Nae-ga sal-in-beom-i-da (2012) Online

A good South Korean thriller with a fantastic premise, but ultimately brought down by its over-the-top action sequences. Its really too bad the director though the movie needed more 'action scenes', when the suspense and storyline provides more than ample amount of excitement! South Korea is proving to be one of the most exciting filmmakers in the world, but this entry just barely lives up to that title. There are FAR more exciting and well put together SK movies out there, such as, 'Oldboy', 'Memories of Murder', 'Mother', 'I Saw The Devil', and quite a bit more.

Full Review at: www.simplefilmreviews.com/2014/05/confession-of-murder-2012.html

In Korea, the serial-killer Lee Du-sok (Shi-hoo Park) has killed ten women and there is another one missing that the police department believes he is the responsible for her disappearance. After fifteen years, the statute of limitation expires on his last murder and Lee Du- sok publishes a book describing each murder in details. Detective Choi (Jae-yeong Jeong), who was in charge of the investigation of all the ten murders, chases Lee Du-sok and challenges him to tell where the eleventh victim is. Meanwhile, Han Ji-Soo (Young-Ae Kim), who is the mother of his last victim, seeks revenge with her family and friends. The owner of a sensationalist television network invites Lee Du-sok and Detective Choi for a debate live. Out of the blue, a man with the alias "J" calls the TV during the debate and tells that he is the real killer and Lee Du-sok is a fraud. Who should be the real killer?

"Nae-ga sal-in-beom-i-da", a.k.a. "Confession of Murder", is an engaging South-Korean thriller with a great story. The performances are top-notch but the main twist is predictable and explains the behavior of Choi, despite surprising many viewers. There is also a criticism to the behavior of the media and public in general, worshipping a serial- killer because he is handsome. The only remark is the excessive and exaggerated action scenes; however they are part of the entertainment. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Confissão de Assassinato" ("Confession of Murder")

This movie was a strange mix of cartoon-funny, thriller, noir and drama, all packed in an adventure.

There are some twists you don't see coming, and when they do, they come down pouring. Some may find them predictable but considering the pacing of the movie I do not deem most of them predictable, except the first one, and this is not actually good all because of timing. Since I do not intend to share any spoiler here, it will be hard for me to explain my point of view, but I will give it a try: The movie twist-bombs you during a single scene of confrontation up until which you had time to dwell on possibilities but wouldn't, in my case at least, because I was too busy savoring the rich performances, an already gruesome and captivating story, and even if I saw a twist coming and try to wrap my head around it, it was hard for me to let the next twist sink in amid all the empathy the story and some of the performances forced me to experience. The shockers in this movie are serious in content and this crowd of twists causes a desensitization in the viewer that doesn't let the whole thing sink in. Where there could be a punch, these are like successive little slaps in your face.

I find the cartoonishly unrealistic scenes in the movie to be a treat. It was nice to watch but it also had a function: it gave a glimpse of the new characters that were introduced, the way a caricature does.

The social commentary is where the perfectly executed noir steps in. A great satire to public perception of psychopathy and how it is engineered by media. Might give some insight to those clueless people out there who haven't yet realized how we transitioned from denouncing behavior that exudes lack of empathy to glamorizing it, condoning the criminals it breeds, because, you know as well as I do how much we are attracted to people in Wall Street as they speculate and kill our future with a single phone call because of all that sexy hair and slick outfit and their "intelligence". Well, there is no "high functioning" psycho in the movie, but the commentary nails it nonetheless.

It is the pacing of the later twists with respect to twist content that led me to give this one an 7. The punch vs slap thing, in other words.

It is a great thriller tainted with abundance of stuff at the cost of more important stuff. The actors in this movie did a great job and character development could have been much better had the script allowed room for it. Come to think of it, this movie should have been at least half an hour longer. As it is, it feels like they crammed it all in 1.5 hour so as not to cut it short.

If you are binge thriller watchers, watch this one. It is a nice Korean thriller by all means. If you look for more in a movie, then I think it is still worth to give a shot. My guess is that you will be both delighted and disappointed but you will be nowhere near "what did I just watch?". No. This one's better than that.

