequences to its sellers, the effect to its users and the political ramifications around it. It may be reminiscent of a Hong Kong crime drama but it succeeds in adapting a Korean feel.

Ryu Seong-Beom has been in a roll lately, this is the third film I've seen wherein he gives a near-stellar performance. His performance is the main key to "Bloody Ties'" success. Sang-Do's character is no role model; Ryu Seong-Beon plays his part convincingly and adds a certain depth and charisma that I had to pay attention to him. It is to the actor's credit that he can play such an unlikeable character with such natural grit. Hwang Jeong-min plays the other side of the coin; Detective Ho. This cop is a bit on the edgy side and is very driven by guilt because of the lost of his partner, with whose wife he has began having sex with after his death. The "cop on the edge" is nothing new but the chemistry between Sang-Do and Ho make a very interesting pair both operating outside the law in their own way and who aren't very different from one another.

I've mentioned that the film explores the effects of drugs on its users and the character of Ji-young (Choo Ja-Hyeon, Samaritan Girl) fulfills the usual requirement in exploring the evils of drug use. Ji-young is a drug-addicted woman who is willing to have sex with anyone to get her next fix, who develops a convincing relationship with Sang Do. At first glance, Ji-young's character feels like a mere plot device, but her character proves quite necessary to prevent the audience from getting too comfortable with Sang Do.

Bloody Ties may have the usual predictable and coincidental plot developments, which makes it far from perfect. To its credit, it did deliver on a few unexpected twists. It allows the viewers to draw their own judgments and conclusions as to why the characters are the way they are, while the screenplay itself remains neutral and doesn't impose any sort of interpretations to their actions. The film took off strongly enough, with its stylish (but powerful) visuals but it does become a bit unfocused in the 2nd act that it stumbles on some of the intentions of the main characters. Thankfully, the 3rd act and the climax managed to save the film from becoming a disaster. It managed to tie everything up between the plot and its themes.

PICTURE/AUDIO: 1.78 ratio Anamorphic widescreen. The video transfer of the Tartan release is nice, although some scenes have some a bit of grain. The colors are natural and the black levels are very strong. The 5.1 DOLBY/5.1 DTS Korean language track is very clear and powerful. English Subtitles are excellent and well-timed.

Parting thoughts:

BLOODY TIES is a mixed bag. The film is pretty solid and its weaknesses in plot are made up for by the strong performances of its actors/actress. The way it presents its vision regarding the moral and political dilemma surrounding drugs as well as law enforcement gives us something to ponder. It came off as more than an average film of crime `noir'.

Recommended! For fans of film noir and a good "rental" for everyone else...[3 ½ stars]

Bloody Ties (Ho Choi, 2005)

Fun little movie, if nothing original; the mismatched-cop storyline attached to the rise and fall of drug lords in South Korea that revolved around influxes of IMF money in the nineties. Except in this case one of the mismatched cops is a small-time pusher. If you're a fan of action comedies, this should be right up your alley.

Sangdo (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance's Seung-beom Ryu) is a street dealer who specializes in crystal meth. He's also been a snitch for the last five years, working for scruffy police lieutenant Do (Black House's Jeong-min Hwang). Things are going along just fine until the movements of the IMF and World Bank depress the drug culture in Pusan, giving rise to a gung-ho district attorney who's bent on putting as many drug dealers behind bars as possible. This includes Sangdo, who goes down for eight months. The money moves again while he's in the slammer, though, and a new druglord takes over his territory: the sadistic Jangcheol (The Divine Weapon's Do-gyung Lee). Do, in disgrace, wants to bring Jangcheol down. Sangdo wants his territory back. Since the two already know each other pretty well, why not team up and try to bring the guy down?

It's brainless, it's got cardboard characters, way too many things blow up, and if you like this sort of thing, you'll love every minute of it. I thought it was a little on the shallow side; Jangcheol is just too evil, while Sangdo is too dealer-with-a-heart-of-gold, but Choi (who also co-wrote the screenplay) does throw some nice twists in now and again (did I mention the DA is too slimy for words?) and Hyun-jae Oh, in his first cinematography job, does a competent enough job to hold the eye's interest. Not great, but not awful. ** ½

I was taken by the story line and subperb acting, this is a police drama about drugs in the big city but the story is layered with so many good characters that I found this to be one of the best police dramas I had ever seen. Don't pass this one by.

I first saw this movie on the sundance channel and knew I had to have it.

The story starts out in Busan, Korea where drug lords are running rampit in the streets. A "young man"(sorry, I forgot his name) Is a drug dealer as well as an informant for a dirty cop(forgot his name,too). In the mist of a investigation to rid busan of it's drug lords, and junkies, The "young man" is also apart of the ones who goes to jail, being tricked by the dirty cop. A few years later the "young man" is released from jail and ready to jump back into the streets and a series of events make for an interesting thriller..

What I like about the film is that It has a series of different characters with different stories that all somehow have something to do with each other. It also has great performances and a lot of cool scenes. The only thing I didn't like about the film is that some of the scenes were a little repetitive but not to much. Usually with most Korean films, I hate the way they end but with this film the ending was perfect. I'd say rent it first then decide if you want to buy it because this movie is not for everyone.