5 Best Recent Korean Action Movies That Will Get Your Adrenaline Racing
Fights, chases and lots of violence.
Korean cinema continues to produce uncompromising action films that stand out from other countries in their extreme gore.
We have chosen five new releases, including a post-apocalypse, an old-school cop story, and spy games.
1. Phantom, 2023
In 1933, during the Japanese occupation of Korea, an assassination attempt is made on the Governor General. All the evidence points to a spy network known as Phantom. The Japanese suspect that there is a traitor among them and assign officer Junji Murayama to find the spy among five suspects.
Lee Hae-young's movie is a remake of the Chinese film The Message, where instead of the Koreans the Chinese were the enemy of the Japanese. The plot of the original is also a psychological game about finding a spy among your own. While Hae-young's previous work, 2018's Believer, became a box office hit, Phantom did not achieve box office success, but it is still worth watching.
2. The Roundup: No Way Out, 2023
The third part of the police franchise with the invincible cop Ma Seok-do. The main character is transferred to another department and gets a new team at his disposal. If in the previous parts the bad guys were from China and Vietnam, now the antagonist is the Japanese Yakuza, who distribute a new synthetic drug.
The Roundup trilogy became a box-office hit: the viewers adore the powerful but charming Ma, who beats up criminals and puts the villains behind bars. The franchise proves that the spirit of the clichéd but soulful action movies of the 80s is still somewhere nearby.
3. Concrete Utopia, 2023
A disaster has caused the end of the world. An earthquake has left Seoul in ruins, but one of the many apartment complexes has survived unscathed – here the last inhabitants of the South Korean capital are building a new society.
Apartment owners elect leaders, decide who belongs here and who does not, impose bans, and try not to starve. And while some live on a patch of civilization, others survive in the wastelands of a destroyed world.
4. The Childe, 2023
Boxer Marco tries to earn money for his sick mother's treatment: he takes part in fights, robberies and bets on English soccer, until he is approached by people from his rich South Korean father, whom he has never met. Now, Marco is drawn into a whirlwind of endless murders and car chases.
The film was directed by Park Hoon-jung, who wrote the cult thriller I Saw the Devil and also directed the hits New World and The Witch.
5. The Killer, 2022
A cold-blooded but charming man,Bang Ui-gang, takes care of his friend's daughter when she gets into trouble. Now the main character has to remember his past as a hitman in order to bring the girl home.
The second collaboration between director Choi Jae-hoon and actor Jang Hyuk. Before The Killer they worked on the historical action movie The Swordsman. Choi pays special attention to the staging of the fights, paying homage to John Wick and the good old action movies of John Woo.