I don't know exactly where to start. What I do know, is that the movie is incredible! Korean cinema has brought a lot of talent forward and they have made some incredible movies over the last 10-20 years. This just continues in that same line. Don't get me wrong, not every movie from Korea is phenomenal. But this one (that will clearly get a US remake sometime soon) has to be in the category of the great ones.

I don't want to spoil too much (the title does give you a hint, where this movie is taking you), but you will get more than just a question about morality here. There's also entertainment and suspense and a subplot that works pretty well. You might not understand some character motivations while watching it, but you will get it eventually.

I guess there is only one minor thing that you might be able to complain about. It's the fact that the movie could have ended a bit earlier. It seems that they "stretched" the ending. I still liked it, but I can see why people would have wanted it to end 10-15 minutes earlier, when "all is said and done" (though as it turns out, not everything had been done)

The latest Korean action-thriller to hit theatres in Singapore, 'Confession of Murder' is a gem of a film that can be compared to the likes of 'Old Boy' and 'Memories of Murder'.

At the heart of this movie is the tale of Detective Choi, whose quest is to capture the one thing that evades him. It's a very human resolve and one that is particularly relatable to the people of our time. We're not all cops searching for a suspect, but very much like Detective Choi, we have that one answer that we seek our entire lives and work hard to find out. The prevalence and influence of the media, plastic surgery, as well as blind devotion to a public figure have all been gracefully written into the script, and so surrounding that story is a context so rooted in reality that it could very well be our own daily lives.

The performances in this film are truly commendable, particularly those of the stuntmen for the deadly accurate execution of the stunts. In particular, the main actors brilliantly brought in the subtle aspects of their characters, in order to bring humanity to a larger-than life drama, effectively giving a hook for the audience to relate to the movie on a deeper level.

There is also dark humor in the movie, which brings some levity into an otherwise dark world that the audience becomes immersed in. One almost feels guilty for laughing, which is a testament to the irony of the humor. What makes the situation on screen so humorous is how exceedingly close it is to what would happen if such a thing were to take place in real-life. Such a thing is almost never portrayed in films for the sake of cinematic impact- but by doing the opposite, 'Confession of Murder' turns itself into almost a satire and criticism of popular culture.

This is one film that defines 'order in chaos' and does so with a great deal of style. The makers of it have taken a complex plot and planned it out with such precision that even to the non-Korean speaking viewer, the story being told is clear and concise. There is no beating around the bush with this film. The pacing is just right such that Confession of Murder never loses the audience's attention, and even at the most tumultuous times of this film (such as one of the many fast-paced dialogue exchanges), details are never lost. Even the action sequences have been tightly-choreographed in order to mould into the complex camera-work and it shows on screen as a beautiful and graceful wedding of skills from both cast and crew.

The twist at the end is also a reminder of what great cinema is and is capable of doing, i.e. shocking the audience by leaving out one aspect of the story and then revealing it at the end only to change the audience's entire perspective of what has happened all along. It is making the audience feel like they should have known better. It also proves the uncomfortable truth that we are capable of being fooled, and that reality as we perceive it is often imperfect.

In this film, the peripeteia then leads to a startling climax which fulfils the purpose of every character in this film before moving down into a resolution which leaves no loose ends untied. Indeed, 'Confession of Murder' is a film indeed worth watching and a tale highly relevant to our celebrity-obsessed times.

The bad: Really highly improbable car stunt and other action scenes that had the likelihood and ludicrousness of comic book writing. People jumping from rooftops; out of moving vehicles onto hospital gurneys or tops of other cars while fighting as if no more dangerous than on a kitchen table top, etc. I wasn't sure if it was meant to be spoofing movies that go cheaply overboard in that direction, or not. Decided not, that they were serious. A sadly laughable distraction that lessened the intelligence of the storyline. The good: As others will state it has a novel crime thriller twist and turn structure not seen elsewhere. Kudos for that.

Overall score = 6.

There are no lack of examples when it comes to very sterling specimens of solid psychological crime thrillers to come out of South Korean cinema in recent years, and it's no different that Confession of Murder also belongs up there with one of the best the country has to offer in the genre. Written and directed by Jung Byoung-Gil, whose earlier film was the documentary Action Boys, he has shown that he's not all just about action, but has the knack in crafting a taut thriller with its fair share of twists, turns, and more importantly, providing it with such a tormented soul that will allow you to feel sympathetic for the victims involved, and root for retribution on the culprit. If that can be found out.

