Review Category: VOD

AUTOMATION

AUTOMATION / CERT: UNRATED / DIRECTOR: GARO SETIAN / SCREENPLAY: ROLFE KANEFSKY, MATTHEW L. SCHAFFER / STARRING: ELISSA DOWLING, SADIE KATZ, PARRY SHEN / RELEASE DATE: 3RD DECEMBER (USA)

The theme of humans being replaced by robots is a pertinent one in today’s society, hence Garo Setian’s Automation comes to us with a lot to say. Even though it feels a bit like an extended Workaholics episode, it keeps things fun and even showcases a sweet ending that you may not be prepared for.

Susan (Sadie Katz), co-owner of a small corporate business, is showcasing the company’s machine to her business partner. Auto, a robot who has been happily lifting weights humans could only dream of, is so efficient that Susan plans to replace 90% of the workforce with more robots. Auto himself has shades of Kryten from Red Dwarf about his outfit and movement (quite refreshingly being someone in a suit, rather than a CGI monstrosity), complete with glowing green eyes that, strangely, reflect off his co-workers’ heads. He is very polite to everyone, but none more so than wannabe singer and independent contractor Jenny (horror femme fatale, Elissa Dowling). Those two strange points seem to define her character – she is even editing her own music video when we meet her. Auto is a fan though, and they bond over the impending firing of the employees. However, when one of the disgruntled humans attacks Auto, he retaliates, killing the remaining workers after his past as a military robot is discovered. Oh, and it’s Christmas for no reason.

Automation does take a little bit too long to get going, especially when it becomes pretty obvious what is going to happen. The set is horribly drab and makes you feel quite claustrophobic at times, but maybe that is what the filmmakers were going for; creating a workplace you wouldn’t want to spend too long in! Despite some of the acting and the lack of budget, there are some nice touches; we get a glimpse of an outside world complete with towering futuristic buildings and flying droids to emphasise the fact that we’re in the future, the flashbacks to Auto’s military career are done well and there are a couple of inventive deaths once Auto inevitably turns murderous.

Despite the interesting ideas that Automation raises, the film itself won’t set the world alight. It doesn’t quite have the skill or resources to pull off an idea which will inevitably be copied by other directors with more panache. However, to give Garo Setian some credit, without giving anything away, he pulls off a truly heart-warming ending, reminiscent of the best anime auteurs.

THE NIGHTINGALE

THE NIGHTINGALE / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: JENNIFER KENT / STARRING: AISLING FRANCIOSI, SAM CLAFLIN, BAYKALI GANAMBARR / RELEASE DATE: 29TH NOVEMBER

In a preface to The Bloody Chamber, Angela Carter wrote, “Can a bird sing only the song it knows, or can it learn a new song? Have we got the capacity at all of singing new songs?”

The Nightingale is a furious rape revenge tale from Jennifer Kent (The Babadook), situated not in fantasy – despite the mis-en-scène of the velvet black sky and howling moon making the roughness of the wilderness look like an oil painting – but in the troubled reality of the Van Diemen’s Land’s Black War in 1825. Irish convict Clare’s ability to extinguish her pain with fury, her passive state into the most active one, makes for a compelling and brutal watch, yet never feels exhausting; the film positively zips by, even when landing at two and a half hours.

After suffering the unbearable trauma of losing her husband (Michael Sheasby), whose only crime was being poor and too fond of drinking, and her baby (which happens in an act of distaste in an otherwise tasteful film), as well as being degraded to the point of abhorrence, Clare sets off, gun in tow, with her “black boy,” Billy (played with charm, wit and grace by Baykali Ganambarr) for protection. The animosity between them slowly curdles from sourness into sympathy; an unspoken tenderness between them that is all the more powerful for the lack of sentimentality. Two lower-class beings, broken by the same system.

Franciosi’s stare flips the head on any female passiveness. To exist in the passive state as a woman is to die in the passive state, that is to be killed – as Carter also said – and Clare’s journey is more than a straightforward tale of getting vengeance on those that hurt her, but about taking back control – of her body, her identity and her freedom – with female masochism and passiveness the modus operandi in a society where they are otherwise leered at, beaten, abused and raped.

