The Lineage Here Is Not Important
The importance of police and detective show is the motivation behind the character. That is one of the reason people watch this genre and for me 'The Policeman's Lineage' failed on that part. They didn't show much character introduction scene so the pacing on the first half of the movie was too fast and that made the rest duration a bit dragging.I wished they included more of Choi Min Jae and Park Kang Yoon's backstory from the start, so viewer could relate to their character gradually. Why Min Jae chose to spy on Park Kang Yoon? Why he prioritized on being a good cop? Why Kang Yoon justified every way to get his goal?
You don't have to worry about acting. They casted amazing actors, especially Jo Jin Woong. He is famous for playing detective character and you can trust him on that. My issue here is Choi Woo Shik. First of all, I am a big fan of him and I follow every of his work. But I don't think he suits this detective role OR his character's writing affect his acting here in this movie. The rest supporting casts are excellent on their part.
I didn't expect much from this movie so I didn't get that disappointed. There is no remarkable scene or character and I don't get attached to neither the heroine or villain. They have this 'Lineage' concept but they don't really focus on that. I think 'The Policeman's Lineage' will be better as drama than movie, where they can give every side's perspective more screentime.
Is it a good movie? Good acting yes, good story? No. It is a bit boring for mystery crime genre and there is no thrilling exciting moment for me since the beginning to ending. Watch it when you have nothing to watch anymore.
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Simple and humble movie
Kyu-Man Lee directed The Policeman's Lineage, which stars Choi Woo-Shik, Cho Jin-Woong, Park Hee Soon, Kwon Yul, and others. The story follows a by-the-book police officer, Choi, played by Choi Woo-Shik, assigned to secretly investigate a team leader, Park (Cho Jin-Woong), who believes that the rules shouldn’t stop an investigation. As he investigates the officer further, he grows closer to him and starts questioning what to believe.The film was, at best, generic. It had some good parts to it, but ultimately, the bad parts just overshadowed the good ones. Now, for the good parts...
》The Good《
☆1. Cho Jin-Woong Giving His Best
This film would have been dreadful if Cho Jin-Woong had not given a strong performance as the leader of a team of investigators. The film presents itself with two lead characters, the first whom played by Choi Woo-Shik, who was okay at moments and bad at others, but Jin-Woong, on the other hand, was consistent and solid throughout. Whenever he was onscreen, the scene instantly got better. His efforts were reflected in the script as well. While other characters were just generic police officers, they crafted his character brilliantly and made him intrigue to go along with his performance. And he was committed to the role. He gave his best to make you like, hate, and feel sympathy for him all in one film.
☆2. Solid Idea for A Film
It must be difficult to come up with a new premise for a film about cops, criminals, corruption, or any other topic relating to law enforcement. However, the screenplay writers for this film managed to find one. Focusing on the donations and funds South Korean police officers receive from sponsorship and how they have been used for and not for the purpose of investigation was quite unique. If only it were executed well enough. Speaking of executions...
》The Bad《
☆1. Muddled Execution
A solid idea comes to nothing if isn’t carried out well. For some unknown reason, the filmmaker did a poor job of delivering the message of the film. The message and the premise were there to be seen. It was obvious, but they decided to dance around it and added scenes that just don’t add anything to the overall story. The film should have been 30 minutes shorter as the story itself demanded such a runtime. But the filmmaker decided to make a 2-hour film, and to make it even worse, those 2-hours wasn’t even filled with moments of side characters development. A chunk of scenes from the film felt long and not needed and that muddled the execution of a solid idea.
☆2. Just A Blend World
If you have ever seen any police centric film from South Korea, then you have seen this film. Besides its strong core idea, the rest of the film was mediocre. The world presented to us was dull and uninteresting. On top of that, you have several police officers’ characters that are just so shallow and don’t bring anything to the film. Even the score was forgettable. The action was poorly crafted and shot. Basically, nothing about this film, other than the story itself and one good performance, was outstanding. This was saddening to watch, as it makes the film feel cheap despite the budget it might have had, considering the blatant product placement shown throughout the film. In general, the film had this blended way of presentation.
☆3. Who was The Villain?
In any film ever made, there will always be a villain or an antagonist to spoil the hero’s plan. This film sort of has a villain in Na Young-bin, played by Kwon Yul. He did his best to bring the character to life, but the script department let him down. The character was just there to fill in a check mark that a police-centric film needs a drug kingpin to be taken down. Indeed, you can’t write a perfect villain for every film. But all you needed to do was make him an obstacle for our heroes to overcome. The more difficulty the heroes face, the more likable they become. If that is not an option, then make us hate him with despicable actions and decisions so we can like the heroes who come in and try to stop him. Instead, we get a one-dimensional villain. Sure, the film tried to present the idea of whether the police are really the heroes in the story when they themselves use questionable methods to prevent crimes, but even that part was poorly executed. All the audience that would be left after watching this film would be someone they could truly hate and feel happy about seeing them receive their comeuppance.
》Overall Thoughts《
As mentioned earlier, you will forgot you have ever watched this film once the end of the year came. Despite a solid performance from one of the actors and a solid idea, the poor execution and poor writing resulted in a mediocre and forgettable film.
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wow that was unnecessary and very long for no reason
I really thought I was too harsh on the movie when I watched for the first time so today I gave it another chance to maybe to prove to myself that I was very uncharitable with my one star rating but as always I was right and my rating has changed to .5 star, and if there are negative rating on mdl, I will give it allmy problem is that the editing was so fucking terrible that I keep rewarding back to try and failing to understand wtf is the chain of events but it's was a waste of my time and I don't mind a minimum plot when I watch or read anything cuz I'm character driven type person and in the department of development of them it was bleh these movie remained me of the river of the tomb that movie was also a drag and a chore to finish I should have avoided it cuz who is the person who did the poster it's so busy and unremarkable
I started watching back because I saw the pictures of
kwon yool character sitting there with his tits out, and it's a couple of seconds . Even after seeing them, the rest of the movie worked so hard to ruin my mood 🙃
so yeah, I don't recommend it .
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A film noir conveying an unclear and grey message
This police movie is quite classic in the topics it approaches: corruption in the police force, undercover investigations, drug crimes,...Its plot does not stand out among the existing movies in that genre and suffers from some pacing issues.The main default of the film is the grey message that it is conveying. The ending was quite unsatisfactory to me, as I'm left to wonder what was the morale of the show. A story does not always require to have deep meaning but as the characters were almost having philosophical discussion on what being in the police workforce entails, the conclusion felts a bit like a cop-out.
The main cast (-an entirely masculine one with a lot of veterans) deliver solid performances. The relationship between the two leads is incredibly well depicted, making us doubts a lot the intentions of the characters. I wish the story had offered even more options to the actors to act their hearts out, because I'm sure they can show even more than what they did with the material given.
The film-making and directing are strong. There is clearly a "film noir" aspiration in the aesthetics and storytelling of the movie making some of the scenes really appealing to the viewer's eyes. On another side, the OST did not stand out to me.
I would recommend this to people loving Choi Woo Shik or Jo Jin Woong and/or who are looking for a police movie with high production value. It is still a pretty flawed picture in terms of story, pacing and ending, so you will not miss much skipping this one out.
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