At first glance, the story seems simple enough, with Detective Choi Hyung-Goo (Jung Jae- Young) losing his opportunity to nab a masked serial killer who had claimed more than 10 victims in a random killing spree, with that obsession spiralling his life downwards with the ultimate insult added to injury when his mouth got slit by the killer's knife, leaving a deep scar he bears as a symbol to his failure. Fast forward to some 15 years, and with the Statute of Limitations expired, Lee Doo-Suk (Park Si-Hoo) comes out in the open to admit he is the killer responsible for the spate of deaths, and now releasing a book as a memoir and confession to his dastardly deeds. A little bit of an artistic license here I believe, since the Statute of Limitations is only for civil cases and not criminal ones like this, but let's not quibble and accept that it does pose an intriguing proposition, something like double jeopardy.

So begins the cat and mouse chase of trying to prove, or disprove that Lee was indeed that man more than a decade ago who had shattered the lives of many family members with his killings, and now arrogantly living the high life of a celebrity, no thanks to celebrity culture that we cannot understand fully, where cult followings grow out of the most bizarre of situations, and those who are good looking are automatically assumed improbable to doing the most wicked of deeds. With bodyguards in tow and the law shackled by its own statutes, there is little that Detective Choi can do except to sit back and witness media adoration, and rocket sales of a book that shouldn't have been published in the first place.

Similar to Park Chan Wook's Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, the events that unfold her include that of the impact to family, and how family decide to take it upon themselves in vigilante style to execute their brand of justice when the law gets paralyzed. In between the more emotional, dramatic moments where their pain get experienced with Lee's sheer audacity of a public appearance and confession, director Jung felt it was perhaps appropriate to inject extremely light comedy to diffuse heavier moments that were dangerously close to stagnating the narrative, with a wee bit of action for good measure as well. Something's not quite right, and there's more than meets the eye of course, when yet another man comes out to claim notoriety and responsibility to the serial killings, throwing everything you'd assume into disarray.

Which is a good thing of course, especially for the jaded amongst us who constantly think we have seen it all. What the story, also by Jung, did was not only to lapse into providing red herrings that were obvious, but to really invest an audience's time and emotions into the story. We learn about a select group of victims, and how their unnatural passing causes inexplicable pain to their closest ones, and the brilliance here is to make it really personal as well for Detective Choi, with vested interest to want to bring the murderer to justice, yet hampered by the same law he is sworn to uphold as an officer.

This primary dilemma, plus what I thought was the ultimate twist, followed by the obligatory finale pursuit, and emotional closure, was what made Confession of Murder a carefully thought out crime thriller, in a genre that's becoming increasingly challenging to have novelty and originality, but Jung showed there's still substance in the tank on top of having very polished and stylish production values rewarding the patient audience. Having the right cast was also half the battle won, with Jung Jae-Young as the detective and Park Si-Hoo the confessor sharing good chemistry opposite each other in this high stakes cat and mouse game. A definite recommendation!

Featuring an intriguing premise, cleverly plotted for the most part & portraying a very unsettling side of society, Confession of Murder is another impressive outing from South Korean cinema that continues the Asian film industry's trend of delivering one solid revenge thriller after another without showing any signs of fatigue and even though it's not amongst the finest examples of its genre, it's a good one nonetheless.

The story of Confession of Murder concerns a police detective who is haunted by his failure to capture a serial-killer 15 years ago when, after the expiration of statute of limitations, the killer publishes an autobiography describing each one of his murders in gruesome detail through which he claims of repentance for his crimes. But his authenticity is soon questioned when another person claiming to be the real killer turns up.

Directed by Jung Byung-gil, this is his mainstream feature film debut & even though the story suffers from few scenes that are far too outstretched or predictable, it's a solid start to his mainstream career. Screenplay is another fine aspect as the twists are nicely timed & events unfold in a steady manner, camera-work shows a dynamic range from frequently edited cuts to lingering shots & music also has a nice vibe to it.

The performances are good with both lead actors constantly challenging each other but the one problem I have is with some sequences that seem unnecessarily exaggerated, not to mention the CGI elements which look mind-numbingly horrible. Yet, the best part is the society it portrays where the supposed serial killer becomes a media sensation due to his good looks & gets his own fan following despite the unforgivable acts he committed.