What at first seems so shocking isn’t shock tactics of the exploitation type (rape revenge nasties like I Spit On Your Grave etc). There is nothing titillating here, except in exposing the brutality and sadistic sexual violence of men. If something shocks, it’s merely because men in reality are – and were – capable of acting out their violent fantasies, with the most vile of them all being Lieutenant Hawkins (Sam Claflin) who plays villainy with a grotesque ease. A line in the film – “who would believe a thieving whore over an officer?” – reminds you that gentlemen are just wolves in sheep’s clothing, leering at and penetrating the edges of the frame.

It is a film not just of Australia’s colonial past, but a story of women’s past, of a way of existing that demanded strength, that makes it all the more powerful.

KILL BEN LYK

CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: ERWAN MARINOPOULOS / SCREENPLAY: ERWAN MARINOPOULOS, JEAN-CHRISTOPHE ESTABLET, OLIVER MALTMAN / STARRING: EUGENE SIMON, SIMONE ASHLEY, ASHLEY THOMAS, GRETCHEN EGOLF, MARTYN FORD / RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 22ND 2019 (VOD)

After three people with the same name are murdered, young YouTube starlet Ben Lyk along with a host of other Ben Lyk’s are put under police protection in this new British comedy.

The story revolves around our central protagonist, a 20-year old London based YouTube vlogger Ben Lyk (Eugene Simon) who refers to his viewers as “Lykers”. Soon after the other London-based Ben Lyk’s start dropping like flies, he meets a whole host of fellow humans with the same name including some colourful characters such as Female Ben Lyk (Simone Ashley), the Charming Ben Lyk (Ashley Thomas), the Nervous Ben Lyk (Bronson Webb), the Vicar (built like a brick shithouse) Ben Lyk and the Grizzled Old Veteran Ben Lyk. Whilst under police custody in an attempt to keep them all safe from this mysterious attacker, the Ben Lyk’s begin to drop like flies as they all end up suspecting each other is the killer.

With comedy being a very subjective genre, particularly British comedy, this kind of take on a mobster/hitman action tale was always going to be a difficult one. However, in the case of Kill Ben Lyk, Director Erwan Marinopolous does a solid job at keeping a consistent pace with a handful of laughs spread throughout its runtime. With the main character being an arrogant and, at times, highly unlikeable YouTube personality it’s easy to feel disconnected from him but Simon’s quirky performance as our titular character manages to take him on a stable arc as the audience will begin to resonate with him. Simon’s chemistry with fellow star Simone Ashley is arguably the best aspect of the movie – the sexual tension and constant teasing between the two Ben Lyk’s provided a plethora of laughs when others around them failed to come up with the goods.

The film’s cinematography is well-produced and consistent even though at many times the writing makes it feel like a slightly higher budget YouTube video rather than a feature-length film – that also goes for a lot of the characters who are either undeveloped (some on purpose) or are overbearing in their exuberance nature.

At the end of the day, Kill Ben Lyk is a passable British comedy which blends together a few genres and ideas to decent effect – Eugene Simon’s eccentric performance and chemistry with the ensemble cast manages to keep the average-at-best script afloat and is the biggest supply of the majority of the films limited laughs.

PHILOPHOBIA: OR THE FEAR OF FALLING IN LOVE

PHILOPHOBIA: OR THE FEAR OF FALLING IN LOVE / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR: TYLER COLE / SCREENPLAY: AARON BURT / STARRING: AARON BURT, EMILY PEARSE, DAVID LENGEL, CARLY REEVES / RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 12TH (US)

Dani (Pearse) and Damien (Burt) got off to a good start in their relationship. Well, she winded him with a blow to the chest in a misunderstanding, but they got together so that’s something. Sadly, seven months in, and she’s keen for him to show more affection. It’s something he can’t bring himself to do, and she leaves. Damien’s old school friend, Alan (the Ross-alike Lengel), has arranged to visit but instead of showing him the sites of Hollywood, he ends up drawing him into a twisted nightmare. Unable to focus on anything but Dani, things spiral out of control as his mental state deteriorates.

Philophobia is not your typical horror film. For the most part, it plays like a romantic comedy, but there’s an eeriness throughout that keeps it from descending to predictable levels. Damien is haunted emotionally and unable to verbalise how he feels, or even show affection in public, which manifests in some nightmarish visions. Nothing too terrifying, but the simple makeup and effects do provide some jolts, in a Carnival of Souls sort of way.

