This was bleak. Every aspect of it. Park Hoon-Jung’s direction somehow makes a beautiful place like Jeju Island seem like a miserable place in this dark world that we are transported in. Let's give credit to Kim Young-Ho for the masterful cinematography. This was a well shot film with camera shots constantly focusing on endless roads through a forest or by the seaside.

This was a very unique, nihilistic portrayal of a Gangster Movie full of death, revenge and violence. The film opens up with our main character, Tae-gu (wonderfully played by badass Uhm Tae-gu) grimly talking with his ill sister and her daughter about potentially being stabbed - foreshadowing the ending - right before they die. There was a severe impending sense of death immediately and it stuck with us throughout until the closing credits. Tae-gu is on the run after seemingly avenging his sister's death where he meets terminal ill, mouthy Jae-yeon (Jeon Yeo-been), who is an incredible markswoman. Both of them experience pain and loss, and they bond together through company. Despite their short time together, they were a compelling unit that we care about deeply. The antagonists of the film were typical gangster villains but Director Ma had a rare honour to him that makes him stand out from the snake, Mr Yang.

The violence was incredibly excessive, with blood being in practically every scene. The action was exciting though. Even though the main character is going through dozens of bad guys, there is a dramatic sense of danger in those scenes, especially the car scene where Tae-gu is going insane, fighting for his life with a knife. Frantic as hell. The writing was quite clever as well. The use of gratuitous language can be a tad too much but there are a lot of off the hand humorous moments to off-set the sombre tone.