On an overall scale, Confession of Murder might be predictable despite its twists n turns and isn't further helped by its non-linear narration which doesn't contributing much to the cinematic experience anyway but it's another fine addition to the long list of dark thrillers South Korea has been churning out since the dawn of the new century. It is no masterpiece, not even close to one, but the final ride still feels more satisfying than a mere disappointment.

I can't tell anything from the movie, because everything would be spoiler. I was just amazed by the feeling of this movie.

It's a little bit faster, has more action involved, than most of the slow Korean thrillers. Maybe there is a little bit of Hollywood in it. The storyline is just amazing, the only bad things are some illogical, meaningless action scene, but I couldn't give other then 10 points because of that. I will be interested in the rating of this film, after hitting the theaters...

I recommend this to everyone, who likes original, interesting situations and story, and wicked twists.

This is actually a really good thriller, mainly because of the creative twist near the end. But even the build up is nicely done. Korea has this law where if they can't solve a case for 15yrs they dismiss it. And even if the person that committed certain crimes is revealed, the authority can't do anything about it. In Korea they changed the law to more then 15yrs. But anyways it's about what if that person that committed a atrocious crime such as murder reveals himself to the public. And a cop is right on his tail to get even with the guy, because he has a major beef with the culprit. I thought it was going to go in that "Law Abiding Citizen" sort of direction but am glad that it's actually far from it. It does have some goofy scenes that takes away from the seriousness. But it doesn't take away from the movie as a whole much. Park Si-hoo is just excellent playing the role of the murderer, especially because of his soft and gentle-spoken voice and his taunting smile. But currently he is in a very bad situation for himself in real life which will tarnish his reputation and probably even destroy his career.

7.8/10

I've said it countless times, the quality of Movies coming out of South Korea is incredible.

This movie is one of my favorites.

Firstly, I love Jae-yeong Jeong in this. All the acting is brilliant, all the characters are great.

Secondly, I love the pace of this movie. The speed is great. Even though maybe a little improbable the action scenes really liven the movie up.

Thirdly, the ending.

This is a great movie. If you love South Korean movies, why have you not seen this one. If you have not seen any South Korean movies then start watching South Korean movies and start off with this one.

First 10 minutes.

I feel shocked because this movie started spontaneously with action, which it is too cool and make all audiences mute while their eyes watching all the movement carefully. One thing popped up in my mind, ''This is what I want, not some talking mouth before action but this is it!''.

In the middle of nowhere.

After that, the momentum down, really really down just after the moment of the confession. All cliché from everyday korean movie come, flamboyant power rangers action, illogically scene such as empty traffic in the middle of the day of the busily korean city, unnecessary temper, unfunny comedy. At this part, all things move too fast as rushing, if they slow it down it will be better and not to ruin the audience's mood. But must be careful because many hint showed.

Last 40 minutes.

When my mood keep going down, it grab its momentum back with a really really good twist that's unthinkable and unpredictable. The momentum rise back and make all the audience cannot leave their seat, ever to yawn. If I'm the president of south Korea I will just change the law and catch the murderer if he just confess like that. But I'm not korean so I don't know their law. However, in this part all my curiosity answered and prevent me from going to give this movie such a low rate. This is a not a good movie but enjoyable and can satisfy all the action-packed-thriller lover. Try this!

This is one of the best thrillers I've seen in a really long time. I Loved it. I've seen some reviews saying that it was over acted and unbelievable stunts performed but I honestly thought the acting and stunts were on point. They were intended to convey the irrationality of wanting and trying to do anything to get the revenge. Not only that though. It was even more irrational due to the statute of limitation being up and the inability to ever have justice unless they got it themselves. My only complaint is that I wish they would've discussed what the victims had gone through. It would've help in understanding the rage that the loved ones were feeling.

Wow, impressive opening scene. The film is so well made and with the serious plot, it is a pity some of the scenes were made as comical as they did. The comic relief seemed completely out of place for this type of film. Thankfully, they abandon this during the second half of the film. After the halfway mark, we're hit with twist upon twist - and its both fascinating and shocking. Shi-hoo Park was excellent in his role. Notably, Yeong-ae Kim was also excellent as Victim's Mom.

