O Rei (2017)

A man and his personal story of greed - leading into the repulsive quagmire of a corrupt network

In 2017, "The King" is among the top ten movies in South Korea. The story is a prototypical example for a few extremely powerful men(!) manipulating crime, business & politics within South Korean society. In an idiosyncratic style, the movie conveys an insight into an repulsive quagmire of corrupt networks that run through all social classes. It is about the particular imbalance in the realms of public prosecutors and judiciary, which in the 1990s and 2000s was still massively determined by bribery.

The protagonist tells his personal story of greed (it is always people behind a system...) This is about his climbing to the top and the correspondingly deep fall. He accompanies the events from the off while the story unfolds before the eyes of the viewer in trenchant, impressive scenes. At first, you have to get used to this particular style, but the acting, pace, rhythm and camera nimbly catch the audience by the hand and won't let go until the end.

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If you like the exploration into corruption of power within people you're going to love this film.

This was a very interesting film, it explores what happens to corrupted people and consequences made to those people, however, the main protagonist Tae-soo (Played by Jo In sung) contrasts from other corrupted characters you see in other movies and dramas.

This movie is definitely original and well created, it'll give you all different kinds of emotions (if you get emotional throughout good films/dramas like me)

Also, Doo il (Played by Ryu Jun yeol) d a m n b oi, he looks fine af as a gangster, if you're a fan of Ryu Jun yeol you'll be sitting there waiting for him to come on scene because daMN.

I highly recommend this film, it's hard to talk about it without giving away spoilers but you won't be disappointed, this is a great film.

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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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