Nameless Gangster (2012)

In a structural mess of a story, the film starts near the end and then skips back and forth to tell the rise and fall of a sycophantic hustler who makes a name for himself in the world of organised crime by playing gangster.With an overly long running time, the film could have been shorter, but then, considering how the backbone of the story is the lead's connections and how he exploits them all to his own advantage, it's difficult to pinpoint just what should have been cut, as the lead's snivelling demeanour becomes a swagger and then hubris, before his total lack of understanding the mentality of all those he's involved with leads to his downfall. He then reverts back to his snivelling old self, blames everybody else for his mistakes, relies on connections and walks off into the sunset.Moral of the story? Kiss arse and you'll live a long and prosperous life.And that's the problem with the whole film: there's not a single likable character. And while the film certainly doesn't glorify anything, I honestly couldn't have cared what happened to anyone in it, and found myself restlessly checking how much of the film was left every 5 or 10 minutes."Nameless", though, is at least adequate, because after the credits roll, you'll quickly forget about it.

A tale of crime, corruption & power, Nameless Gangster concerns a Busan customs officer who along with his corrupt colleagues doesn't mind bribes but when he's on the verge of getting fired & accidentally discovers around 10 kg of crystal meth which he, with the help of a colleague, later sells it to a gangster who turns out to be of the same family clan as his. The rest of the film is about him leaving his customs post & teaming up with this vicious gangster in what later becomes the most powerful crime partnership in Busan.There isn't much to talk about this film so I'll try to point out the likes & dislikes. Starting with the likes, Choi Min-sik delivers a brilliant performance here as a wannabe gangster whose rise & fall is chronicled in this tale. The rest of the performances are no slouch either. The action is nicely choreographed, the characters are intriguing & overall, it works as a fine gangster film. And as far as the dislikes go, the story could've been more tightly structured, the flow of events could've been smoother & it could've worked with a reduced runtime.On an overall scale, Nameless Gangster might work for some of its viewers but it's not as impressive as what the other Korean films of its genre has to offer. There are many noticeable flaws in here & the story is just not that interesting either to keep one emotionally invested. It didn't manage to meet up my already mediocre expectations from this film but its family themes & the choice one has to make when faced with loyalty vs own's life are nicely explored. Worth a watch? At least once for sure.

As a big fan of current Korean cinema and even more of the amazing actor Choi Min Sik as well as of Mafia and Yakuza movies in general, I was really looking forward to watch this movie. But in the end it all came very different...The only positive thing about the movie is the unique acting of Choi Min Sik. He proves that he doesn't only perfectly incarnates twisted and brutal characters but also the one he plays in here. We talk about a corrupt customs official who works at the port of Busan who finds a haul of drugs and begins to team up with a vicious gangster. The character doesn't seem to be clever at all at first sight. He has no experiences whatsoever, is overtly arrogant and doesn't stop talking nonsense. But thanks to a lot of luck as well as to a couple of good deals and relations, he survives by using his partner, his enemies and even the police for his own issues. Choi Min Sik incarnates the character with a lot of humour. On the other side, it's quite hard to believe that this kind of clumsy character has gone so far in organized crime and the movie overall doesn't feel realistic enough.The movie itself is a biopic with many lengths and a load of more or less important characters. We assist to many meetings at many different places with many different people that are sometimes redundant and add nothing to the story line. Apart of following the career of the main character, there is no truly addicting story that would create an acceptable setting. The dialogues are sometimes quite poor, there is not much tension in the movie and the few action scenes are good but quite rare to find. This movie never gets close to all those big movies about organized crimes such as The Godfather, Once Upon A Time In America, Takashi Miike's Family and so on.In the end, this movie may only be worth a watch for fans of Choi Min Sik who makes this overlong biopic at least watchable. On the other side, he can't save this film from its numerous flaws and lengths. The expectations for this film were quite high but the final result is more than disappointing.

"Nameless Gangster" depicts the clashes in the Busan underworld when the government declares its war against crime. Former public officer, Choi Ik-Hyun (Choi Min-Sik) and crime boss Choi Hyung-Bae (Ha Jung-Woo) sit in the center of the maelstrom that sweeps the city. In 1982, Choi Ik-Hyun works as a customs officer at the Busan Port. Choi Ik-Hyun and 3 other officers takes bribes, which leads to an internal investigation. The head customs officer has dinner with the 4 men under investigation and asks them point blank for one person to become the fall guy. Choi Ik-Hyun is chosen as the fall guy by virtue of having the least amount of dependents in his family. A few nights later, Choi Ik-Hyun works the nightshift at the Busan Port. He spots two men breaking into a warehouse through the CCTV system. When Choi Ik-Hyun confronts the two men, a physical struggle ensues with the two men eventually fleeing the crime scene. After the two men escape, Choi Ik-Hyun and a colleague go into the warehouse to investigate. They discover massive amounts of heroin packed inside of containers. Choi Ik-Hyun then offers to his colleague that if they sell the heroin, Choi Ik-Hyun will retire from the department and become the fall guy for the bribe taking investigation. Meanwhile, his colleague knows crime boss Choi Hyung-Bae. The colleague tells Choi Ik-Hyun that Choi Hyung-Bae has connections with the Japanese yakuza and can become the facilitator to sell the heroin. The three men then have a meeting at a remote house. Choi Ik-Hyun notices that crime boss Choi Hyung-Bae shares the same family name. The men discuss their respective cuts from the distribution of the heroin. After the deal is agreed upon by all sides, Choi Ik- Hyun informs crime boss Choi Hyung-Bae that they are distant relatives and he knows his father. Due, to the informal manner in which Choi Ik-Hyun addresses crime boss Choi Hyung-Bae, Choi Hyung-Bae's henchman beats Choi Ik-Hyun savagely. They are partners, but Choi Ik-Hyun isn't held with high regard yet. The next day, crime boss Choi Hyung-Bae goes to see his father at his home and finds his father drinking with Choi Ik-Hyun. His father introduces Choi Ik-Hyun to his son and tells his son to bow down to his distant uncle. The two men then begin their partnership in earnest. Choi Ik-Hyun, with his uncanny ability to gain favors from those around him, and crime boss Choi Hyung-Bae, with his physical prowess as the head of a feared criminal organization, are set to take over the Busan underworld, but will it last?