When the big reveal comes about who really wrote the book, a lot doesn't really add up and some of the character's actions are questionable, but that aside, this was one of the most intriguing Korean films I've seen. The action scenes are so well made, it feels as if you're part of the action. The film's final moments are indeed a heart pounding adrenaline rush.

Don't watch the trailer, go in blind. That's my advice before seeing this movie. I can't explain the plot, it will ruin the movie.

It's a great thriller in my opinion, where it falls short is the forced and Hollywood-esque action scenes, there is no need for them and they feel out of place.

I would have given this movie a higher score if the director had pulled back on the action scenes, the story and the characters are great. I really enjoyed this movie overall. It's a thriller that needs to be seen!

This definitely reeks of OJ, but is so much more entertaining.

Is there seriously a Statute of Limitations in Korea (or anywhere, that is) which allows people to confess their crimes after a certain amount of time with no repercussions? Okay, #1, real or not, you'll have to buy that to watch this movie and #2, I'm on the next flight there.

Well, once again, Internet Channel and Horror-Wannabe-One-Stop Shudder led me to believe this was horror. Perhaps their purchase negotiator saw "Murder" in the title and snatched this up without reading a single synopsis. This is not horror. BUT, it is a REALLY good movie.

It's more action, comedy and mystery. It's also one of the most original movies I've seen recently. Man those Asians, specifically, in this case, Koreans, know real storytelling. That Asian market of films is making me completely turn my back on my own country. While our country is focused on bucks from remakes, reboots, caving in and shameless knockoffs for even more money, Asians are making Art.

I digress...Confession of Murder is a delightful revenge thriller with a ton of action, comedy and heart. It's brilliant with its twists and turns and red herrings - only these are for the plot and not characters. You truly think it's going one way, and a sharp left makes you humble.

I clicked on this movie with the simple icon of the movie poster with two Korean men and the title. It was a part of my Shudder subscription, so as a fan of horror, I obliged. So, when I offer the synopsis, I want to be as simple as possible so you can enjoy this roller coaster of great storytelling as I did.

The movie begins with an incredible chase scene in the rain from an obvious cop and a more obvious intelligent bad guy. No spoilers, as this is just the synopsis and is only the first 5 minutes of the two-hour movie, the bad guy gets away and years later "comes clean" with a memoir of all the murders he's committed in a nice, neat novel. He's allowed to due to a Statute of Limitations (SOL) law that states if not charged with a crime following a certain amount of time (15 years,) he/she cannot be charged with the crime. And now...let the mayhem begin with these "confessions of murder."

Again, that's just the first 5 minutes or so. So, I didn't spoil much. Besides, maybe I get an SOL-discount since the movie came out 6 years ago and surely by now, I'm free to talk about 5 minutes screen time of a movie.

The movie's two biggest flaws are: the runtime and suspension of disbelief. The grand majority of Asian films I stream have to be right at the 2-hour mark, close to it or way above it. They certainly do not know how to edit, or are too terribly arrogant with their art. In most cases, it definitely can be cut down some, but that might be just this ole American guy used to shorter movies.

Oh, and that second point? Suspending our disbelief. Well, aside from the SOL issue, there's a few great action sequences that reminded me of many more movies, such as The Matrix Reloaded, Lethal Weapon 3, Captain America: Civil War / Black Panther, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Death Proof and The Transporter films...and is just as unrealistic. Sure they're fun to look at and get into the action, but to believe one moment, is to totally live in a fantasy world.

Nevertheless, I had fun with the comedy that made me laugh out loud a few times, tear up with the heart of the victims, marvel at the action that was well choreographed and most of all, LOVE the script that kept evolving and keeping me glued to the edge of my seat. Well done. Well done.

***

Final thoughts: So, just for fun, I, right now, watched the trailer to see if gave anything away. Amazingly, it did not. It perfectly gave enough to the audience to see this movie and like I did above, provided the few seconds of the movie to evoke interest. Man...stop making me hate Hollywood so much in lieu of wonderful Asian cinema! You guys/gals do it so much better!

Asian thrillers have always fascinated me. This one is no exception. Although the climax could be much better. There are plenty of twists in the movie to keep you guessing.

