Synopsis
Two reach men make a deadly proposition of a game to a youngster named Sean, who needs a lot of money for his sister in debt. In the proposed 12-hour murder game, a kind of hide-and-seek with London as a backdrop, the chasee can claim a handsome reward if he doesn’t get caught throughout the 12-hour period and if he does get caught, he will be killed. Sean finds himself unable to turn down the offer. A potpourri of the latest action film trends unfolding in metropolis, New Town Killers employs just about everything the audience is looking for in action thriller fare — the newest extreme sport yamakasi or free running, time constraints, good-versus-evil structure stemming from class differences, camera angle focused on the chasee, breathless action, etc. (You’ll instantaneously think of its predecessors showcasing suffocating horror in an anonymous space, aka a city, like Phone Booth, American Psycho, and Public Enemy.) An ordinary teenager Sean must be all eyes and ears, must not believe anyone. The speed-of-light pace, denying even the tiniest moment of humor, is the biggest strength of this film, reflecting the director’s sarcasm on the brutal, dark reality of a capitalist society with ruthlessness of the haves and terror of the have-nots. (CHOI Eun Yeong)