By Jae-Ha Kim
Substack
October 1, 2023
☆☆☆☆
Jang Dong-soo (played by Ma Dong-seok)
Jung Tae-suk (played by Kim Mu-yeol)
↑Note: Korean names denote the surname followed by the given name.
“The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil” is not a great film, but it’s watchable because its star is Ma Dong-seok. The burly actor stars as a mob boss whose street credibility takes a beating when he is nearly killed by a floppy-haired serial killer (Kim Sung-kyu) — whose modus operandi is rear-ending drivers and then savagely stabbing them to death.
Add a cop into the mix who, while dirty, also is good at his job. Knowing that a promotion is on the line if he catches the serial killer, Tae-suk aligns himself with the mob boss, Dong-soo — the only victim to survive the serial killer’s attacks. Dong-soo wants to capture and kill his assailant, partly for revenge — but also to prove to the rival gangs that his hospitalization is just a temporary setback and not a sign of weakness.
There are a lot of subplots, not all of which work. This film lacks the humor that made Ma’s “The Outlaw” franchise so watchable, even though there’s as much violence in those films as there is in “The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil.” Park Se-seung’s cinematography is dark, in keeping with the theme of the film. However, Lee Won-tae’s direction at times is so frenetic that it’s difficult to figure out what exactly is going on.
The ending is satisfying though, with loose ends neatly tied up. And in some ways, we get to see that justice has been served.
Trivia: Chinese social media users said that when they changed their profile photo to one featuring Ma Dong-seok, they were treated better by customer service. The theory? A photo of the intimidating actor gets more immediate attention than a picture of us normal puny (and non-threatening) humans.
Release date: The 109-minute film opened on May 15, 2019 in South Korea. (I watched this on Viki.)
Spoiler Alert: This film is incredibly violent, with no likeable characters or ones viewers want to cheer for. Yes, we are a bit enamored with Dong-soo (because of how Ma plays him). But even the actor’s charm can’t disguise Dong-soo’s numerous flaws. After all, he’s a man who deals with a rival’s yappy minion by reaching into the man’s mouth, yanking out his teeth and then serving it to his nemesis in a drink.
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