2/5 stars
Lead cast: Kim Nam-gil, Kim Young-kwang
For the longest time, guns were a rarity in Korean media. Beyond the odd hunting rifle, classic films such as Park Chan-wookโs Lady Vengeance (2005) had to contrive elaborate ways to introduce even a single pistol into a story.
Twenty years later, we live in a very different Korean media landscape, one that believes global audiences are clamouring for Korean genre content to become more violent and audacious with each passing season.
The result is a pipeline of shows and movies littered with firearms, yet South Korea itself still maintains strict gun control.
Gun crime is extremely rare in the country, and firearms simply do not pop up on the streets. Even gang members generally do not use them, instead resorting to punching, knifing and clubbing their rivals โ crimes that carry less severe punishments.