[Locke]

Been a while since I watched any world cinema, so I decided to check out 'New World', because who does Crime Operas better than Asian Cinema?

New World is one of those movies that, sadly, gets worse the longer the film runs for. For the first hour so the movie is perfectly solid, completely unoriginal granted, but well made enough to more than alleviate the abysmally generic story. Then, then the film actually has to progress the plot, raise some questions and then answer them. New World isn't a complex film, but it goes about things in such a roundabout way, and is so needless complex for something so simple the movie can easily leave you lost. Twists, upon twists scramble on top of each other, many fly completely out of left field. In the end, it all somehow makes sense (mostly), and (mostly) satisfies but baffles all logic to get there.

What will probably be harder to swallow for most, isn't the films lack of originality or the films unnecessary complexity, it's the lack of action. I'm not saying it's wrong, or even bad, that this is a more cerebral affair where the war is battled mainly through words, scheming and big personalities but those used to the more action packed crime dramas, will probably be disappointed by how rare the action is.

And it isn't until the movie explodes into its first action scene, almost half way through the movie, only to end almost as quickly as it begins that you realise just how slow this movie has felt up until this point. A movie shouldn't kick into gear half way through, that is just wrong.

Luckily, when we do rarely move into an action scene, they are usually extremely well done, with each one being extremely memorable and worthwhile. One major villain is taken down through words - then murdered, while the other is caught in a huge and explosive fight sequence - but dies peacefully in a hospital bed. Creating fun contrasts between the two characterisations of the gangsters.

Plus, although this is a world where guns exist, the main weapons of choice are melee, like knives or golf clubs, because we all know an intense close quarters knife fight in an elevator, resulting in gratuitous (the good kind) bloodsprays up the walls is way cooler than any shoot out.

That is the thing about New World, it excels in the technical execution. You could argue that New World's look is as clichéd as its plot, and I would agree with you. But I actually don't mind movies using clichés for the sake of groundwork, so they can concentrate on fine tuning their movie to perfection. Many movies have wasted lots of potential focusing more on originality than making what they do have work.

New World is an insanely cool movie, with a beautiful neo noirish mise-en-scene, a cast of the kind of Korean faces which would look right in place in the middle of a Twilight movie all wrapped in a series of gorgeous suits and stylish haircuts, framed with cinematography which is so exquisite you could put any screen cap above your mantelpiece.

Then there is the acting, and the dialogue. The acting, and the writing, truly hits its best moments in the confrontation. There is that unique way gangster movies form conversations between enemies, masquerading their hatred behind false smiles, and idle chit chat, while somehow keeping the tension racked up to eleven while talking about the most inane things. So even a chat about the weather has your knuckles white. It's an art, and a brilliantly thrilling one. Where hierarchy can be defined simply in how people are placed in a space, or the way one character looks at another. It's just brilliant when they get it right and man do they get it right.

Another great aspect of the writing is the characterisation. Many characters initially seem like prisoners to their archetypal roles in these stories, but as the film progresses everyone grows to be so much more than they originally seem. Stand outs are definitely Oldboy's Choi Min-sik, playing a balls of steel cop with a skill for manipulation and scheming. Jeong-min Hwang's utter oddball come nutter of a gangster that he gets to chew on, who also turns out to be a total and utter badass when the time calls. And a bunch of red neck assassins. The acting is just stunning across the board.