Two detectives competing for a promotion that could change their future find themselves having to team up solve the case of a brutal murder. When the horribly mutilated corpse of a long-lost girl is discovered in the coastal areas of Incheon, Han-soo and Min-tae, once friends but now rivals for yearsthey now find themselves tasked with tracking down the culprit, leading two teams that operate day and night.
As we tell you in the review of The Beast, the investigation seems headed for a quick conclusion when a suspect – who has a lot to hide – is captured and placed in custody, but things take an unexpected turn after Han-soo meets an informant who insists he knows the identity of the real murderer. Between cover-ups and secret dealstensions increase between the two detectives while the public clamors to solve the crime, which is shaking the entire country, as soon as possible and they have their immediate superior breathing down their necks.
Haven’t we met before?
The synopsis just exposed may turn on a light bulb for someone and in fact we find ourselves in front of the Korean remake of a French cult of the beginning of the millennium, or the memorable polar 36 Quai des Orfèvres (2004) by Olivier Marchal, in which two giants such as Gérard Depardieu and Daniel Auteuil competed in a competition of skill and charisma, in the role of two characters who were antithetical and complementary at the same time. A detective story full of tensions and twists in this new version it loses much of its charmalso due to a screenplay that risks being excessive at times and involuntarily confusing, with the two hours or so of viewing in which the ruthless and cynical showdown between the two contenders, played on this occasion, is resolved well done anyway Lee Sung-Min And Yoo Jae Myung.
Blind War, the review: action, action and more action
An alternating rhythm
From “the world has changed” to “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” factual sentences are wasted in a script that updates the prototype in an all too formulaic way, trying to transport it from the transalpine land to the eastern land the related noir atmospheres. An attempt unfortunately not entirely successful, with that gloomy and dark mood which in the long run takes over, effectively canceling out the psychologies of the protagonists, who seem helpless pawns in a game of chess executed by a raw and cruel fate.
The Beast does not spare moments of physical and psychological violence, taking full advantage ofimagery of Korean thrillers of the last twenty years, and offers some sequences with a decent tension rate. However, it is difficult to become attached to the characters and to let yourself be totally carried away by the story, a factor that instead made the fortunes of the original film, alive and pulsating even in its darkest facets.
Fight without a code of honor
The action scenes are limited to a minimum – however the assault by the police on the building populated by criminal gangs is effective – and it is played continuously on the contrast between the two detectives, who each find themselves conducting investigations on their own while trying to hide important omissions or dramatic secrets, which could definitively change the cards on the table for one or the other. The screenplay, following the basics, is fully ambiguous, with all the various figures involved who put their own interests before the common good, sacrificing “collateral damage” on the way. What is missing, however, are the nuances and the general whole seems to suffer from a certain static which nips potential emotional outbursts in the bud in favor of a suitable staging and well made but at the same time anonymous.
Conclusions
This Korean-style remake of a modern detective classic like 36 Quai des Orfèvres (2004) clearly loses out on the comparison with the original, being able to count on a good technical and acting department but resulting in it lacking in soul and excessively convoluted in the screenplay phase , thus preventing one from becoming attached to the ambiguous characters. The Beast sees two police detectives face each other, each with shadows and secrets, who investigate a difficult case that is shaking public opinion, while at the same time playing for a possible promotion: in their race to come first they will not look anything or anyone in the face, paradoxically ending up ignoring even the public itself.
Because we like it
- Solid staging and with a good level of tension in certain passages.
- An effective cast, although defeated by the arduous comparison with the original film.
What’s wrong
- Unnecessarily complicated and drawn out script.
- Colder than expected.
