- Actors: Cho Jin-woong, Ryu Jun-yeo, Kim Sung-ryoung
- Director: Lee Hae-young
- Disc Format: Color, Dolby, Surround Sound, Widescreen
- Language: Korean (Dolby Digital 5.1), Korean (DTS 5.1)
- Subtitles: English
- Region: Region A/1
- Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
- Rated: Not Rated
- Studio: Well Go Usa
- Release Date: October 30, 2018
- Run Time: 123 minutes
Drug War is easily one of best entries
into the Chinese crime genre in recent years, so I was immediately skeptical of
the decision to remake it, especially a mere six years after the original film’s
release. Not only is the decision to remake a good film always a dangerous one
due to audience expectations, Drug War
also has a plot twist rendered ineffective by previous knowledge. While some of
the problems with this may be solved by the fact that Believer is a South Korean remake, ensuring a different national audience,
those who watch a lot of foreign films may still find more than a little bit
familiar in this one. But even with the largest twist of the film slightly
spoiled, Believer still managed to
improve on an already great film.
While Drug War was a non-stop thrill-ride of
intensity, Believer is a more nuanced
film. It almost feels like a marriage between Drug War and No Country For
Old Men, which is ironic considering the age of one of the characters has
been lowered considerably from the original film. Police detective Won-ho (Jin-Woong
Cho) is determined to take down a major drug cartel, so he is frustrated when
the psychotic kingpin sets a bomb to take out nearly his entire operation right
before they finally have a way to catch him. Only a low level drug dealer named
Rak (Jun-yeol Ryu) survives the explosion, and Won-ho realizes that he is the
only remaining connection to the mysteriously elusive kingpin named Mr. Lee.
Because nobody
has ever seen Mr. Lee in person, Won-ho decides to pretend to be him in a
meeting with another psychotic criminal looking to work with him named
Sun-chang (Hae-Joon Park), and then turns around and pretends to be Sun-chang
in a meeting with Mr. Lee’s right-hand man, with Rak providing introductions
where he needs to. These two simultaneous scenes in hotel rooms are among the
most intense in the film, and director Hae-young Lee adds even more
embellishments for those who already experienced the original. This is a film
of bizarre underworld characters, and we get our first taste in this hotel room,
continuing in the next sequence of mute chemists creating the drugs that Rak
and Won-ho will use to trap Mr. Lee.
But as much as
the film relies upon heavy suspense and offbeat humor, there is an empathetic
touch to this screenplay that was missing from Drug War. A solid twenty-minutes longer than the original, Believer takes the time to show us the
humanity of our protagonists in the quiet moments. And it also allows for a far
more poetic ending, with enough ambiguity to have you contemplating the
narrative long after the credits are over. Drug
War is an undeniable thrill ride, but Believer
knows how to make us care and think without ever sacrificing the polished
visuals or action set pieces.
The Blu-ray
release for Believer is not given any
special treatment, but the film looks and sounds fantastic and sometimes that
is enough.
Entertainment Value:
8/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 9/10
Historical
Significance: 6/10
Special Features: 0/10
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