Asura: City of Madness [Import italien]

Not what I would call an easy watch, but very much classic Korean politico/corruption thriller which benefits from repeated viewings. Some complain about the violence, in my opinion its very much in accordance with what you would expect if you watch movies such as City of Violence or The Chaser for example. I think Outrage (Kateshi Kitano) in comparison is a more violent movie.Very gritty, providing an air of inevitability regarding the the outcome of the movie and its main protagonist. The actor playing the Mayor is brilliant, I've seen him in a couple of other Korean movies, and he has this ability to portray the most twisted characters one could imagine. If you are a fan of Korean movies especially the gangster/police/corruption genres, then I would strongly recommend this film. Just wish the UK/Europe provided more exposure to the Korean cinematic output.

Another enjoyable Korean film . This one is about a corrupt mayor and a policeman who does his dirty work who is compromised by a dogged and ambitious prosecutor. Well made with good acting . The narrative moves along nicely and as ever there are moments of humour and poignancy.The fight scene towards the end is good but stretches credibility when characters are still able to move about vigorously despite many wounds but this seems to be standard in action thrillers these days. If you enjoyed the Internal Affairs trilogy you will enjoy this.

This is a corker, the war of nerves between Han the prosecutor and the Mayor is truly epic.Although everything in the film is larger than life it still manages to pull off a grim believable story, whilst having the air of an old samurai film or western. Watch it already.

THought it would be OK at best, but after 15 minutes I was spellbound - I couldn't tear myself away from it until the end!

A great story that grips you till the end.

I’m a big fan of Korean cinema, particularly their crime/action films, (e.g. “the yellow sea”, “A beautiful life”, “the chaser”, “new world”, “the suspect”, “memories of murder”, “I saw the devil”, “sympathy for mr. Vengeance”, “the unjust”, .....and the recent “the wailing” - which I thought was excellent).I really enjoyed this one. Woo-Sung Jung plays “Han” a corrupt police officer in the pay of the even more corrupt, and thoroughly ruthless, mayor of the city of Asura, “Park Sung-bae” (played by the always excellent, Jung Min-Hwang). Han finds himself caught between his desire to break from Park and the prosecutors office, who coerce him into gathering evidence on the crimes of the mayor.One of the key themes of the plot relates to the real-life complex political and professional relationship (and sometimes mutual antipathy) between the police service and the prosecutors in Korea. Unlike in the UK, the police in Korea are effectively under the control of the prosecutors department -in fact, as I understand it, the police do not have the authority to initiate or close an investigation without approval from the prosecutors office. The politics of this plays out in microcosm as part of the film, in the relationship between the corrupt policeman Han and his "superior" in the prosecutors office.Recommended.In Korean with English subtitles.

Absolutely brilliant film!!! Gritty,suspense and dirty cops but even dirter politicians and more!!!I watched this at 4am and did i fall asleep? Heck no!! This is one of the BEST movies I have EVER seen!!