Plot: After a man is killed his four friends seek to find the perpetrators and punish them in their small town but find themselves dragged into a dodgy property deal run by out of town criminals that implicate one of their own.Expecting plot or dialogue from a martial arts film is usually a losing game. There is a plot here and it's easy enough to follow provided you are good at telling Korean faces apart but it's nothing you haven't seen done before. What you're here for is the fights and City of Violence provides them. Yes it is completely unrealistic. Yes the fights are nothing special in themselves. But they are well edited, feature enough visual flourishes to win you over and are laid to a decent score. The result is a picture that never quite grabs your heartstrings like it should but is a lot of fun anyway. If you've ever wanted to watch a goon and a cop fight break dancing martial artists whilst the town lights explode above them or to see a fight set to cheesy 1980s K-Pop then this is your film.

Amusingly violent and funny action story done in a style best described as film noir (plot) meets spaghetti western (music) meet Asian action film. Its the story of an organized crime detective who goes home for the funeral of a boyhood friend. Sensing something was wrong about the case he and another friend begin to investigate and find that the city they grew up in has changed and that somethings are better left undiscovered.This is a neat little film. Its not the be all and end all, but it fires along in its own bloody way for 90 entertaining minutes. The dialog is witty and is the sort of thing you wish you and your friends would come up with. The characters are also the sort of people you know and that familiarity helps make it easy for you to ride along as the plot unfolds, largely as you expect it will. The action is quite good but it is often bloody, so you may not want to watch those parts if you don't like the red stuff. This movie is a great deal of fun in the right frame of mind. Worth a look.(The film reminds me of what Quentin Tarantino might produce were he not insistent on making references and paying homage to obscure little films. Its a thought that I had prior to the end fight which reminded me, in away, of the House of Blue Leaves segment from the first Kill Bill. For the record I like the sequence here better since it plays more real and doesn't go on and on and on)

Although the title suggests an epic action film, the story is more or less about corrupt internal politics of local thugs – which is not necessarily a bad thing because of the interesting story, good soundtrack, and visual appearance of the movie.From start to finish, the cinematography projects a very classy appearance backed by the equally suitable music score; with both elements channeling retro aesthetics without appearing outdated. The film is also visually and auditory reminiscent to classics like Kill Bill and Lupin, while a nostalgic arch in the story makes you think about Stand By Me.The story, as often is the case, focuses on an explosive derelict in search of his friend's killer, which somewhat sluggishly develops into a more complicated story about gang politics. Fortunately, the film benefits from a malevolent napoleon-complex driven villain who you truly love to hate because of his fear tactics and interrogation techniques.There are times where the film tries to be comedic, but because of poor execution, it doesn't work very well. The action scenes were also pretty sparse and usually revolved around one or two guys managing to fend off a gang of 100 while over-using flying kicks the way you never see them used in real-life fights. The worst aspect of the battles was not their scarcity but their lack of distinct breath-taking choreography – no remarkable fights or memorable strikes. Although the fight scenes were non-intuitive, the visuals remained top notch through the whole film. The disappointing knife scene, which resembled interpretive dancing drivel with lots of flying kicks and people taking an unbelievable amount of punishment, none the less, still looked visually appealing.The strong points: good music, great visuals/cinematography, well developed characters and a decent story. The weak points: somewhat sluggish plot development and forgettable fight scenes.5 or 6/10

I didn't expect much from this....just an action flick to keep me busy for 90 minutes. I did get that, but I got even more.I won't oversell it. The story is about as original as buttered toast. The actors however, played it with as much heart as they could (while trying to look tough). I'm not saying that there are Oscar-worthy performances here, but they didn't sleep walk through it, either. There's a group of high school guys. They were friends, once upon a time. They grew up, and they drifted apart. One of them moved to Seoul and became a police officer. One day he gets a call summoning him home; it seems one of his boyhood friends has been killed. He goes home for the funeral, then with another boyhood chum, decides to investigate...because something just doesn't feel right. Tragedy and betrayal...and of course *violence* ensues.The action scenes were certainly effective, with plenty of stylized Tae Kwon Do all over the place. Only one gun in the movie (in a police station)! There are some people on the site saying the action is under-choreographed and infrequent. I felt like the movie had a good deal of action: Plenty of short action scenes to keep it interesting, and two long b*lls-to-the-wall scenes, the second of which is something like "Kill Bill" meets "Lethal Weapon." A buddy martial arts flick, there just aren't enough of those! Oh, and people talk about the homage to "Kill Bill"....check out the homage to "The Warriors." What can I say....I laughed.The bottom line is, this film is nothing groundbreaking. The drama won't make you cry. The action won't make you cheer out loud. The story won't make you think too much. In spite of this, it is a heck of a lot of fun. In the end, that's what entertainment is supposed to be...."fun." It's mindless action with a bit of soul....and I would recommend it to everyone....just set it aside for a night where you want a fun fix, and you don't want to think too much. And hey, we all have those some time.