My wife is a gangster 3 (2006)

Country: South Korea

Language: Korean / Mandarin

Actors: Shu Qi, Lee Beom-Su

Director: Cho Jin-Gyu

Supposedly a sequel of My wife is a gangster 2, but has no relation or resemblance to the previous movies. Although not as boring as the 2nd installment, it tests your patience. And almost when it is running out comes one more action sequence and then you know that you are going to get salvation in the next few minutes. End of movie, the salvation we were waiting for follows quickly.

The movie travels across two countries, Hong Kong SAR & South Korea. A complex and confusing story which is only held together by the fight sequences and bloodshed.

The girl’s father is a Hong Kong gang lord. The girl end-up killing the rival boss and therefore is asked to leave the country till things cool down. She prefers to go to South Korea because that is where her estranged mother is. Then come some stupidly funny bits and some fight sequences in South Korea before the movie moves back to Hong Kong and ends.

The title is a bit of a stretch because the man doesn’t marry the gangster at all. In the last scene she accepts his proposal and they kiss and make-up and there is no marriage yet.

Three reasons why this movie fails

1. The wife is not a gangster: For there’s no wife in the first place

2. Except the action sequences there is nothing of any repute in this movie

3. Delete the action sequence away, this movie becomes a potential WMD (Weapon of mass destruction), you would be killed by boredom

The good points are the camera work (again in bits & pieces), the action scenes – if you are an action freak & some silly comedy (if you like those). Other than these there is nothing worth talking about.

My wife is a gangster II (2003)

Country: South Korea

Language: Korean

Actors: Shin Eun-Kyung, Park, Jun-Gyu, Jang Se-Jin & Zhang Ziyi (in a cameo)

Director: Jeong Heung-Sun

A sequel of the 2001 movie of the same name. In this the gang boss Eun-Jin is badly hurt in a fight and loses her memory. She is rescued by a guy who runs a small Chinese restaurant and then remains there as a delivery woman / chef till about 1 hr 20 min 20 sec into the movie (without regaining her memory of course).

In the interim without realizing who she is, she fights 3 armed robbers in a bank, get feted. And gets to become the president of a commercial district (where her Chinese restaurant is) which is threatened demolition by a rival gang to build a commercial complex. That is the time when the rival gang realize who she is and her own gang finds her.

Then comes the climax that lasts the next 20 mins of the movie. Here she regains her memory, fights her rivals to stamp her authority and then comes the unnecessary entry of Zhang Ziyi (why did the producer waste money on her ?) in the last scene. She is the boss of a Chinese gang who fight Eun-Jin’s gang. And only god & the director know what happened afterwards because they freeze in the air trying to attack each other when the closing title rolls.

Did they really need to make a sequel ? And that too with a new director and new writer ?

Giving it a miss will save you 2 beers (for another auspicious & useful occasion !!) and a headache.

PS: I fear of a terrible hangover when I move to “My wife is a gangster III”, god save me !!

My wife is a gangster (2001)

Country: South Korea

Language: Korean

Actors: Shin Eun-Kyung, Park Sang-Myeon, Ahn Jae-Mo, Kim In-Kwon

Director: Cho Jin-Gyu

This is the story of a young underworld bosswoman who gets married to satisfy her dying sister. Good masala watch, but you would be disappointed if you are expecting to see blood & gore that are standards of a gangster movie. That said, this movie has some good action the most notable being the fight in the climax.

This movie has all ingredients to become a successful Tamil / Hindi movie. The one thing you need to add is the song & dance routine. The boss is a woman and therefore we can have the in-thing, a male item number. The underworld boss then marries and goes for a honeymoon, so you have the opportunity for that dream sequence in a foreign location. Plus numerous other situations to add some more songs and dance.

Ctrl C + Ctrl V, you have a lovely commercial Tamil / Hindi flick.

Overall this is a masala entertainer you can sit through

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002)

Korean by Park Chan-wook.

You might have seen violence in films, in this one the director goes a step ahead.

He gives you some film (very little...) between violence

Oldboy (2003)

Korean by Park Chan-wook won Grand Prix at Cannes 2004. Brace yourself for a well made blood & gore movie