It’s ably directed, and even in the climax doesn’t resort to schmaltz. It’s an expansion of a 2015 short film, and the script – by star Aaron Burt – is entertaining and constantly surprising. The dialogue is natural, even in the most outlandish moments. Thankfully, it avoids descending into slapstick to get laughs, instead it relies on the smarts of the characters and situations. Burt is a likeable lead, breathing life into the character of Damien, even though we can’t help but feel everything he’s going through has been brought on by himself.

This film could be the ultimate film to watch for those with a fear of commitment, you’ll either understand where the main character is coming from, or will feel so uncomfortable that you’ll be running for the door.

FAST & FURIOUS PRESENTS: HOBBS & SHAW

FAST & FURIOUS PRESENTS: HOBBS & SHAW / CERT: 12 / DIRECTOR: DAVID LEITCH / SCREENPLAY: DREW PEARCE, CHRIS MORGAN / STARRING: DWAYNE JOHNSON, JASON STATHAM, IDRIS ELBA, VANESSA KIRBY, HELEN MIRREN / RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 22ND (VOD), DECEMBER 2ND (DVD/BLU-RAY)

With the momentous success of the Fast & Furious franchise established, audiences have now been treated to an enhanced look as director David Leitch alongside writers Chris Morgan and Drew Pearce strongly focus on two standout players, Hobbs (Johnson) and Shaw (Statham). For its entirety, you are exposed to experimental action, dazzling car chases, and cheesy one-liners, as our duo brainstorm their heated backgrounds while clashing against the hi-tech villain, Brixton (Elba), who is hell-bent on unleashing an apocalyptic virus on the human race. Quickly rising actor Vanessa Kirby (Mission: Impossible – Fallout) takes on Hattie and brilliantly acts as a crucial bridge between Hobbs, Shaw, and Brixton.

With each Fast & Furious number, what we see continuously grows more outrageous and unrealistic. We went from a crime-thriller about an undercover cop in 2001 (where’s the time gone?), to a heist session in 2011, to cars launching out the back of a plane in 2017 (it wasn’t CGI either!). They’ve got away with this progression by having a ‘family comes first’ moral at the centre, repeated and praised by main showrunner Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), it’s clearly a thread that audiences enjoy being a part of. When it comes to the action in Hobbs & Shaw, the more recent representation of Fast & Furious has deliciously been translated across as we view violent car racing shoot outs on the streets of London, all the way to the scenic cliffs of Somoa. This is backed by a script that has our two main leads dare to overcome their differences, which tend to circle around the previously addressed F&F theme: the importance of family.

One of my biggest concerns, and it might be a strange one to some, is that the majority of the soundtrack sounds like it’s taken from a late ‘90s/early ‘00s buddy spy film (I Spy is a prime example), and although there’s nothing wrong with their material, it just made what you see again and again feel like it wasn’t entirely sure what genre it should be. So, as Hobbs & Shaw struggles to find its own feel until well over the halfway mark, it might become a little bit too confused for some viewers. However, it’s a highly robust drive that eventually cements a dynamic relationship, and it could go on to add more longevity to Fast & Furious if it just gets the chance to flourish.

Do you still want more? Well, then we’d advise that you head over to the special features, which has over 80 minutes worth of goodies. Highlights include how director David Leitch (who has a stunt portfolio) put together his stylish choreography, a look at the dynamic between Hobbs and Shaw (on and off-screen) a different opening, and much more!

MOOMINS AND THE WINTER WONDERLAND

MOOMINS AND THE WINTER WONDERLAND / CERT: U / DIRECTORS: IRA CARPELAN, JAKUB WRONSKI / SCREENPLAY: PIOTR SZCZEPANOWICZ, MALGORZATA WIECKOWICZ-ZYLA / STARRING: STELLAN SKARSGÅRD, ALICIA VIKANDER, BILL SKARSGÅRD / RELEASE DATE: DECEMBER 2ND

If you grew up in the ‘80s, you may remember The Moomins as a strangely animated TV series. The stop motion animated felt looked like nothing else on British television. Most of us didn’t know at the time that the whole thing was adapted from Finnish author Tove Jansson’s children’s books. This weird, moving fuzzy felt affair fascinated and creeped out kids across Europe, combining fairy tales with a uniquely Scandinavian worldview.

