Libenjyeo

Lee Seung-won is an unknown director who doesn't have much experience, but he has made one of the best action films Korea has produced in years. It has a pretty decent story about a police officer who goes to an isolated island full of prisoners to get revenge on his family's killer, who rules the place and hunts down the other survivors. Bruce Khan is an actor I hadn't heard of before, but his charisma and fighting skills are up there with the best in the business, and the villain, Park Hee-soon, is covered in burn bandages the whole time, so he doesn't show off that much acting. Yoon Jin-seo from Oldboy is also great. My only complaint about the action is that there could have been more of it, because it's absolutely magnificent. There are four major action sequences, thankfully nicely varied, so there's something for everyone. There was a decent brawl in an abandoned prison, a brilliant sword fight, an unusual shootout with bows, and then the final fight, which of course is the highlight of the whole film. I haven't seen such challenging choreography in a long time and thanks to the great cinematography you feel every punch, grab, block and I had a good roar again. I hope to see Bruce Khan again because the man is a samurai and Bruce Lee in one. I missed a faster pace for a full count and was bothered by the occasional humor of some of the prisoners, otherwise a solid event and I will definitely return to the fights in the future. Thanks to Netfix for their cooperation with Asia and especially for the subtitles. 80%. (15.01.2019)