Soo (2007)

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Blistering performances.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The fights are pretty much what I enjoyed in Soo. Raw, brutal fight using baseball bat, knives and metal pipes. This fights looks like they're not acting at all, it's a brawl out with chocking, eye-piercing, ducking, rolling, etc etc. Like Chaser, Bittersweet and Oldboy, I can only put the fight to be very realistic, imo.The rest are just bad and close to decent. I didn't try to scrutinize the story when I realized the plot holes keep getting bigger and bigger, enabling me to enjoy the movie.The revenge story is nothing new but the progress isn't noteworthy at all, not enjoyable really. Male lead is just bland as vanilla, female lead was given the ridiculous role of making advances to the male lead which she sees as a replacement. And the male lead just 'accepts' it, despite being seen as an image and not as himself. This scripted part just annoys me.The ending is just terrible and confusing. despite being sliced up pretty badly, the hero still managed to walk away from the bloodbath. Why did the female lead started shooting? And all of the sudden she started weeping, as scripted as that can be.The movie didn't end beautifully or epicly, just at some dark dirty corner! Soo is a sadly mediocre compared to other revenge tales like Sympathy from Lady Vengeance, Oldboy, Bittersweet Life and Chaser. If you like a good fight though, go ahead!

The movie description on the back of my DVD cover (German release) compares this movie with 'A Bittersweet Life' and 'Oldboy'. Usually I wouldn't trust these cheap advertising lines of the distribution companies anyway but I was still lured by the "revenge with a twist" theme of the movie plot description.The first half of the movie isn't too bad at all, we get to know the killer trying to find his long lost brother. He finally finds out where he is and that he is a cop but at their first meeting the cop gets shot dead right before his eyes. As you'd expect the killer wants to find out who killed his brother and to take revenge. He takes the identity of his brother, disguises as a cop and starts the action. A series of flashbacks into their youth adds on to how they had been separated and introduces a few more characters. So far, so good... nice little twist in the script, killer turns cop, movie not bad so far. Unfortunately after that the movie gets worse and worse... plot holes, an almost never-ending overdone showdown ... I won't develop that much more, just read the previous 3 user comments who already pointed out most of the weak parts.As for a simple revenge action film the average viewer will normally accept a few plot holes but there are just too many and also the behaviour of the characters are just too absurd to take it seriously. To make it worse: choreography of the action scenes in the final showdown is too slow and almost makes you look for the 'fast fwd' button on your remote control.What does this movie then have in common with 'A Bittersweet Life' or 'Oldboy'? Except for the revenge theme and a stylish photography not much unfortunately.On the whole this movie is rather a waste of time. Don't hesitate to see 'A Bittersweet Life' however if you have missed it so far. Another nice one from South Korea is 'Mr. Socrates'. And I must admit that I had enjoyed Travolta's 'The Punisher' or 'Death Sentence' with Kevin Bacon more than this one...

The idea of the film is nice, but it's only good until the one brother dies. We also get some well shot cut-back scenes on how the brothers were separated in the first quarter of the film. Although some would call these scenes pathetic the don't fail to attract. But when the vengeance story starts the film gets bad. The reason is simple: logic leaves the story. The reaction of the dead brother's wife may be perhaps plausible for Koreans, they seem strange in European eyes. But OK, watching a film from a culture I am not really familiar with makes me overlook that problem. What I am really complaining about are major plot holes and a very unrealistic amount of injuries the main character can take without being really affected from them: After he is hit with baseball bats (among other things), subbed several times and shot at he can still walk and fight on. It also annoys me that in every fight scene the hero is almost always attacked only by one opponent. That's not the way gang thugs would do it.------SPOILER AHEAD------------------These are some of the plot holes: 1. How did the mobsters find out that the carpenter revealed the name of the firm? ( *assuming* he had to die for this betrayal) 2. Was knowing the firm's name plus the meager tip from the guy at the rooftop enough to really find out the mobster's location? We see how the female lead puts the facts together with a map, but what did your hero do? 4.Why does the hero return to the carpenter? What did he still want from him? 5 How did the police find out that the dead brother was involved with the mobsters ? 6. Where did the mountain climbing equipment for rappelling from the roof near the end of the film suddenly come from ?

I like Korean movies in general. They have a certain style to them, but they also have some mannerisms, that are new (maybe even alien) to me, but are always great to watch. One of those things, is the violence that is portrayed in a gritty way. Not stylized and most of the time it doesn't even look like it's choreographed, but this raw power/energy has a vibe that translates great onto the big screen, like in this case.The problem here though is the story. It's a shame, because it could be a real great movie (especially with that showdown/ending), but it misses out on some points (at least for my taste). It makes for a nice viewing then, but never achieves grand status (in my book)