The City of Violence (DVD) (2-Disc Set) (US Version) DVD Region 1

The plot begins with detective Jeong Tae-su (Tae Kwon Do master and action director Jeong Du-hong, who has also worked on the likes of Taegukgi and Silmido returning to his hometown to attend the funeral of his friend Wang-jae (Ahn Gil-gang, recently in the excellent Running Wild), where he meets up with the other members of his old high school gang. Some things remain the same, with his friend Ryoo Seok-hwan (played by the multi-talented director himself) still a top brawler, though Jang Pil-ho (Lee Beom-su, a popular comic, here taking on his first villainous role), previously the weakest and most useless member of the group, has now become an ambitious mobster who may have been involved in Wang-jae's death. Jeong and Ryoo's investigations uncover the truth, and inevitably lead them to a bloody showdown with not only Jang, but his army of sword-fodder henchmen.

Although its plot is simplistic and does suffer from several glaring narrative lapses, City of Violence benefits from a strong set of characters, whose believable relationships enrich the familiar themes and add a welcome layer of emotional depth. Ryoo does perhaps overplay his hand a little in the respect, with a few too many flashback scenes and redundant subplots during the opening stages of the film, though these do help to lift the proceedings from the usual action fare. Lee in particular makes for a great villain, and does a good job of transforming his character from incompetent fool to vicious, though insecure crime boss, while at the same time managing to retain a spark of humanity. Similarly, the relationship between the two heroes is an interesting, wary one, never degenerating too far into buddy film cliche, and taking a while to fully develop.

Of course, the film's raison d'etre is very much its action scenes, and Ryoo certainly delivers plenty of thrills, with a good number of set pieces being packed into the admirably short running time. Although most of these do see Jeong and Ryoo taking on seemingly endless hordes of assailants and at times appear to be specifically designed around letting the stars show off their skills, they do have a grounded feel, with the film being based around actual martial arts and street brawling rather than any kind of high flying nonsense or special effects. Most of the battles, especially the epic climatic scenes in which the admirably tenacious protagonists use swords to literally slice their way through to Jang, are bloody, brutal affairs, and take place in alleyways or restaurants, which again help to give the film a believable air of violent urban reality.

Thankfully, although the film is stylishly directed, Ryoo keeps things relatively low key, and shoots the action with a minimalist yet strangely epic feel, something which comes to the fore in the latter stages, which are fittingly accompanied by Morricone-style Spaghetti Western music. Jeong's choreography is also excellent, without too much in the way of flashy techniques or sudden editing, allowing the fight scenes to play out quite naturally. Things do get a little wacky at times, including one scene which rather strangely features break-dancing fighters in an almost comic book fashion, though these never get out of hand and work well to add a sense of fun and creativity.

Given the fact that Crying Fist managed to mix in depth character development with an engaging plot and tough fight scenes, it's easy to see why the more basic, though no less entertaining City of Violence may come as a bit of a surprise to some viewers, and perhaps even as a disappointment. However, this is largely due to the fact that it is simply a different type of film, being a short, sharp burst of violent action, which makes up with kinetic physical poetry what it might lack in believable human drama.

by James Mudge - BeyondHollywood.com