For the unenlightened: Moomins are magical fairy tale-like creatures that live in Moominvalley. They look like tiny hippos, hang around with pixie-like creatures and have names like Moomintroll, Sniff, and Snork Maiden. They have eccentric adventures in near magical area of natural beauty which resembles an idealised version of pastoral Finland.

Moomins and the Winter Wonderland is a re-edit of Episodes 22 to 33 of the ‘80s show, concentrating on what the Moomin family do over winter. It seems that our magical fuzzy hippo people have the ability to hibernate during the cold season, a power most of us would envy them for. Of course, watching cute beasties snore their way through the night would make for dull viewing, so plot gets in the way. Moomintroll can’t get to sleep and distant cousin comes visiting, so the Moomin family ignore their ability to sleep through the bad weather and instead discover Christmas instead.

The story is sweet though not terribly linear. But given that it’s been cut together from a sequence of shorter films, that’s understandable. The animation itself is rich and beautiful. The Moomins look utterly unique and their expressions are both adorable and strange. The overall effect is child-like, as if we are delving into someone’s innocent dream.

The voice acting has been re-done. We have Alicia Vikander, Stellan Skarsgård and Pennywise himself, Bill Skarsgård, doing the bulk of the vocal work, and the result is a mesmerising if slightly weird experience.

Moomins and the Winter Wonderland won’t hold much interest for most adults. Beyond the lovely animation and fantastic acting, there’s little here to hold a grown-up enthralled for the full 80+ minutes. However this strange little show is perfect for kids, especially if they’re a little bit odd or just really into nature. Certainly one to keep the kids quiet over the winter holidays.

LIVING WITH YOURSELF

REVIEWED: SEASON 1 (ALL EPISODES) | WHERE TO WATCH: NETFLIX

Miles Elliott seems to have it all. He has a good job as a well-regarded copywriter at Pools Marketing; he has a beautiful, loving wife, big house, fancy car. But something’s not quite right, he’s in a rut; he feels tired, jaded, as if life has somehow passed him by. He’s at an impasse. One of his work colleagues tells him about the Top Happy Spa, which can cleanse an individual’s DNA and make them feel like literally a new man. But it costs. Miles extracts $50,000 from the family savings and undergoes a very unusual treatment at a very unusual spa. He wakes up in a transparent body bag in a shallow grave in the middle of a forest… dressed in a nappy (it’s the show’s opening sequence). It’s not at all what he was expecting. He manages to make his way home… only to find that he’s already there. His home – and his life – is being occupied by an identical version of himself. A hurried trip back to the spa confirms the unthinkable – he has been ‘replaced’ by a cloned copy of himself, a copy with none of the doubts, fears, or failings of his ‘original’ self; the ‘new’ Miles is bold, confident, self-assured. How can Miles come to terms with his extraordinary new circumstances – how can he learn to live with himself?

Living With Yourself has been described, a little lazily, as a sitcom, and while there are a few (often bittersweet) laughs to be had across its eight episodes (which do, in fairness, tend to run to the traditional twenty-five minute model of most US Network comedies), this is really a show which sits squarely side-by-side with the likes of Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror. Living With Yourself plays on our obsessions with identity and self-worth and our tendency to wish that our lives were perhaps just a bit better than they actually are and how they might be different if we were different. It’s occasionally disconcerting too. The original Miles tries to concoct a lifestyle whereby the two identicals can co-exist, but his own life and purpose are quickly in danger of being subsumed because the “new” Miles can do everything he can but better, quicker, and more efficiently. It’s not a status quo that can be maintained, and eventually, about halfway through the series, the situation comes to a head, and Miles finds himself fighting for his sanity and his life and his marriage.

Living With Myself tells a snappy, compact story across its short run. Paul Rudd is as effortlessly watchable as ever, and he brilliantly differentiates between the schlubby Miles and the smarter, more dynamic Miles. Aisling Bea quickly elevates what threatens to be a dreary ‘wifey’ roles into something far better and more interesting when she becomes aware of what’s happened and finds the ‘new’ Miles more alluring than the one she married. The show deftly plays with narrative conventions by recounting key moments from different perspectives, often winding back to an incident earlier and revisiting it in a way that almost entirely changes its meaning and its importance. It makes this a show that pretty much demands to be binged for fear of missing or forgetting some vital quirky plot point which suddenly means something else entirely in the context of the new way we’ve been invited to look at it.

