Synopsis
This relentless Korean action-noir The Chaser evokes many dejavu moments -- the all-too-familiar bad guys vs. worse guys plot, the incompetent government and the prevalence of evil, the Seven-like momentum that drives the protagonist to the edge. But this story of a ex cop-turned-pimp fighting with a leisure serial killer in a metropolis is not one of those "have a great time, have some kick ass fun and catharsis" kind of action movies. It pushes the limit of the contemporary Korean collective consciousness smeared with rampant moral apathy, by provoking the animalistic rage, the basic instinct of self-protection, dormant in all of us. The question it raises is not an easy one to shake off. The climax highlights the physicality of the two male characters, a pair of "animals." Their bodies, their flesh, become tattered; their duel continues right till the moment of their last breaths. Their brutally disfigured faces flashing against the jet #999999 darkness are nothing but our own self-portraits, reflecting fall beyond redemption. (KIM Young Jin)