
Detective Han (JUNG Woo-sung), who for years has been secretly doing dirty work for the corrupt mayor Park Sungbae (HWANG Jung-min), is now pressured by a ruthless prosecutor Kim Cha-in (KWAK Do-won) to cooperate in an investigation against the mayor. Feeling trapped, Han persuades his young partner Sunmo (JU Ji-hoon) to take over his work for the mayor, but things start to get tangled in unpredictable ways. As things are getting worse, only the most evil survives in this dog... (Full plot summary below)
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Detective Han (JUNG Woo-sung), who for years has been secretly doing dirty work for the corrupt mayor Park Sungbae (HWANG Jung-min), is now pressured by a ruthless prosecutor Kim Cha-in (KWAK Do-won) to cooperate in an investigation against the mayor. Feeling trapped, Han persuades his young partner Sunmo (JU Ji-hoon) to take over his work for the mayor, but things start to get tangled in unpredictable ways. As things are getting worse, only the most evil survives in this dog-eat-dog world.
Leave your thoughts about Asura: The City of Madness.
| New York TimesBen KenigsbergAs the suspense slackens and blood starts spilling nearly to the point of self-parody, it almost seems designed as a test of mettle — for both the filmmakers and the audience. |
| RogerEbert.comPeter SobczynskiThis decidedly dark and super-violent South Korean crime drama from Kim Sung-su tells a tale so jam-packed with betrayals, double-crosses and alleged authority figures that even the most dedicated of genre buffs may find it too unrelentingly grim and cynical for their tastes. |
| The PlaylistBradley WarrenAn above average, carnage-driven Korean crime drama. |
| Los Angeles TimesNoel MurrayThough the plot’s too convoluted, the relentless pace and pungent atmosphere elevate the film above the typical grim crime stories soaked in blood and despair. |
| Village VoiceSimon AbramsWinningly over-the-top Korean gangster drama Asura: The City of Madness is what you'd get if you combined The Wire with a really good soap opera. |
| Film Journal InternationalDaniel EaganStylish if derivative, it's bloody enough for action fans, and moody enough for niche venues. |
| The Hollywood ReporterJustin LoweFight scenes are staged with brutal directness and relentless energy in an interminable series of beatings, shootings and more creatively inspired assaults. |
| Projected FiguresAnton BitelKim Sung-su may be offering us a thrilling - and masterfully directed - ride, its punishing toll measurable in the bruises and scars that accumulate on [protagonist] Han's face, but the writer/director's intentions are also sociological. |
| South China Morning PostJames MarshA relentless 136-minute tirade of shouting, slapping, shooting and stabbing. |
| User Reviewjane kASURA already has a clear theme in the title of the film. Asura connotes that it is a quarrelsome ghost. So all the characters in the movie are really bad. The movie depicts the gruesome battle of the wicked. ASURA is a film aimed at pure violence. In one word, everybody in this movie is wielding meaningless violence. And it is a very violent film unlike most Korean films. It was impressive to see the characters run towards the end of the violence without any purpose. Also, the car chasing scenes are comparable to those of any previous Korean movie. Since the shooting technique featured in this scene was very unique and attractive, I couldn't take my eyes off it. Anyway if you crave innocent violence or murder, please watch ASURA. You won't regret it. |