Overall, a 6 1/2 out of 10 movie. The hero of the movie has actually done pretty good acting. The movie could have been shortened a bit. Running at the length of 1.54 minutes is a bit long. Although Korean movie "Memories of murder " is highly rated than this film. I suggest you to watch that also. Korean movies are always a delight to watch. Had to watch this with subtitles as my native language is not korean. Overall ratings: Direction 7/10. Story 9/10. Acting 8/10.

i just finish watching the memory of murderer, so my expectation for a Korea serial movie is sky-high. but how am i wrong, the plot is lacking and it sadden but it can be develop into powerful story , the villain seem to be more powerful than god, he can be hit by a car, by a crane, fell from building and been shot at but still alive. the chemistry between casts was not on par. the mom and her lackey should not been there at all. they just added an unnecessary plot and conflict, it create a confusion, how come the killer can leave the scene of his murder unscathed but our unneeded hero can't even walk on a stair for 10 step before 5 police car come out from nowhere.

Starts with a bang, with a great chase sequence, only slightly marred by some bad CG.

After that, it settles down for awhile, but it's a pretty engaging story, some real interesting stuff. Got a little Big Bad Wolves going on. But then the INSANE tonal shifts start cropping up and also one of the worst action sequences I've ever seen, this car chase that is absolutely terrible.

It looks like something out of a soap opera, the way it was shot, all flat and weird and then there's the CG that looks like it fell out of 1993 and the editing is a nightmare. It's just an incredible garbage presentation.

And…OK, let's go to Spoiler Town, Population: The Whole Damn Movie

So there's two bits early on that let me figure out what was going on. The dude jumping to his death and then the fake killer whispering in the Lt.'s ear. I figured, huh, OK, I see where this is going. But that's fine, right? Because, initially, it was an interesting trip.

But as it was happening, I started thinking about it, and that's the movie's fault. It would stop being engaging enough or have too much garbage and I would be distracted by the plot. Why the hell is the plan to have this happen literally minutes before the statute of limitations is up? The Lt. clearly has the leg up with that recording. And while, obviously, being a serial killer, J is arrogant enough to agree to this interview but like how incredibly lucky was the Lt. for it to happen an hour before he can't be prosecuted!?! OK, and so fine, whatever. Then there's this terrible, overly cg'd chase where the serial killer has broken like 20 other laws, enough to get his ass locked up for forever. But they're still going on about only a couple of minutes and then they can't prosecute again. Dog! He just stole like 4 vehicles, took people hostage, wrecked everything…I'm pretty sure his ass is going to jail FOR THAT!

And then, the cherry on this poop sundae is the maudlin (and for some reason, first person) flashback leading up to his lady getting offed and I mean, come on. We get it. We got it earlier. If you're trying to give us some reason for him killing J, it's no surprise. It's just maudlin, sappy trash. Ugh.

I had gone from enjoying the movie to being incredibly mad at it, all within the last 35 minutes or so. It started off as a solid enough, Seven kind of thing (but like if Seven had a scene where Brad Pitt goes to the zoo and has wacky, Adam Sandler-esqe antics or Morgan Freeman has to take a dump while fighting a sewer alligator) and just devolved into another garbage-ass thriller.

With South Korea emerging as one of the strongest sources of great thriller/action cinema, Confession of Murder certainly wasn't born into easy water. While Director Jeong Byeonggil delivered on gritty action sequences, the movie as a whole fell short from measuring up to its industry-setting predecessors.

To be fair, the story structure wasn't half bad. Everything was accessible and easily entertaining. However, the problem lies in the plot draped over the structure. The whole story was pivoted on ideas and themes that have been honed in once and again by the genre—statue of limitations, family relationships, revenge, that innocent lover, foul-mouthed detectives seeking redemption—and all of them tie together in a rather unoriginal manner. Enough hints were dropped by the first half of the movie for the second half to be a yawn. Of the few twists in the movie, most were fairly interesting, some spotted coming from fifty miles away, but none enough to salvage the movie from what is basically a remix of a remix of staple K-thriller tropes. Not to mention, the ending was anticlimactic to the fiercely dark tone the movie had developed and the script a hodgepodge of trite lines/scenes that multiplied through the runtime.

Jung Jaeyoung's performance was fair—given, it isn't an easy task playing a 2D character that has probably shown up in every other mainstream thriller—and Park Sihoo demonstrates that he's still got a long way to go.

