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The Gangster, The Cop, and The Devil is a South Korean crime action film starring Ma Dong-seok, the actor who plays the role of Gilgamesh in the 4th phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film, The Eternals.
In this film, Ma Dong-seok plays the leader of a gangster group named Jang Dong-Soo. He then collided with other actors such as Kim Mu-yeol as a policeman, Jung Tae-suk, and Kim Sung-kyu, who became Kang Kyung-ho, a serial killer. Here is the synopsis and review!
Synopsis
A man found dead under mysterious circumstances. The policeman named Jung Tae-suk then came to the crime scene (TKP) to investigate the incident. After seeing the way the man died, Tae-suk assumes that this is something a serial killer often does.
Elsewhere, a gangster leader named Jang Dong-soo is on his way home. Suddenly, the mysterious figure of the serial killer tries to kill him. Dong-soo then gets out of the car and comes face-to-face with him. Despite having a bigger body, Dong-soo received a pretty bad fight wound. But the serial killer managed to escape.
While he is in the hospital recovering, his men tell him that it is possible the attack could have carried out by a rival gang. However, Dong-soo doesn’t want to jump to conclusions because the culprit is not a skilled fighter and he attacked very recklessly.
Upon hearing the news of the attack, Tae-suk visits Dong-soo in the hospital and asks him to cooperate so they can find the culprit together. Tae-suk’s invitation rejected by him. Dong-soo immediately ordered his men to find the killer.
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Dong-soo changes his mind.
After finding evidence, Dong-soo begins to have second thoughts and tells Tae-suk to cooperate. However, their real goal is to find the perpetrator in reverse. Dong-soo actually wants to kill him for revenge, while Tae-suk wants to catch him as a condition for him to promoted to the police force.
The actions of the two of them to catch the serial killer, later known as Kang Kyung-ho, were not as easy as they thought. During his search, Dong-soo must face challenges from a rival gang.
Meanwhile, Tae-suk struggles with his own ego to get promoted to a higher position. They are also involved with their respective egos when the serial killer continues to carry out his cruel acts.
Quite Exciting, Although Less Evil
In The Gangster, The Cop, and The Devil, Dong-seok throws himself into a thriller with the themes of gangs of monkeys and sadistic serial killers. Even though it still feels like Korean gangster films in general, this film at least has a more promising storyline because it is based on true events that once existed.
The gangster, the cop, and the devil are full of unpredictable moral ambiguity. This film blurs a lot of lines between which characters should be good and evil. Then, the script written by the director himself, Lee Won-tae, packaged quite efficiently by presenting various twists and turns along the storyline to get to a fairly satisfying ending.
For the characters themselves, the investigation conducted by Jang Dong-soo (Ma Dong-seok) and Jung Tae-suk (Kim Mu-yeol) seems simple. Some investigations to find evidence of a serial killer are coincidental and too random.
However, Lee Won-tae included several subplots to make the atmosphere more tense, which revolved around Jang Dong-soo’s troubles with a rival gang as well as Jung Tae-suk’s conflict at work within the police.
Meanwhile, there are many action sequences that make this film still feel awesome and have high appeal. In less than two hours, The Gangster, The Cop, and The Devil offers several scenes of mass fights that are quite exciting and chaotic.
All action scenes well choreographed and handled nicely by the cast. Even though this film carries the theme of serial killers and gangsters, The Gangster, The Cop, and the Devil doesn’t feel bad at all. The bloody murder scene is not as sharp as imagined.
The Significant Presence of Ma Dong-seok
The Gangster, the Cop, and the Devil is a visually impressive cinematographic film, although it has a very similar appearance to most other Korean gangster films. This film still carries a fairly dark noir style and always presents a cliche depiction of gangster groups, to the familiar atmosphere of a police station.
Meanwhile, Ma Dong-seok as Jang Dong-soo still looks perfect in his character’s role. He made Jang’s character a villain who can liked at times, but on the other hand, his character can’t sympathetic at all.
Dong-seok easily steals every scene he appears in and makes this film way more enjoyable than it could have been. Dong-seok must recognized for dominating the films The Gangster, The Cop, and The Devil and leaving Kim Mu-yeol (Jung Tae-suk) and Kim Sung-kyu (Kang Kyung-ho) in the shadow of the characters he plays.
However, the two actors played their characters very well and really made the atmosphere of the storyline even more complex and full of tension.
Dong-seok’s presence in the end managed to provide a much better allure for this film. This makes The Gangster, The Cop, and The Devil feel significant among the Korean gangster genre films that already crowded in the film industry. Without leaving aside the other players who play solidly, the figure of Dong-seok must recognized as the “prim donna” in the entire storyline.
Films that are able to appear energetic until the end
As a film with the theme of gangsters, crime, and murder, this film is able to appear quite energetic in all parts of the story. The Gangster, the Cop, and the Devil has become a fast-paced, entertaining thriller film that is also supported by quality main actors. The chemistry between Ma Dong-seok and Kim Mu-yeol feels quite strong as two opposite people.
Both of them have their own goals against the serial killer, and they also have their own problems, which make things even more complicated. The potential of the two characters in this film looks very enjoyable, and the moral ambiguity between the characters they play is displayed beautifully.
The Gangster, the Cop, and the Devil begins with a wild, chaotic, and suspenseful approach. This film also ends in a way that is quite satisfying. His two characters, Jang Dong-soo and Jung Tae-suk, manage to get what they want towards their respective goals.
In short, this film still feels tense and full of interesting and unexpected things in the world of crime. The Gangster, The Cop, and The Devil is one of Ma Dong-seok’s films that is worth watching and certainly can’t be missed by fans of the 50-year-old actor. Enjoy watching!
