Guns & Talks

If you listen to all the promos and previews, you'll be told to expect a "Reservoir Dogs" clone. And you'll be disappointed. This movie is meant for people who like their violence semi-realistic and totally screwball. Fans of "Buckaroo Banzai", "Six String Samurai" or "High Risk" will love this. (I'm *not* saying it's wrong not to like "Guns and Talks"; I'm saying it's the wrong movie for you.)

The film is a lot of fun, with characters of varying morality that you never hope to be, but sometimes want to be. Leader Sang-yeon (Hyeon-jun Shin) is likeable and charismatic, a good moral opposite of the Detective (Jin-yeong Jeong). The rest of the cast are funny and well acted. The only flaw with how people are used is the strong and silent assassin, Ha-yeon (Bin Won) who is horribly underdeveloped.

Humourous bit worth watching: of the two men hiring the group at the end of the film, the man with glasses is the director in an uncredited cameo appearances (his imitation/homage to Alfred Hitchcock, who made cameos in all his films). ("How do I kill a man from cancer? Make him smoke?") Some bits are implausible (the escape, for example) but this is comedy, not high art.

A note on the Korean movie scene: prior to 2001, foreign films revenues were used to subsidize the Korea movie industry. But in 2001, Korean-made films *outgrossed* Hollywood and other foreign films. The quality of story, acting, direction, action, and effects have equalled European and Hong Kong films, and I think are worth watching, having seen a few.