One saving grace from all of this mediocrity is the action sequences. There were a couple scenes which had been especially creative. Though at some points they suffered from lengthiness, overall they were highly entertaining and it was a pleasure seeing some practical martial arts mixed into the choreography.

In no way will Confession of Murder be a milestone in Korean thriller, and it clearly wasn't intended to be all that original, but at least it had met the ruined cars quota for it to be a decent action flick.

And by the way, Jeong Byeonggil, your tribute to Park Chanwook has been duly noted.

8★ Korean-Good

A serial killer, after years of killing, is publishing a book about his doings. All his victim's relatives are willing to put an end on the life of the one that made them suffer. The society is divided between those who consider him a pop star, those who want justice and those there are just there to watch with no real side on this battle. Revenge, hatred, inconvenience and a lot of action. As always, everything is a little exaggerated, but its the Korean style, which I really enjoy. Questions, blame, shame and a plot full of twists, just like they like it.

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Things I've learned with Confessions of Murder:

If you have the chance of killing the guy you want, it's always better to just let him scape. Why I would finish the movie half an hour earlier?

If I can head shot of a snake in motion with a crossbow, I can always miss a guy running. Cuz' it's always harder to shoot something bigger.

A fire extinguisher can flip a car.

CONFESSION OF MURDER is the latest in a long line of excellent serial killer flicks from South Korea; some particular highlights of that list are I SAW THE DEVIL, THE CHASER and MEMORIES OF MURDER. This particular outing is slightly more unusual than most in that the actual killings are crimes of the past and thus the murderer is now unable to be brought to justice as something called the "statute of limitations" has now expired.

However, in all other respects, this is par for the course for the genre. Jae-yeong Jeong (WELCOME TO DONGMAKGOL) plays the hard-bitten detective hot on the trail of a slimy killer (played with relish by Shi-hoo Park) who's now become something of a media personality in a satirical sub-plot poking fun at the modern world's obsession with celebrities.

CONFESSION OF MURDER is unwieldy in places in its willingness to throw almost everything into the movie. It kicks off with an electric foot chase reminiscent of THE CHASER and closes with a motorway stunt lifted from TERMINATOR 2. Along the way there's some decent action which riffs on the BOURNE films along with a couple of unwelcome missteps into slapstick comedy.

Despite some oddball situations this remains compelling and engaging for the most part. The acting is strong, as is the direction, and the script doesn't disappoint. It's also unusual enough and tells a unique enough story to make it a worthwhile addition to this inventive and suspenseful sub-genre.

Movie: Confession of Murder (18)

Rating: 4.5/5

Who doesn't like surprises? Especially the ones in a film? The genres themselves promised surprises in this South Korean action thriller CONFESSION of MURDER starring Jung Jae-young and Park Si-hoo. The film is so unpredictable, smart & intelligent that after watching it, you'll officially salute its makers, especially the one who scripted this masterpiece!

CONFESSION OF MURDER is the best of its kind. A film full of thrilling surprises and mindblowing action sequences, it's the perfect South Korean film I had been looking for. It easily proves that films and filmmakers in South Korea are nothing short of being branded as genius.

Visually, this film is an absolute masterpiece. The screenplay is the best thing about the film, as you won't have seen or heard such a brilliant screenplay before, ever. The action is another major strength, as are the two lead actors Jung Jae-young and Park Si-hoo: they keep you glued to the screen for the entire duration, and there's not a single moment in which you'll feel bored or distracted. Jung Jae-young delivers a sharp and intense performance, while Park Si-hoo keeps the viewers engaged with his solid expressions.

The film is gripping from its very first sequence. From here it won't be difficult to predict that the film's going to be unpredictable. Mark my words: UNPREDICTABLE. And I seriously mean it.

CONFESSION OF MURDER benefits a lot from the intelligent and watertight screenplay, but suffers slightly due to the editing, which often slows down the film's pace occasionally. But happily this doesn't happen for long and what you get at the end of the show is a cinematic masterpiece. Full marks to its director and writer Byung-gil Jung for such a well executed film, and a salute as well, for bringing out the best of the two lead actors as well as giving such a great film not only to the Korean but also the world audience. Strongly recommended!