It has been a while since my last kmovie review. I stopped watching for a while because a bunch of critically acclaimed movies turned out to be very mediocre and I cbf in the end. There is something that kmovies can give me that jmovies can't and that is straight forward ass kicking.
In the outlaws, Ma Dong-seok is police detective Ma Suk-Do who has a heart of gold, looks like he can take people out and is not afraid to bend the rules and have fun at a hostess bar. There is a war between the Chinese-Korean gangs and the bad guy from China does really bad things and scary things so we are definitely rooting for detective Ma to dish out justice.
The world of the Outlaws is dark, violent and unforgiving and there are moments of light comedy like detective Ma's truth room or how he bullies other gangsters.
The action scenes are awesome and watching Ma Dong-seok kicking ass never gets old. The final fight scene in the washroom is awesome. I think the main thing I enjoy is the tone of the movie. I love the grittiness of the action. Watching The Outlaws I was thinking why doesn't Japan do this straightforward action?
I think the answer is besides chanbara/samurai movies, there doesn't seem to be a market for adult action movies. Japan does not do gritty, see Avalance. They prefer shows to have a sense of unreality. Maybe Japan doesn't have an action star besides Sakaguchi Tak and he is not a star.
Very watchable. The Outlaws is the first of 4 movies known as The Roundup. I have watched all four and they are all good fun. Very watchable kick-ass movies.
Karasawa Toshiaki actually knows martial arts, but there's barely a market for it
ReplyDelete@Anon: I don't think I have seen Karasawa Toshiaki in an action movie but it is weird why there is no market for mature action movies aimed at men in Japan.
ReplyDeleteHe have some, but they might be not be worth watching...
ReplyDeleteUsually Japan chooses to not cast actors with stunt\martial arts experience. It seems like "aidorus"(in a broad sense) get roles that Takeda Rina (karate), Seino Nana (ex stunt actor, trained under Tak) and Yokohama Ryusei (karate) would be more competent in.
PS Isn't Okada Junichi an action star? He also ranked 11th at the World IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Championship!
PPS Also, Tak is canceled (hopefully for good) for being an accomplice of Sono Sion