The idea of clone replacement and duplication is nothing new in our fiction, of course, but Living With Yourself flies because of its naturalistic, relatable setting, its largely likeable cast and effects work so subtle that you start to believe that there really are two Paul Rudds on screen interacting with one another and trying to live the same life. This is intelligent, intoxicating television, warm and witty and yet thought-provoking and perhaps even a little disconcerting as it makes us look at ourselves a little more closely than we might really want to. Fingers crossed for Season 2.

THE KING

DIRECTOR: DAVID MICHÔD | SCREENPLAY: JOEL EDGERTON, DAVID MICHÔD | STARRING: ROBERT PATTINSON, TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET, LILY-ROSE DEPP | RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 1ST (VIA NETFLIX)

Loosely adapted from William Shakespeare’s Henriad, Netflix’s The King charts the rise to power and early reign of King Henry V, or Hal (Chalamet) as he navigates political intrigue, international relations and inevitably, war.

No doubt that comparisons will be drawn between The King and last year’s Outlaw King, which will only be to the detriment of the former; though far from a masterpiece, Outlaw King was at the very least entertaining. That is not the case for David Michôd’s latest feature, which takes itself far too seriously for a film which has little to say.

This self-seriousness permeates through every element of The King, from the slow pace to the grey, “this is very sombre film about deep things” colour palette. Even Chalamet, a clearly charismatic and talented actor, struggles to find anything in the screenplay that might help nuance a one-note performance of furrowed brows and grimaces. Though its generous production budget gives the Middle Ages setting a level of credibility and atmosphere, it nonetheless fails to demonstrate any more personality than a museum reconstruction.

Everything about The King is so very flat, from the plot to the cinematography, to the characterisation and score. It lacks anything that might keep you engaged, and every supposed ‘twist’ (doesn’t a twist have to be unpredictable?) feels monotonous. It’s perfectly watchable, certainly, but it feels like a checklist period piece no one will remember.

Then, in bursts Robert Pattinson as France’s Dauphin, a breath of fresh air with a hilariously thick French accent and great delivery of penis jokes. Though absolutely out of sync with the rest of the film, his couple of brief appearances only emphasise how suffocating The King feels. Maybe he just walked in from an alternate universe where this film is enjoyable.

What’s most frustrating is that this story had the potential to say something new about current politics – the idea that Hal craves peace, yet is denied it because of his father’s legacy and his surviving advisers, or the difficulty of meaningful change in a world where pacifism means weakness, could have made for interesting commentary. Sadly for all involved, the film seems to equate Hal going to war as him growing into his own as a leader and finding his purpose. Nothing interesting to see here, then.

As for the surrounding cast, performances from Joel Edgerton, Sean Harris, and Lily-Rose Depp occasionally infuse scenes with a shadow of personality – in particular Edgerton during the first hour of the film, after which he exists only as Hal’s moral compass and wise strategist.

The King is a 140-minute self-serious slog with decent set pieces, a great slate of actors playing poorly written characters, and possessing little to fill an empty shell of a screenplay.

TONE DEAF [Celluloid Screams Festival 2019]

DIRECTOR: RICHARD BATES JR | SCREENPLAY: RICHARD BATES JR | STARRING: ROBERT PATRICK, AMANDA CREW, HAYLEY MARIE NORMAN

We all know how slasher movies work, we’ve seen them by the dozen and we know the tropes. Richard Bates Jr knows the tropes too but possibly not when best to use them.

In his latest film, Bates attempts a semi-comic social satire pitting angry baby boomer against savvy millennial and is up front about what he’s doing, allowing his boomer psychopath (ably played by a frighteningly suddenly old Robert Patrick) direct monologues to camera to lay out his position, railing against the pampered millenials watching this rubbish. In fact much of the start of the film is about laying out characters motivations in a way that, if this were theatre, would see each walking up the thrust of the stage to address the audience rather than their co-stars. Even the tropes, both of genre and millennial angst setting, are centre staged and spotlight (guys are jerks – tick, insecure employment – tick, money issues – tick) before being shoved aside to get back to the slasher tropes and sending the lead, Olive, a tone deaf pianist played by Amanda Crew, to her cabin in the woods.

