Public Enemy (2002) Gonggongui jeog

Movie Rating NR Contains: Strong Language Violence Graphic Violence

Director: Kang Woo-suk Movie Genre: Action, Black Comedy Country: South Korea Public Enemy Score Card The following scores are based on a 0.0 to 10.0 rating scale Hover your mouse pointer over the name of each scoring category below for a description Direction: 7.0 Writing: 6.4 Acting: 7.2 Cinematography: 6.0 Sound and Score: 5.4 Functionality: 6.0 Presentation: 5.7 Genre Comparison: 6.8 General Comparison: 6.4 Overall: 6.3 Reviewed 2006-11-29 00:28:50

South Korean police drama, Public Enemy is a story about the unorthodox police officer, Kang Cheol-jung, and his struggle to put a wealthy, powerful killer behind bars. While staking out the crime scene of a case that has been unsolved for three years, Kang gets assaulted in a dark alley by a knife-wielding maniac. One week later, he finds out that an elderly couple was murdered in that same location and their son, Jo Kyu-hwan, looks a lot like his assailant. Since Jo Kyu-hwan is a well respected rich man, Kang has a hard time convincing everyone that Kyu-hwan is really a ruthless killer.

Sol Kyung-gu's portrayal of Detective Kang is commendable. This character is equal parts Martin Riggs, from Richard Donner's Lethal Weapon series, and Harry Callahan, from the Dirty Harry series. At first he seems like an incompetent cop, but as the movie progresses, we find out that although his methods get him into a lot of trouble, his detective skills are unmatched. Also, Kang's determination and perseverance are quite endearing and change his image from flunky cop to determined underdog in the eyes of the audience.

This movie also has a great deal of humorous moments. The humor as presented in Public Enemy is mainly slapstick and dark comedy. It seems that everybody is slapped in the head throughout the course of the movie. The police chief uses this technique to express his disgust with people. Also, Detective Kang humiliates criminals this way after beating them senseless. Kang also uses blackmail to employ the services of several petty criminals whenever necessary for him to work outside the law. Since these criminals are far from sophisticated, hilarity usually ensues.

The action scenes in this movie are just as well done as the comedic ones. There is a great deal of violence, but not so much that it seems gratuitous. The fight choreography was traditional but still quite effective. There are no high-flying martial arts sequences. Instead there is a lot of good old fashioned fisticuffs. Since Detective Kang's temper has a hair-trigger, the fight scenes are plentiful.

Public Enemy is a straightforward action-comedy. The acting is exceptional. The comedy is hilarious, and the action is exciting. This movie does little to escape the constraints of its genre, making it rather derivative. Even though Public Enemy brings nothing new to the table, it is still a well done, entertaining movie and worth recommending to fans of this genre.