Movie: Inside MenRating: 4/5Lee Byung-hun impressed me when I last time watched his action-thriller I SAW THE DEVIL, which happened to be one of the best South Korean films I had seen. Now he comes with NAEBUJADEUL, or better termed INSIDE MEN, a political crime/action film which has plenty of material to keep you engrossed.Not going into too much depth, I would just like to say that INSIDE MEN is really entertaining. For the first time I watched a 3 hours long movie with so much interest. Yes, it's the director's cut I watched. Long, but no dull moments. The performances of all actors, including my favourite Lee Byung-hun are excellent. He rightly won the best actor award for this movie.The film's visuals need a special appreciation as we hardly come across political thrillers with good visuals. Surprisingly, INSIDE MEN has terrific visuals that keep you engaged. The story and screenplay are excellent, the dialogues are too good. The action scenes are well filmed and executed. Cinematography is top notch and many beautifully filmed shots will be in your mind forever.Overall, INSIDE MEN is a film which is highly recommended. Needless to say, South Korean filmmakers prove themselves great yet again.

Or hacksaws, bricks, plant pots. Its seems that anything can be used as a weapon In Korean films. This one has corrupt politicians (is there any other kind) doing shady deal with a newspaper boss for re-election. Corruption is embedded deep in every corner. Like sauna rooms. Or hostess bars, where slimy politicians perform sex acts involving escorts and soju glasses. When an ambitious prosecutor gets on the case , he teams up with a crippled gangster (Lee hyung Byun) to break open the whole sordid business. It could have been so clichéd and this story has been seen many times over. Still. it has been directed with style. Recently I watched Asura as part of the London Korean fIlm festival, and i questioned why they would want to promote such a wrong-headed and pretentious film when they could have chosen so many others. This was a much better choice and a good showcase for the actor Baek Yun-shil. A word about the title: it really is all men, apart from a small part for Lee's actor girlfriend. It really is a shame that they didn't give her more to do.

Do you want to know more about Korean actors? Then this movie is exactly what you've been looking for. Including Hollywood-famous Byung-hun Lee, Korean actors in this movie presents overwhelming performances. However, this is the movie's strength and there's obvious downsides too (a lot). First, the storyline has a wrong tempo. Sometimes, it's too slow and sometimes it's too sudden. This causes a lack of suspense. Second, the clichés in this movie are quite troublesome. I don't know how foreign people would feel about them, but to Korean people those clichés are definitely overused and used only in one pattern in this movie. This makes the story quite predictable. Third, the message of this movie is in vain. The director should have given more thought about how to resolve social corruption or how to give an alert about it more effectively. Since the resolution shown in this movie is so simple (I won't tell more specifically. Just watch the movie), it sounds so empty. It just doesn't resonate in my mind Yes, in conclusion this movie is quite cheesy and has many flaws. But still, actors' performances are so amazing that they make this movie look well-made Crime/Thriller movie with authentic aura. Should you watch it? Well, if you are into Korean movies I would say 'definitely!'

This is actually a dragged out story that is more about the cinematography and the style of it all over a deep story that intrigues. It's a watchable movie but it does feel like the plot is really drawn out. It is a a movie with high quality cinematography for a Korean movie. With some topnotch actors, that really bring a bit exaggerated and yet it works when it comes to the style of this movie. When it comes to the plot it delves in the nasty side of politics, the corruption within it and how some old farts take advantage of the system. While screwing young women during there meeting together and giving idealistic speeches. Lee Byung-hun is a good actor but not really a guy that has integrity in real life. So he puts on a believable performance as a thug that built his way up to the top by doing errands from top officials. He sort of reminded me of the character he played in "A Bittersweet Life" except not as charismatic. Anyways besides the style of this film and some nasty underground stuff that happens in Korean night life. This is actually a forgettable film. The end has the typical clean wrap up that works but isn't all that impactful. Mainly because the build up wasn't all that interesting. It's watchable and I was able to sit through it without checking my time but again it's still a forgettable movie.6.5/10