There are plenty of laughs lurking in this film and even a much more interesting, fish out of water in rural USA, movie that could have been but, as soon as it seems to be heading anywhere genuine or meaningful, Bates keeps jerking the movie away, back to being a slasher and, frustratingly, not even a slasher movie done well.

There are also some clanging errors, such as Olive’s hippy Mom, who is clearly a Gen-Xer (since she’s not in her 70s) referencing the ‘60s and Robert Patrick’s monologues only really seeming appropriate to a man in his 80s or 90s. Even many of the millennial tropes that Olive and her friends live through feel forced, laboured and kind of false, in spite of this being the director’s own milieu.

In the leads Amanda Crew’s comic timing and sense of exhausted ennui are generally spot on (especially during a weirdly movingly sarcastic LSD trip) and Robert Patrick does really shine at odd moments (although they really are odd, his character is so inconsistent that sadly nearly every interaction he has feels false and stagey).

Bates clearly wanted to make something more than a horror movie but, in his assessment of intergenerational conflict, he is ironically tone deaf and he has made something slightly less than a social satire that would almost work as a comedy if it didn’t keep chucking gore and unearned jump scares at you to remind you that it’s scary. What you have instead is a movie that thinks it’s funnier and scarier than it is and, most infuriatingly, keeps on looking straight into the camera to tell you so, without giving you a right of reply. This is our reply.

THE GANGSTER, THE COP AND THE DEVIL

THE GANGSTER, THE COP AND THE DEVIL / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: WON-TAE LEE / STARRING: DONG-SEOK MA, MU-YEOL KIM, SUNGKYU KIM / RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 15TH (VOD)

With a title that sums up its synopsis perfectly, The Gangster, The Cop and The Devil is an over-the-top, action thriller that never really takes itself too seriously. Throwing subtlety out of the window in favour of bombastic performances, Won-tae’s latest film doesn’t shy away from living up to its ludicrous premise. After barely surviving a violent attack by an elusive serial killer, mob boss Jang Dong-su (Dong-seok) finds himself forming an unlikely alliance with a young cocksure detective named Jung Tae-seok (Mu-yeol). Together they must uncover the sadistic killer’s identity and provide their own personal brand of justice for their own personal gain.

A hyperkinetic, lightweight thriller, this is a far cry from the relentlessly dark and violent films that foreign audiences have become accustomed to when watching Korean cinema. With Oldboy, I Saw the Devil, and The Chaser being notable examples, The Gangster, The Cop and The Devil takes a slightly different approach by living up to its buddy cop narrative whilst still retaining the level of violence that one has come to expect. Each of the actors are able to perform their respective roles well, although they’re unfortunately nothing more than one-dimensional caricatures.

Whether that be Mu-yeol’s fearless detective or Dong-seoks menacing crime lord, these are characters who are here to serve the films exciting premise. The contrast between them is what makes it all worthwhile as we see the overly-headstrong Tae-seok butt heads with a gangster who isn’t afraid to let his fists do the talking. Then there’s the devil himself, portrayed by Kim Sung-kyu in appropriately creepy fashion. A killer who shows no remorse, there isn’t a whole lot to explore in regards to his motivations although that doesn’t stop his performance from being any less compelling. When all three eventually cross paths, the mayhem that ensues is truly a spectacle to behold with a solid car chase and a medley of violence that’ll keep audiences stuck to the edge of their seats.

So is this the latest Korean export to whip up a frenzy amongst fans of foreign cinema? Well, not exactly although it’s an entertaining way to kill a couple of hours. Won-tae’s directing manages to maintain its energetic pace without ever falling victim to the melodrama that could have quite easily slowed down its ferocious rhythm. Jo Yeong-wook’s score is able to perfectly capture the overall tone by ebbing and flowing through the mishmash of genres with relative ease. By no means his best work, the score still plays an important part in giving the film a distinct feel and is able to orchestrate the audience’s emotions at all the right moments.

An entertaining ride from start to finish, The Gangster, The Cop and The Devil is an exciting way to spend a dull evening. With an American remake already announced by Sylvester Stallone’s Balboa Productions and Dong-seok set to reprise his role, this may be the film to finally solidify his place in Hollywood, If not, well he’s always got The Eternals to fall back on which will surely cement him into the Marvel universe for many years to come. So sit back, relax and bask in the chaos of Won-tae’s latest directorial feature.