Review of City of Violence, The: 2-Disc Collector`s Edition

Introduction

If you`ve clicked through to this review of `The City of Violence` expecting the critical write-up of a Donal Macintyre-style expose on the seedy underbelly of Glasgow`s gangland or Nottingham`s gun culture you`re in the wrong place. Thankfully, the violence depicted in this DVD is entirely fictional. And a lot funnier.

Presumably having overspent on the cast and crew budget, this South Korean action flick is not only directed and written by, but also casts Seung-wan Ryoo alongside seasoned Korean actor Doo-hong Jung as two of a group of four men who reunite at the funeral of their childhood friend - a former criminal gone straight. They resolve to get to the bottom of his murder, seemingly at the hands of street punks, but meet resistance from unexpected sources inside and outside of their circle of friendship. And, as is par for the course in situations like this, the only way to will the truth out is to kick several people in the head really hard.

Video

The solid transfer from Premier Asia, complete with a reasonably rich palette and no obvious signs of artefacting thanks to the double disc treatment, is presented in anamorphic 1.85:1. `The City of Violence` is a visually accomplished piece. The techniques, like the plentiful use of shaky handheld work, PIP inserts and expressive, almost perfectionist framing are utterly derivative but effective, and action scenes are handled well, rarely losing track of the bodies onsceen.

Audio

Native Korean with English subtitles in either Dolby Digital or DTS 5.1. As is usually the case, there`s barely a hair in it, but if you have a compatible surround sound system you`ll no doubt opt for the DTS. While there was evidence of a slight audible distortion at the very highest pitches of both (frequent screaming, for example), this is more than compensated for by the excellent mixing and the sheer force and weight of the surround tracks. Directional implementation is handled well, but not overmilked, and the immediate impression is of just how thick, clean and clear the film sounds.

Features

Feast or famine is the conventional approach to extras with Premier Asia, and `The City of Violence`, opting for the former, bears an impressive looking bunch of bonus features. But, as is becoming fast apparent with the label, it`s really just the way the extras have been divided up, with much of the same interviews spliced and labelled under different headings. Still, there`s a good hour and a half of material here.

Disc 1:

`Further Attractions` as usual, this time featuring trailers for actioner `Typhoon`, A-Horror `Shutter` and Australian mockumentary `Kenny`, the latter being the first time in a long time I`ve laughed a beverage out of my nose while watching a trailer.

Disc 2:

`The Making of The City of Violence`: A fairly straightforward making of featuring contributions from most of the cast and crew.

`Promotional Gallery`: Three trailers, including two teasers, for the feature.

`Masters of Mayhem`: A selection of cast interviews

`High School Days`: An odd little feature where the makers discuss real-life high school situations which inspired moments in the film, complete with storyboards.

`Deleted Scenes`: Nine of, certainly worth a watch if you dig watching scenes out of context.

`Lights, Camera, Action`: Interviews with the crew discussing the genesis of the action scenes in the film.

`Rules of Engagement`: A look behind the scenes of the Seoul Action School, where most of the fight choreography originated.

`Action Commentaries`: Deprived of a feature-length yak-track, the cast and crew instead give us a little overdubbed insight into the major action scenes individually.

Conclusion

`The City of Violence` feels like a genetic experiment, the attempt of a mad scientists to cross-breed the meditative revenge-thrillers of Chan-Wook Park, the gung-ho Kung Fu 2.0 vehicles of Tony Jaa or Donnie Yen and the interpersonal teen drama of Rob Reiner`s `Stand By Me`. It doesn`t quite hit the desired note, winding up more like the daft Asian cousin of `Death Wish` mated against its will with the decent half of `Stephen King`s IT`, but it`s a lot of - albeit shakily plotted - fun with a healthy dose of humour that doesn`t smother the tone of the film. It`s a much smaller focused, less grand film than the likes of `Oldboy` and its je ne sais quoi, perhaps a certain indie sensibility despite the polished visual flair and expensive looking set pieces, makes it a significantly better film than if it had tried to out and out ape the `Vengeance Trilogy`.

Barely scraping the 90-minute mark, its title is an apt one with near non-stop action throughout, mainly concentrated around several large-scale brawls featuring long, wide shots and masses of bodies involved in the frantic chop socky as well as plenty of direct riffing-slash-homage on and to the likes of the Burly Brawl from `The Matrix Reloaded` and Walter Hill`s 1979 cult classic `The Warriors`. But when the pace does slow down for exposition or scene setting, that`s when the cracks in the armour appear. There`s barely room to build the cohesive shell of a story - certainly not an original one - resulting in several unsatisfactory plot holes or covoluted developments, not least of which the seemingly endless source of underworld information which leads the protagonists to their goals, but leaves the viewer scratching their head as to how exactly they got there; as your maths teacher would say, lets see the working out next time. The often witty dialogue and the sheer energy of the piece do make up in many a regard, but it`s an example of the plot coming second to the eye candy.

The outlandish, gravity-defying moves and the cartoonish bad guys - in particular a mute quartet of near-invincible bodyguards - and the fact that, just like everyone in Japan inexplicably knows Karate, everyone in Korea inexplicably knows Taekwondo, almost sits at odds with the desired sentimentality of the flashbacks to childhood escapades, but Seung-wan Ryoo`s ego piece has such a charming enthusiasm that this and other flaws, including the one-dimensional characters and the annoyingly abrupt ending, can be overlooked if you`re in the mood for an evening of face-smashing, Korean style.