Tomb of the River (2021) Poster

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7/10
Korean Crime Noir At Its Best
tkdlifemagazine11 June 2022
Also known as Paid in Blood. Paid in Blood is Korean Crime Noir At It's Best. Paid in Blood is a gripping, violent piece of South Korean Crime Noir surrounding the power struggle between warring mobsters for control of a new Casino and hotel in South Korea.

This movie, like much of top notch Korean Cinema blurs the lines between what is conventionally considered good and evil. In Paid in Blood the majority of the characters are gangsters, but that doesn't make them inherently evil. In fact, the majority of the central characters are gangsters with a strong sense of loyalty and adherence to a code of conduct that prohibits the crossing of certain moral boundaries.

Director YOON Youngbin does an outstanding job creating an engaging and, sometimes, deeply moving film, whose characters are compelling and interesting. The cinematography, direction, and acting are first rate. The pacing and script bring to life this action-packed thriller.

While some of the lead characters are so definitively evil, and others good, they are crafted in a way that does not make them unrealistic to watch. YOO O-Seong and JANG Hyuk offer memorable performances with depth, range, and grit as the central adversaries in this thriller.

This film has many of the underlying themes that are prevalent in South Korean Cinema. It is also a high quality film that rivals anything Hollywood has produced.

This film is in Korean and subtitled in English.

I highly recommend this one. This may be one of the best films I have screened so far in 2022.
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4/10
cliche, formulaic and predictable
fluffset1 February 2022
If you have watch a ton of korean gangster movie, you can say that this one try nothing new at all. It is just similar movie with different cast. Too bad a lot of actor looks totally amateur, I dont know. Its okay to enjoy but its just cliche, formulaic and predictable.
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8/10
Pretty cool Korean gangster flick
JonanthanNewOrleans10 February 2022
Typical Korean gangster movie, with gangs, bosses, hustle, fights, stabbings, etc...

nothing fantastic or new but very enjoyable and entertaining

8/10.
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10/10
One of the masterpiece of classic Korean gangster films
theone-6943215 June 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Thankfully, I've been watched this movie many times through multiple channels.

My conclusion is that it deserved to be one of the masterpiece of classic Korean gangster films.

Each character has their own narrative and actor's emotional changes have been well described in detail scene by scene.

To be honest, I hardly noticed why Lee Min-seok killed so many people, but now I realized it's the only way he's known all his life.

And Kim Gil-seok was a gang leader who valued loyalty, it seemed to reflect the bitter reality that he had to follow changes as the times changed ruthless.

I love it.
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