The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil (2019)
Director: Lee Won-tae
Starring: Ma Dong-seok, Kim Mu-yeol, Kim Sung-kyu, Choi Min-chul
Primary genre: Action
Secondary genre: Crime
While the title suggests another South Korean homage to Sergio Leone’s epic western after Kim Jee-woon’s thrilling The Good, The Bad, The Weird (2008), Lee Won-tae’s movie is a different beast altogether. The similarities end in its trio presentation. The good is a cop, the ugly is a gangster, and the bad is a (the) devil. Yet, you won’t find sweeping camera work and glorious music by the Italian maestro Ennio Morricone. Instead the underbelly of a night time Seoul hosts a cat-and-mouse game between the uneasy alliance of two radically different individuals and a sadistic serial killer.
Such premise is exciting indeed so it is painful to see how after the quality outputs of of The Chaser (2008), I Saw the Devil (2010), The Man From Nowhere (2010), and Asura: City of Madness (2016), The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil elects to take a conventional and unexpectedly humoristic approach around a rising body count. Usually Korean filmmakers present their serial killer flicks as excessively grim and misanthropic. It is possible that this uneven tone might feel welcome after all the nihilism in display. Still, you can sense its distracting nature in a story in dire need of atmosphere and noir vibes elevation. The cinematography is solid, the rest not so much.
Korean cinema tends to criticize multiple layers of societal structure through all forms of art and Won-tae’s script is no exception firing shots towards the incompetence of law enforcement and the bend of rules at mobsters’ whim. However, it’s all superficial unable to reach the dramatic depths of, let’s say, Internal Affairs (2003) or Black Mass (2015) where doing a deal with the devil might come and bite you in the ass. Here, the moral dilemma should be an additional element to burden the Cop (Kim Mu-yeol ticking every police officer cliche you can think of) but it isn’t.
“People say I’m an animal. But that bastard... he’s the real devil”
As such, we tread in familiar territory: from the stereotypical leads’ characterization to seeing-them-from-a-mile-away plot turns. The writer-director does try to keep the momentum going by having a surprising number of fist fights. These, though, don’t have brutal factor or skill seen in other contemporary flicks scattered amidst a sluggish pace. So all the heavy lifting rests in the charisma of Dong-seok’s massive shoulders and Kim Sung-kyu’s creepy killer, the latter enjoying a nothing-burger backstory and a dorky frame which is anything but threatening. Featuring a capable villain who in this case is the catalyst that sets the whole story into motion - the same way Lee Van Cleef was - raises the stakes. But we know, once Dong-seok or any of his goons get their hands on him, it is game over, man! For such an epic match-up, it would have been great to see a free-for-all with each one of the main characters boasting their own strengths, weaknesses, and code of honor.
The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil has a fascinating concept at its core, that is certain. However, it is not supported by compelling material to demand the necessary emotional invest rendering it a barely adequate action-crime movie. In an era where most Korean films of similar topics are at their minimum visceral and exciting what can The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil offer to make you want to revisit it? The answer is nothing.
Could have been so much more
+Great premise!
+Beautifully shot
+Dong-seok is the man
+Kim Sung-kyu is creepy
-but lacks proper menace
-Cliche cop character
-Uneven tone
-Pacing issues