Deoking (2017) Reviews

• Excellent

  linhbummie2017-03-01

  The story line really describes Korean and many Asian countries's society. It makes audience feel like we are one of the characters in this movie. The two leading roles are excellent! It's worth my 2 hours of the day! I would like to say thank you to entire people contributing to "The King", especially the screenwriter.

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• From sheep to wolf

  kluseba2017-08-16

  The King is a movie about the rise and fall of a young prosecutor who gets involved in organized crime and politics. The film is a mixture of a drama and a crime flick but it also includes a healthy dose of social criticism that shows us a corrupt country. The movie reminds me of similar South Korean movies such as Nameless Gangster and New World. The film also recalls elements of Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street in its better moments. One of the movie's strengths is that its story is closely connected to historic events in South Korea. This makes the story more authentic. Another strong point is the acting. Jo In-sung portrays the main character perfectly and convinces as an ambitious young man from a poor village with a solid moral compass who slowly gets corrupted by older colleagues but realizes that power and wealth don't necessarily make him happy. On the negative side, the movie is at least half an hour too long with a total running time above two hours. Especially the middle section lacks fresh ideas and includes too much repetition that harms the movie's flow. A more concise movie would have been even more efficient. If you are interested in recent and contemporary South Korean history and society or if you like dramatic crime movies, you should give The King a chance. This film might have its flaws but it's overall enjoyable and clearly above average. It also includes a few truly memorable scenes such as the heavy opening car crash, the protagonist's first nasty party, the protagonist's tense split with his wife and the weird interview with the ambitious journalist at his seaside mansion.

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• Typical with Some Stars Sprinkled In

  Multipleh2017-04-29

  This is a typical mainstream Korean movie with some big stars sprinkled in. Jung Woo Sung and Jo Insung play their characters with competence but with little depth and soul. It is admirable that the writer and the director approached the subject of corruption and politics in South Korea. However, what you have here is just a paper cut out. Not one character is this film is an authentic human being. It's the big stars wearing expensive suits and slicking their hair back and looking their best.

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• Great movie!

  jykucb2017-05-07

  I thought it was a great satire of modern Korean history, with a tongue-in-cheek approach. It was well filmed and acted, with a great soundtrack. One thing though, the subtitles were horrible (ie. missing translations, etc...), would have been nice to have a better translation. I hope the director releases the extended cut on blu ray (supposedly has more scenes with the gangster friend, wife, and last act). The movie may not be for everyone, but I really enjoyed it!

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• The King Review: Great entertainer with its two leading men winning all the way!

  Prashast_Singh2017-12-09

  Movie: The King (15) Rating: 4.5/5 I'm not a big fan of political films. INSIDE MEN in 2015 was a very well made film, while NEW WORLD in 2013 was an equally disappointing film. THE KING, however had my expectations sky-high ever since I saw the trailer. I wanted to see it because it seemed just more than an ordinary political potboiler. I'm happy I saw it today and I fully enjoyed it, something which is not very common in case of films of this genre. THE KING is dominated totally by the handsome and skilled actors, JO IN- SUNG and JUNG WOO-SUNG. You can totally trust them for their performances are so good that for a moment it's difficult to believe they're "acting". Rest of the cast does a great job too, especially RYU JUN-YEOL, who shows he's a terrific actor with his strong facial expressions and fighting skills. The screenplay is racy, though at times one can feel that the film could've been a little shorter. The duration factor is taken care of by the pleasant background score, splendid visuals, powerful emotions, surprising thrills and some well-placed and choreographed action sequences. I can only praise THE KING more and more for its cinematic excellence. It's not just entertaining, but has some really creative and artistic shots which deserve a huge praise. It's a solid action-crime drama that immediately needs to be seen!

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