A Bittersweet Life (2005)

Kim Sun-woo works as a hotel manager, he is also a fiercely loyal enforcer for Mr Kang, a powerful crime boss. When Kang goes to Shanghai he tells Sun-woo that he suspects his girlfriend is involved with another man; Sun-woo is to find out if she is and if so 'deal with her'. Sun-woo discovers that she is indeed having an affair but rather than killing her he shows mercy; When Kang finds out he is livid. Sun-woo has also annoyed Baek Dae-sik, another crime boss. The latter's men beat Sun-woo and bundle him into a van; he is surprised when they hand him over to Kang's men. They further torture him with every intention of killing him. He manages to get away though and sets about preparing to hunt down those who want him dead… things are going to get bloody.If you enjoy revenge thrillers then you should love this; the action is intense and fairly brutal. Don't expect beautifully choreographed martial arts; the fights are intense and look real… even if Sun-woo seems to take unbelievable damage and sill carry on. He is beaten, buried alive, shot and stabbed and still keeps heading towards Kang. Given how brutal it is at times it is a little surprising that there were also a few really funny moments; mostly when he is trying to buy guns off a group of arms dealers. Lee Byung-hun, who plays Sun-woo, is rarely off screen and does a fantastic job making us believe in and sympathise with the character. The rest of the cast are pretty impressive too. Director Kim Jee-woon does a great job creating a brilliant atmosphere and making a very stylish film. Overall I'd definitely recommend this to fans of the genre.These comments are based on watching the film in Korean with English subtitles.

A Bitter Sweet life adds a hardcore blood fest to the list of films under the revenge flick genre. It's a pretty stereotypical revenge film about mobsters and the backstabbing behind the scenes. If A Bittersweet Life was to add anything new to the formula it would be the 'how big is a mistake' question into play, which ultimately starts the onslaught of gangsters in all sorts of gory fun fashion.Though nothing truly original, A Bittersweet Life adds a Korean twist on all things gory and revengey. You wont be telling your friends about this one in too much of a hurry, but for the most part it does it's job, despite some off-paced story.

When you see so many good reviews,you ask yourself: hmm...did we see the same movie????!!! 'The best Korean movie ever', 'fantastic'... It can be that I watched some other movie???!!This movie is totally predictable. From the start you know who will make the hell of life to our hero, you could see what kind of boss our hero has..., the task what he gets can be end up only in two ways... Everything has been seen so many times.I must admit that this movie is real,close to the real life,it is not that the main character can beat 1000 guys with one kick,but..., who knows, maybe with some more fantastic fight scenes the movie would be more interesting. This way, you can predict almost the whole movie. The ones who consider this is the best Korean movie ever..., they obviously haven't seen enough Korean movies and their excellent cinematography.The sum: a movie's goal is not to be totally unpredictable, always to give some new perspective, to have some great scenes..., but this one is nothing but a gangster cliché. To obey to your boss entirely, or not? It is so normal when somebody reaches the point when it is not so easy to obey 100%, the reason is not important. Even the punch line: How did we get to this point and why? is not so impressive, because every 'why' has its reason. So, this movie can be depicted as NOT ENOUGH of anything which is important for a good movie (it doesn't matter if we seek for a deep movie, a good action or some other kind of movie).

A dark story of revenge from South Korea, this film manages to be effortlessly cool while at the same time full of suppressed emotion and, eventually, complete chaos. Yes, it's another sometimes devastating Korean gangster story, made with all the slickness and style of far eastern cinema.It's a downbeat and depressing film that explores the very depths of the human condition, and I have to say that I found the main character's journey to be pretty upsetting. Lee Byung-hun went on to bigger things after this (a Hollywood career and I SAW THE DEVIL) and it's no surprise, because he's excellent in the central role: extremely subtle and yet with his eyes brimming with feeling.As the title would indicate, A BITTERSWEET LIFE isn't a feel-good action film with the hero blasting away various well-dressed criminals: this is a crime film in which every action has a consequence, and you can guarantee there won't be a happy ending. It's occasionally disturbing, sometimes blackly funny, and gripping throughout. All of the gangster action you could wish for is here, in spades, and it's very bloody too; however, there's plenty of visual artistry too, and some scenes of breathtaking and touching beauty which transcend the film's genre to reach out and touch the viewer's very heart. The ending, in particular, is quite stunning.