The chaser review

Its Korean film time again and this time its a movie from first time director Na Hong-Jin and from my point of view, what a directorial début it is. This has to be the most exciting foreign film I have seen. During the entire film I was on the edge of my seat with a white knuckle grip and my adrenalin was pumping overtime. When it was over I was thoroughly drained. It is hard for me to remember when last a movie made me feel that way but it was a good feeling...made me feel like I was competing in school again. The chase scenes made me feel claustrophobic as they were set in narrow residential streets but were on foot. The constant rain in the movie reminded me of “se7en” and in a similar vein it contributes to the tension of the climax rising to almost unbearable levels. The performances are superb from all actors especially from the actor that portrays the sociopath giving a truly chilling performance. Having done a little research on this film; I came across notes that say that there was a similar crime like this in Korea and there are confirmed rumours of a remake by Hollywood which in my opinion will not be as good and will totally screw up the ending. All in all this is an excellent dark crime thriller and the suspense is equal to any Hitchcock film. If you do decide to watch this, my advice would be to bring a few energy bars.