Cold Eyes

I don't know if it's because I had high expectations, but I'm a little disappointed. The acting was excellent, but you kind of know that when you read the cast. Woo-seong Jeong was perfect as the villain. The fact that his character didn't say much made his charisma stand out even more. I like Hyo-joo Han above all for her versatility. Even though I've seen her in several movies and TV shows, every time I’ve felt like I was watching a new actress. She's just completely different every time. And thirdly, Kjong-gu Sol, who is good in films like this. Worse is the script, which I thought had some weak spots. Some of the scenes were unresolved, even silly. And at times, I had a hard time paying attention. As a whole, it's a slightly above average film that I may watch again once or twice. 3.5 stars. (08/11/2014)

Americans could learn a lot from their South Korean film counterparts, as such a sophisticated crime film focusing on a complicated case is rarely seen, especially from Hollywood filmmakers. I was struck by the film’s grounded approach; I’ve been accustomed to decent action sequences from Koreans for some time now (they sure know how to do those!), but here the creators played a completely different tune: a bit of an old-school style, where we see the police inching their way step-by-step towards solving a case of various institution heists. I enjoyed the fresh setting, and I also liked watching the types of high-tech gadgets that security personnel can encounter. As it progressed towards the end, the film started to build up enormous momentum, and I could only catch my breath and observe the events on screen. The ending was simply superb. Of course, not everyone likes Southeast Asian cinema, but within its genre, Cold Eyes is quite a strong above-average entry. So, I’d recommend giving it a chance. For me, it gets 81%. (04/08/2020)