Paid in Blood is Korean Crime Noir At Its Best

Paid in Blood is Korean Crime Noir At Its Best

Paid in Blood is Korean Crime Noir At Its Best
Paid in Blood is Korean Crime Noir At Its Best

June 10, 2022 (NYC)Paid in Blood is Korean Crime Noir At Its Best.  Paid in Blood is a gripping, violent piece of South Korean Crime Noir surrounding the power struggle between warring mobsters for control of a new Casino and hotel in South Korea.

This movie, like much of top notch Korean Cinema blurs the lines between what is conventionally considered good and evil.  In Paid in Blood the majority of the characters are gangsters, but that doesn’t make them inherently evil. In fact, the majority of the central characters are gangsters with a strong sense of loyalty and adherence to a code of conduct that prohibits the crossing of certain moral boundaries.

Director YOON Youngbin does an outstanding job creating an engaging and, sometimes, deeply moving film, whose characters are compelling and interesting.  The cinematography, direction, and acting are first rate.  The pacing and script bring to life this action-packed thriller.

While some of the lead characters are so definitively evil, and others good, they are crafted in a way that does not make them unrealistic to watch. YOO O-Seong and JANG Hyuk offer memorable performances with depth, range, and grit as the central adversaries in this thriller.

This film has many of the underlying themes that are prevalent in South Korean Cinema.   It is also a high quality film that rivals anything Hollywood has produced.

Paid in Blood, the Well Go USA Entertainment release will debut exclusively on the martial arts streaming service Hi-YAH! on June 17th, before hitting Digital only on July 26, 2022 from Well Go USA Entertainment.

This film is in Korean and subtitled in English.

I highly recommend this one.  This may be one of the best films I have screened so far in 2022.

-Review by Marc A. Zirogiannis

Synopsis

PAID IN BLOOD (aka TOMB OF THE RIVER) When a powerful crime ring starts construction on the largest casino in all of Asia, the group is challenged by a young, vicious gangster (Jang Hyuk) from Seoul who will stop at nothing to gain power. In a desperate attempt to stop the newcomer’s plot to kill his way to the top, the gang’s leader declares all-out war on the man and his followers.

Directed by: YOON Young-bin

Starring: YOO O-Seong [YU Oh-seong] (Beat, Champion, Spy) JANG Hyuk (THE SWORDSMAN, My Country: The New Age) Park Seong-geun (Stranger, Into the Ring) Oh Dae-hwan (DELIVER US FROM EVIL, Veteran, The Great Battle) Lee Hyun-kyun (To All the Guys Who Loved Me, My Country: The New Age) Shin Seung-hwan (Vagabond, The Battleship Island, Veteran)

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Run Time

119 mins

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